acquisition

American Hotel Income Properties REIT, $10.08, symbol HOT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 35.0 million; Market cap: $351.8 million, www.ahipreit.com), owns 80 hotels, comprising 7,072 rooms in 27 U.S. states. Of that total, 45 of the hotels operate under the Oak Tree Inn brand. For the most part, hotel guests are railroad workers. American Hotel believes this is a profitable niche market, as contracts with large railways keep occupancy rates high relative to the overall hospitality industry. The hotels are close to large rail-switching yards and hubs, and the railway contracts keep them about 75% occupied. The specially designed buildings feature crew shuttles and 24-hour food service....

Bird Construction Inc., $12.21, symbol BDT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 42.5 million; Market cap: $515.3 million; www.bird.ca), focuses on projects in a number of markets, including industrial, commercial, institutional, civil construction and mining. The company began operating 96 years ago in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Today, it has offices in St. John’s, Halifax, Saint John, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Bird’s industrial projects supplied 51% of its 2015 revenue, and include work in the petrochemical, oil sands, and wastewater-treatment sectors....

Exchange Income Corp., $29.88, symbol EIF on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 27.6 million; Market cap: $820.1 million; www.exchangeincomecorp.ca), operates in two main areas: aviation and manufacturing. The aviation business (76% of its 2015 revenue) serves communities in Manitoba, Ontario and Nunavut through regional airlines. They include Perimeter Aviation, Keewatin Air, Calm Air International, Bearskin Lake Air Service, Custom Helicopters and Regional One. The manufacturing business (24% of revenue) includes WesTower Communications Canada (a maker and installer of wireless communication towers), Jasper Tank, Overlanders Manufacturing, Water Blast Manufacturing and Stainless Fabrication....

PFIZER INC., $33.58, New York symbol PFE, is one of the world’s leading prescription-drug makers. Its top-selling brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis pain) and Enbrel (plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis). The company also makes over-the-counter medications and supplements, including Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup). In the three months ended March 31, 2016, earnings jumped 30.0%, to $4.2 billion from $3.2 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 31.4%, to $0.67 from $0.51. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.55....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $36.60 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 993.2 million; Market cap: $36.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 3.8%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance firms. The company also offers mutual funds and wealth management services. Power Financial owns 67.2% of Great-West. In the past few years, the insurer has expanded its presence in Ireland. In July 2013, it paid $1.75 billion for Irish Life, that country’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. Irish Life has now announced two purchases: it is buying Aviva Health, and increasing its stake in GloHealth from 49% to 100%....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $36.60 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 993.2 million; Market cap: $36.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 3.8%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance firms. The company also offers mutual funds and wealth management services. Power Financial owns 67.2% of Great-West. In the past few years, the insurer has expanded its presence in Ireland. In July 2013, it paid $1.75 billion for Irish Life, that country’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. Irish Life has now announced two purchases: it is buying Aviva Health, and increasing its stake in GloHealth from 49% to 100%....

Enercare Inc., $15.82, symbol ECI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 88.0 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion, www.enercare.ca), owns a portfolio of about 1.1 million installed gas-fired water heaters. These are mainly rented to residential customers in Ontario. The company also owns Enercare Connections Inc., a leading sub-metering business, with metering contracts for condominium and apartment suites in Ontario, Alberta and elsewhere in Canada. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Enercare’s revenue rose 12.4%, to $141.6 million from $126.0 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share jumped, to $0.34 from $0.20. The increase is the result of stronger revenue and lower costs for the disposal of used equipment....

APPLE INC., $93.74, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, gets about two-thirds of its revenue from its iPhone smartphone. The remaining third comes from sales of its Mac computers, iPad tablets, iPod music players and Apple watches as well as the software, movies and music sold through its iTunes online store. The company sold 51.2 million iPhones in its fiscal 2016 second quarter, which ended March 26, 2016. That’s down 16.3% from 61.2 million a year earlier. However, the year-earlier quarter benefited from strong demand for the recently released iPhone 6 model. iPhone sales will likely remain weak until Apple launches the iPhone 7 later this year. Sales of Mac computers and iPads also fell during the quarter. As a result, Apple’s overall sales declined 12.8%, to $50.6 billion from $58.0 billion a year earlier. That missed the consensus forecast of $51.9 billion....

GANNETT CO., INC. $18 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 116.5 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 107 U.S. markets, including its flagship newspaper, USAToday. It also has 19 papers in the U.K., and over 200 magazines and other publications. The company has offered to buy Tribune Publishing Co. (New York symbol TPUB). This firm owns 11 daily papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, as well as 160 weekly papers and 120 websites. Including Tribune’s debt, the offer is worth $815 million. Eliminating overlapping operations would let Gannett cut $50 million from its annual costs; it earned $209.1 million, or $1.79 a share, in 2015....

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $93 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 115.3 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) has paid $114 million for Botanical Food Co. Based in Australia, this firm makes packaged herbs under the Gourmet Garden brand. It sells these products mainly in Australia and North America. The purchase complements McCormick’s existing spice products. It will also add $53 million to its annual sales of $4.3 billion. The stock now trades at 24.9 times the $3.73 a share that the company will likely earn in its current fiscal year. That’s a high multiple in light of McCormick’s growth-by-acquisition strategy and currency risk....