acquisition

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $36.75 (Toronto symbol TIH; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-667- 5511; www.toromont.com; Shares outstanding: 77.6 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) distributes a broad range of industrial equipment, including machinery made by Caterpillar Inc. It also makes refrigeration systems through its CIMCO division. The company completed the spinoff of Enerflex Ltd. (see right) in 2011. Shareholders received shares of both the new Toromont Industries and Enerflex. In the quarter ended June 30, 2015, Toromont’s revenue rose 16.6%, to $484.5 million from $415.6 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 26.1%, to $36.4 million, or $0.47 a share, from $28.9 million or $0.37....

Shaw Communications, $26.76, symbol SJR.B on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 469.1 million; Market cap: $12.7 billion; www.shaw.ca), is one of Canada’s largest cable TV operators. The company has 1.9 million basic cable subscribers (mostly in Western Canada) and 851,569 satellite customers through its ownership of Shaw Direct. It also provides high-speed Internet to 1.9 million clients and telephone services to another 1.3 million. In September 2014, Shaw completed its $1.2-billion purchase of Colorado-based ViaWest, a privately held operator of data centres, cloud storage and information technology services. ViaWest has 27 data centres in the western United States....

Enghouse Systems, $51.84, symbol ESL on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 26.3 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.enghouse.com), operates through two divisions. Interaction Management (which supplies 70% of total revenue) sells software for managing call centres, while the asset-management business (30% of revenue) provides engineering programs used by utilities, computer and telecommunications companies around the world. In the three months ended April 30, 2015, Enghouse’s revenue rose 25.0%, to $68.7 million from $55.0 million a year earlier, largely due to contributions from acquisitions....

Semafo, $3.35, symbol SMF on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 294.1 million; Market cap: $985.2 million, www.semafo.com), is a Canadian mining company that produces and explores for gold in western Africa. Semafo operates the Mana mine in Burkina Faso, which includes the high-grade Siou and Fofina deposits. To add growth prospects, the company completed its $138.2-million acquisition of Orbis Gold earlier this year. Orbis’s Natougou project, also in Burkina Faso, holds as much as 1.1 million ounces of gold. Semafo is now conducting a feasibility study on the economics of building a mine at the site. Orbis also owns the Nabaga project, 250 kilometres south of Natougou....

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $34 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 834.7 million; Market cap: $28.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) has offered to buy leading German fertilizer producer K+S AG for around $8.6 billion U.S. K+S has rejected the offer, as it feels the price discounts the potential value of its new Legacy potash mine in Saskatchewan, which will open in 2016. As a result, K+S has indicated that Potash Corp. would have to raise its bid by roughly 22%. In response, Potash Corp. may launch a hostile takeover offer. However, German regulators would probably block an acquisition, particularly if Potash Corp. plans to close some of K+S’s mines. Potash Corp. is still a hold....

WESTJET AIRLINES LTD., $24.07, symbol WJA on Toronto, has announced that its pilots have rejected plans to form a union, with 55% voting against and 45% in favour. The result follows a June 2015 vote in which 82% of the company’s almost 3,000 flight attendants approved a new five-year work agreement. That deal was important because it ended a unionization drive some flight attendants started more than a year ago. The company has a great hidden asset in its non-union workforce, as many flyers find that it provides friendlier service than they get from unionized airlines. WestJet also benefits from the fact that most of its employees are shareholders....

Air Boss of America has enjoyed a big bounce in its shares with its rubber products. We look at whether this growth stock can keep rising.

Takeovers help Genuine Parts sustain growth—and dividend hikes—in a cyclical field. Our take on how lower gasoline prices help its outlook.

You can find a lesson about acquisitions in our latest edition of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, which we sent out last week.

Investors often under-estimate the hidden risk of a corporate strategy of growth-by-acquisition. This strategy is inherently risky. It’s a little like buying new stock issues.

Acquisitions generally come on the market when it’s a good time to sell. That may not be, and often isn’t, a good time to buy. Insiders and managers at the selling company know a lot more than the buyers about the company itself, and its business strengths and weaknesses.

Some takeovers work out well for the buyers, of course. This doesn’t diminish the inherent risk. More important, risk multiplies as takeovers become a habit.

Takeovers are more likely to succeed when the buyer is already a successful company and is under no pressure to buy anything. That way, the buyer can take its time and wait for a truly attractive, low-risk opportunity to come along.

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AutoCanada Inc., $32.33, symbol ACQ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 24.5 million; Market cap: $822.8 million; www.autocan.ca), has 49 franchised car dealerships in eight provinces. The company sells numerous brands, including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Nissan, Hyundai, Subaru, Audi, Volkswagen and BMW. However, Chrysler vehicles (including Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat) supply around 70% of its revenue. In 2014, AutoCanada’s dealerships sold roughly 57,000 vehicles and processed about 786,000 service and collision-repair orders in their 822 service bays....