canadian tire

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $126 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.1 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) continues to add new locations and renovate older stores. It’s also benefiting from its 2011 purchase of the Forzani Group of sporting goods stores, including the popular Sport Chek banner. These moves are helping it compete with U.S.-based retailers like Wal-Mart.

In the quarter ended September 27, 2014, Canadian Tire’s earnings rose 18.4%, to $172.2 million from $145.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 21.2%, to $2.17 from $1.79, on fewer shares outstanding.

Overall sales rose 3.9%, to $3.1 billion from $3.0 billion. Same-store sales at the 493 Canadian Tire outlets gained 3.2% on strong demand for summer goods, like garden tools and patio furniture, and automotive products and services.

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Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

BCE is facing regulatory hurdles, but the company is improving its services while keeping its operating costs down. That should let it maintain its high dividend yield.

BCE INC. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca ) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone services, with 5.0 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.3 million TV subscribers.

BCE also sells wireless services to 7.8 million customers across Canada, and its Bell Media segment owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations.

The company recently offered to buy the 56% of Bell Aliant (Toronto symbol BA) that it doesn’t already own. Bell Aliant sells phone and Internet services to 2.3 million clients in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec. It also provides wireless services through an alliance with BCE.

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CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $120.92, Toronto symbol CTC.A, hit a new all-time high of $121.66 this week after announcing a new three-year growth plan. The company’s strategy mainly involves building new stores, upgrading existing ones and expanding its e-commerce businesses. It will spend $575 million a year on these initiatives from 2015 to 2017. To put that in context, Canadian Tire earned $169.9 million, or $2.12 a share, in the quarter ended June 28, 2014. The company feels these improvements will increase annual sales by 3% at its Canadian Tire stores, 5% at the Mark’s casual clothing chain and 9% at its sporting goods stores, including Sport Chek. It also expects its earnings per share to rise 8% to 10% each year over the next three years....

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.67 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 306.7 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.5%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), with interests in 340 shopping malls containing over 81 million square feet of leasable area. That total includes 47 U.S. malls with over 13 million square feet. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, RioCan’s revenue increased 8.5%, to $295 million from $272 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40. RioCan continues to see growth opportunities in Canada and the U.S. In 2013, it spent $849 million on 32 properties. In the first half of 2014, it added four more for a total of $45 million....

Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Empire Company Ltd. (symbol EMP.A; www.empireco.ca), is a diversified Canadian firm based in Stellarton, Nova Scotia....

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. Finning has many customers in the cyclical resource sector, which adds risk. However, it is a market leader. As well, complex new technologies like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and steam-assisted gravity drainage should spur demand for its specialized gear and services. FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. (Toronto symbol FTT; www.finning.com) is the world’s largest dealer of tractors, bulldozers and trucks made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). It also sells heavy equipment made by other firms....

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