Chevron Corp.

Parkland Fuel Corp., $26.35, symbol PKI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 82.6 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion, www.parkland.ca), operates gas stations, convenience stores and a fuel-distribution business, mostly in Western Canada and Ontario. It was called Parkland Income Fund before it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010. The company owns 143 rural gas stations and convenience stores. Its brands include Fas Gas Plus, Race Trac Gas and Short Stop. Many of Parkland’s stations sell propane in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel. Parkland also operates Esso stations in Western Canada and Ontario under a licensing deal with Imperial Oil (symbol IMO on Toronto). In addition, it has an agreement to use the Chevron brand in B.C....

The oil price drop has prompted these two producers to shed less profitable businesses. That brightens their long-term prospects, but we prefer Chevron, as its refineries benefit from cheaper crude. CHEVRON CORP. $110 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $209.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. chevron.com) recently sold its 50% stake in Caltex Australia, which owns an oil refinery and 1,800 gas stations in Australia, for $3.6 billion. The deal is part of Chevron’s plan to sell $15 billion worth of nonessential businesses by 2017. Even with these sales, the company’s oil output will probably average 3.1 million barrels a day in 2017, up 20.6% from 2.57 million in 2014....

CHEVRON CORP. $110 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $209.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. chevron.com) recently sold its 50% stake in Caltex Australia, which owns an oil refinery and 1,800 gas stations in Australia, for $3.6 billion.

The deal is part of Chevron’s plan to sell $15 billion worth of nonessential businesses by 2017. Even with these sales, the company’s oil output will probably average 3.1 million barrels a day in 2017, up 20.6% from 2.57 million in 2014.

That’s mainly because Chevron still plans to start up two big offshore gas projects: the Gorgon field, off Australia’s northwest coast (47.3% owned by Chevron) and the nearby Wheatstone field (64.14%-owned). Each will also have a plant to convert the gas into a liquid for shipment to clients in Asia.

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iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF, $6.99, symbol FIE on Toronto (Units outstanding: 45.0 million; Market cap: $314.6 million; www.blackrock.com), is a balanced fund with 16% of its assets in bonds and 16% in preferred shares. The other 68% is in common stocks. We don’t generally recommend balanced funds, as bonds are unlikely to perform well over the next few years, if only because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise. That means the fund would only earn interest income on its bonds; instead of capital gains, its bond holdings could produce capital losses. The iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF holds mostly corporate bonds, which expose you to varying levels of risk. Some are almost as safe as government bonds and offer only slightly higher yields. Others offer higher yields but are much riskier....

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP., $118.74, New York symbol UTX, announced this week that it’s considering selling or spinning off its Sikorsky helicopter division. The company expects to make a final decision by the end of 2015. Sikorsky supplied 11% of United Technologies’ 2014 revenue but just 2% of its profits. That’s mainly due to a one-time charge after it renegotiated a contract to build helicopters for the Canadian government. The helicopter business has little in common with United Technologies’ larger divisions (Otis elevators, Carrier heating and air conditioning, Pratt & Whitney jet engines, and aircraft controls), so spinning it off makes sense....

FORD MOTOR CO. $14 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $53.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.ford.com) sold 2.5 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2014, down 0.5% from 2013. Truck sales (38% of the 2014 total) fell 0.7% as Ford slowed production of its popular F-150 as it prepared to launch a new version that uses lightweight aluminum body panels. Car sales (32%) declined 3.8%, but SUV sales (30%) gained 3.5%. The company also raised its dividend by 20.0%. The new annual rate of $0.60 a share yields 4.3%....

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $202.31 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, Chevron, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, and Wells Fargo & Co. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

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CHEVRON CORP. $104 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $197.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron .com) has signed a five-year deal to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its 47.3%-owned Gorgon project in Australia to South Korea’s SK Group. Gorgon should start up later this year.

With this deal, Chevron now has contracts covering 75% of Gorgon’s LNG production from 2017 to 2022. That helps cut this project’s risk .

Chevron is a buy.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

TIM HORTONS INC., $84.91, New York symbol THI, shareholders will vote on the friendly takeover offer from BURGER KING WORLDWIDE INC., $34.81, New York symbol BKW, on Tuesday, December 9, 2014. If the deal is approved, Tim Hortons investors will have a number of options: They can sell their shares on the New York exchange and receive the current trading price of $84.91 (less brokerage commissions). If they don’t do that, they can opt for one of the three choices below by notifying their brokers no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 9, 2014....