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CHEVRON CORP. $76 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $152.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S. by market cap, after Exxon-Mobil. Chevron gets about 85% of its earnings from producing oil. The remaining 15% comes from its refineries, its petrochemicals business and its 22,000 gasoline stations, which operate under the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex banners. Chevron has increased its oil and natural-gas reserves by roughly 1 billion barrels a year for the past seven years. At the end of 2008, it directly controlled 7.9 billion barrels, plus an additional 3.3 billion through joint ventures and affiliated businesses. The company produces about 920 million barrels a year. ...

UNITED CORPORATIONS $47.20 (Toronto symbol UNC) (165 University Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3B8. 416-947-2583. Buy or sell through a broker) invests in a wide variety of average- to above-average quality Canadian and foreign stocks. United Corporations holds 39.9% of its $752.4-million portfolio in Canadian equities, 21.1% in the U.S., 23.1% in Europe, 8.1% in Asia, 6.6% in the U.K., 0.7% in Australia and 0.5% in Mexico. The fund’s largest holdings include Bank of Nova Scotia, EnCana, Royal Bank, Nexen, Potash Corp., Chevron, CVS Caremark, Manulife, TD Bank, Roche Holding, Adidas AG, Nestle AG and BASF AG....

H&R BLOCK INC., $16.62, New York symbol HRB, lost $130.6 million in its first quarter, which ended July 31, 2009. That’s 1.7% higher than the $128.4 million it lost a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged, at $0.39. That’s a little worse than the $0.37-a-share loss that analysts were expecting. Revenue rose 1.3%, to $275.5 million from $271.9 million. H&R Block gets about 75% of its revenue from its tax-preparation business. As a result, it earns most of its money during its fourth quarter, which includes the April 15 income-tax-filing deadline. The company typically loses money in its first and second quarters....

Holly Corp., $22.39, symbol HOC on New York (Shares outstanding: 50.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion), is a refiner and marketer of petroleum products. The company operates a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, an 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a 31,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Woods Cross, Utah. Holly also owns a 41% interest in Holly Energy Partners, L.P. (symbol HEP on New York), which, through subsidiaries, owns or leases roughly 2,500 miles of petroleum pipelines in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, plus petroleum-product terminals in several southwestern and Rocky Mountain states. The recession has driven down demand for gasoline. This, in turn, has hurt the company’s revenue. However, falling oil prices mean that it is paying less for crude. This is lifting the profit margins it gets from gasoline....

ECONOMIC INVESTMENT TRUST $59.64 (Toronto symbol EVT) holds a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality Canadian, U.S. and foreign stocks. The $378-million fund’s largest holdings include E-L Financial, Algoma Central Railway, Chevron, Nissan Motor, Royal Dutch Shell, BNP Paribas, Pfizer, ConocoPhillips, Allianz SE, BASF SE, ING Group and Vodafone Group plc. The fund holds 55.4% of its portfolio in Canada, followed by the U.S. (14.2%), Europe (22.9%), Asia (7.1%) and Australia (0.4%)....

TD RESOURCE FUND $22.44 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1P9. Tel: 1-800-386-3757; Web site:www.tdcanadatrust.ca. No load: deal directly with the bank.) invests in companies which it sees as having strong asset bases, proven management and the ability to internally finance growth. The $173.1-million TD Resource Fund’s top stock holdings mostly have Successful Investor Ratings of “Average” or higher. They include EnCana, Suncor Energy, Talisman Energy, Goldcorp, Yamana Gold, Petro-Canada, Red Back Mining, BHP Billiton, Husky Energy, Chevron, Marathon Oil and Nexen. TD Resource Fund holds 59.1% of its portfolio in Energy and 38.1% in Metals & Minerals. It has an MER of 2.15%....

Although they are still well below their 2007-2008 highs, resource prices have begun to rise lately. Most resource companies still need an economic recovery to show significant growth. Nonetheless, we think the long-term outlook for global resource demand is still bright. Meanwhile, we think you should cut your risk in this volatile sector by sticking with profitable, well-established companies that have an asset base they acquired when asset prices were low, or in mutual funds that hold those stocks. Here are two resource funds that we rate as Aggressive. They expose investors to two different levels of risk, measured by the stocks they hold. Both are down in value lately, but we think they have long-term gains ahead. TD RESOURCE FUND $22.44 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1P9. Tel: 1-800-386-3757; Web site:www.tdcanadatrust.ca. No load: deal directly with the bank.) invests in companies which it sees as having strong asset bases, proven management and the ability to internally finance growth....

CHEVRON CORP. $66 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2 billion; Market cap: $132 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Above Average) has started pumping oil from its 52%-owned Frade offshore project near Brazil....

UNITED CORPORATIONS $46.50 (Toronto symbol UNC) (165 University Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3B8. 416-947-2583. Buy or sell through a broker) invests in a wide variety of average- to above-average quality Canadian and foreign stocks. United Corporations’ $676.1-million portfolio is invested 35.3% in Canadian equities, 23.7% in the U.S., 20.2% in Europe, 12.5% in Asia, 6.3% in the U.K. and 1.0% in Mexico and Latin America. The fund’s largest holdings include: Bank of Nova Scotia, EnCana, Royal Bank, Nexen, Potash Corp., Chevron, CVS Caremark, Manulife, TD Bank, Roche Holdings and BASF AG....

Generally speaking, Canadians can’t buy units of mutual funds registered in the U.S., because they aren’t registered with provincial securities commissions for sale in Canada. For that matter, some Canadian funds are not available in all provinces. Canadians can’t buy Vanguard index mutual funds. They can, however, buy Vanguard ETFs listed on stock exchanges. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, $39.29, symbol VIG on New York, tracks an index of about 200 stocks screened for a history of rising dividends. The top holdings are currently Wal-Mart Stores, International Business Machines, The Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, Chevron Corp., Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s Corp., Abbott Laboratories, ExxonMobil and Procter & Gamble. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF’s MER is 0.28%, and it has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF is okay to hold....