cn rail

The six ETFs we update below mainly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund tracks the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as cryptocurrencies or biotechnology.


Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these investments....

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $106 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 728.3 million; Market cap: $77.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.6; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) recently signed a three-year contract to ship 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of Cenvous’s crude oil by rail each day.


The company also stands to benefit from the Alberta government’s plan to acquire locomotives and rail cars to transport 120,000 barrels a day....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $22.97 (Toronto symbol XIU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $8.6 billion) is a low-fee way to buy the top Canadian listed stocks. Specifically, the ETF holds stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the largest, most heavily traded equities on the TSX.


The ETF’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.8%; TD Bank, 8.5%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; CN Rail, 5.0%; Suncor Energy, 4.8%; Enbridge, 4.2%; Bank of Montreal, 4.0%; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 3.2%; and Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%.


The industry breakdown is as follows: Financials (39%), Resources (29%), Industrials (11%), Telecommuncations (7%), Consumer discretionary (4%), Consumer staples (4%), Information technology (4%), Utilities (2%) and others (1%).


The S&P/TSX 60 Index mostly consists of high-quality companies....

CENOVUS ENERGY $13.42 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $16.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.5%; www.cenovus.com) has signed three-year deals with CN Rail (symbol CNR on Toronto) and CP Rail (symbol CP on Toronto) to transport 100,000 barrels per day of crude from Northern Alberta to the U.S....

The six ETFs we update below mainly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. Each fund tracks the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as cryptocurrencies or biotechnology.


Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these investments....

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $12 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $14.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cenovus.com) acquired 100% of its main oil sands properties in Alberta—Christina Lake and Foster Creek—in May 2017....

Here we take a closer look at two relatively new North American ETFs. This month’s selections include a quantitative, low-volatility Canadian equity ETF and a global pet-products ETF.


FRANKLIN LIBERTY RISK MANAGED CANADIAN EQUITY ETF $21.04 (Toronto symbol FLRM; Market cap: $12.7 million) aims to invest in Canadian equities to generate capital gains, but with lower volatility.


The fund does not provide much detail on how it will reduce volatility except that it uses a “black box” rules-based model to select stocks “based on a mix of historical and projected financial and stock-market data....

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $116 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 740.2 million; Market cap: $85.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.5; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) continues to benefit from rising crude oil production and a lack of new pipeline capacity.


In the quarter ended June 30, 2018, the company transported 155,000 carloads of petroleum products (crude oil, refined products and chemicals)....

Railways are highly cyclical businesses: demand for their services tends to move up and down with the overall economy. The Trump administration’s recent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada—as well as Ottawa’s plan to impose tariffs on some U.S.-made goods—also adds risk for railway operators.


We feel CN’s diversity of customers in both countries will help protect it from the new tariffs, and let it build on its 23-year record of increasing dividends.


CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO....

A: BSM Technologies Inc., $1.27, symbol GPS on Toronto (Shares outstanding: Shares outstanding: 82.3 million; Market cap: $105.3 million, www.bsmwireless.com), makes equipment and software that helps owners of truck, train and other fleets monitor their vehicles using global positioning systems (GPS).

Customers typically purchase the hardware upfront and then enter into a long-term contract for software updates and monitoring services....