commodity

MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $11 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 140.0 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mapleleaf.ca) is acquiring Puratone Corporation, a private company that raises over 500,000 hogs a year at 50 barns in Manitoba. The takeover will give Maple Leaf control of 30% of the hogs used by its processing facility in Brandon, Manitoba.The company will pay $42 million for Puratone when the deal closes in the next few weeks. To put that in context, Maple Leaf earned $30.2 million, or $0.21 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2012. That’s down 24.5% from $39.9 million, or $0.28 a share, a year earlier....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $15.49 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics. com; Units outstanding: 41.7 million; Market cap: $645.9 million; Dividend yield: 7.8%) is one of North America’s largest providers of removal services for resource firms, such as oil refineries and base-metal processors. These companies create sulphur, acid and other by-products as part of their activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid.

In June 2011, Chemtrade bought Marsulex Inc. for $419.5 million. Marsulex provides a range of environmental services, including improving air quality and treating and handling industrial waste.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Chemtrade’s revenue fell 10.3%, to $240.9 million from $268.5 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit fell 25.0%, to $0.72 from $0.96. However, the decline was mostly due to a one-time accounting charge. The 2011 quarter was also particularly strong.

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When markets rebound, we tend to hear from more investors asking whether they should invest in junior mines. My first answer is that you should have your portfolio spread out among the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry, Resources & Commodities, the Consumer sector, Finance and Utilities). Still, junior mining stocks can play a role in that part of your portfolio you have for more aggressive investments. Even then, it is important to realize just how long the odds against success can be before you proceed....

SPDR Gold Trust, $167.29, symbol GLD on New York (Shares outstanding: 427.4 million; Market cap: $71.5 billion; www.spdrgoldshares.com), is an investment trust that aims to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion minus the trust’s expenses. SPDR Gold Trust’s sole assets are gold bullion and, from time to time, cash. Unlike stocks, commodity investments such as gold bullion do not generate income. Instead they come with a continuing cash drain for management, insurance and so on. SPDR Gold Trust’s expenses are 0.4% of its assets per year. In general, we recommend staying away from buying gold bullion, coins (unless you collect them as a hobby) or certificates representing an interest in bullion....

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $29 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 586.0 million; Market cap: $17.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teck.com) is selling more metallurgical coal and copper thanks to recent expansion projects.

Coal sales in the three months ended June 30, 2012 rose 19.6%, to 6.7 million tonnes from 5.6 million a year earlier. Copper sales rose 10.4%, to 85,000 tonnes from 77,000 tonnes.

However, slowing growth in China and India cut coal prices by 25.7% from a year earlier. Copper prices fell 13.8%.

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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific stock market advice that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “There is an element of chance in the success of every business, and it’s rarely worthwhile to test your luck by investing in new issues.”...

Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF, $50.08, symbol MOO on New York (Shares outstanding: 110.9 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; www.vaneck.com), aims to track the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index. The index includes agricultural companies from around the world. To be included in the index, a company must be publicly traded, have a market cap over $150 million U.S. and meet certain minimum trading volume rules. The index contains five major subsectors: agriculture chemicals and fertilizers, agricultural product operations, agricultural equipment, livestock operations, and biofuels (including ethanol and biodiesel). The geographic breakdown of stocks in the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index is as follows: U.S. (39.7%), Canada (13.8%), Singapore (9.0%), Switzerland (7.2%), Malaysia (5.9%), Brazil (4.4%), the Netherlands (3.7%), Japan (3.6%), Norway (3.6%), Australia (2.5%) and other countries (6.6%)....

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $29 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 586.0 million; Market cap: $17.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teck.com) is selling more metallurgical coal and copper thanks to recent expansion projects. Coal sales in the three months ended June 30, 2012 rose 19.6%, to 6.7 million tonnes from 5.6 million a year earlier. Copper sales rose 10.4%, to 85,000 tonnes from 77,000 tonnes. However, slowing growth in China and India cut coal prices by 25.7% from a year earlier. Copper prices fell 13.8%....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one question from an Inner Circle member wanted Pat’s input on one of the Canadian commodity stocks that depends heavily on one metal, molybdenum. Thompson Creek has seen a drop-off in both molybdenum prices and its own shares, but it is just possible, Pat says, that this could make it an appealing acquisition for a larger firm. ...

Vale SA is one of the world’s largest iron ore producers. The company gets about 59% of its revenue from iron ore. The rest comes from base metals, coal and fertilizer.