commodity

ENCANA CORP. (Toronto symbol ECA; www.encana.com) is one of North America’s largest natural gas producers. Its reserves should last over 11 years. The company took its present form on December 1, 2009, after the old EnCana Corp. split itself into two new companies: the new Encana, which focuses on natural gas, and Cenovus Energy (Toronto symbol CVE), which specializes in oil sands projects, oil refineries and conventional natural gas....

CONAGRA FOODS INC. $25 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 415.4 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. In ConAgra’s 2012 fiscal year, which ended May 27, 2012, sales rose 7.8%, to $13.3 billion from $12.3 billion in fiscal 2011. That’s partly due to several recent acquisitions. The company also raised its prices to offset higher ingredient costs. Earnings per share rose 5.1%, to $1.84 from $1.75. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as losses on commodity-hedging contracts and costs related to changes in the way the company accounts for contributions to employee pension plans. ConAgra expects its earnings to rise to $1.97 a share in fiscal 2013. The stock trades at 12.7 times that estimate. The annual dividend rate of $0.96 yields 3.8%....

Gold prices have moved down from their peak of $1,918 an ounce in August 2011 to the current price of $1,571. Gold could well regain its highs and move up even further over the longer term, although it will likely remain volatile. Higher prices would arise from investor fears that inflation or global political and economic instability will weaken key currencies, such as the euro or the U.S. dollar. If you do hold gold stocks, we recommend that you keep them to a reasonable part of the resources component of a well-balanced portfolio. YAMANA GOLD (Toronto symbol YRI; www.yamana.com) owns seven operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina, and has three other properties in advanced stages of development....

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $23 (www.finning.com) earned $0.39 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2012. That’s down 7.1% from $0.42 a year earlier. If you exclude the costs of installing a new computer system that will make its Canadian operations more efficient, Finning would have earned $0.48 a share in the latest quarter....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $15.05 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics.com; Units outstanding: 41.7 million; Market cap: $627.6 million; Dividend yield: 8.0%) 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 processing activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid. In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Chemtrade’s revenue rose 34.4%, to $227.9 million from $169.6 million. That mostly reflects the contribution of Marsulex Inc., which Chemtrade bought for $419.5 million in cash and stock in June 2011. Cash flow rose 6.0%, to $27.5 million from $25.9 million. Cash flow per share fell 28.6%, to $0.66 from $0.84, on more shares outstanding from the Marsulex purchase....

CONAGRA FOODS INC. $25 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 415.4 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn.

In ConAgra’s 2012 fiscal year, which ended May 27, 2012, sales rose 7.8%, to $13.3 billion from $12.3 billion in fiscal 2011. That’s partly due to several recent acquisitions. The company also raised its prices to offset higher ingredient costs. Earnings per share rose 5.1%, to $1.84 from $1.75. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as losses on commodity-hedging contracts and costs related to changes in the way the company accounts for contributions to employee pension plans.

ConAgra expects its earnings to rise to $1.97 a share in fiscal 2013. The stock trades at 12.7 times that estimate. The annual dividend rate of $0.96 yields 3.8%.

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FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $23 (www.finning.com) earned $0.39 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2012. That’s down 7.1% from $0.42 a year earlier. If you exclude the costs of installing a new computer system that will make its Canadian operations more efficient, Finning would have earned $0.48 a share in the latest quarter. Revenue rose 15.5%, to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion, as higher commodity prices prompted mining companies to buy more heavy equipment. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 7.7%, to $0.14 a share from $0.13. The new annual rate of $0.56 yields 2.4%. Buy. CAE INC. $9.88 (www.cae.com) has won several contracts from military clients for flight simulators and other training equipment. In all, these deals are worth $110 million, which is equal to 6% of CAE’s annual revenue of $1.8 billion. Best Buy. CANADA BREAD CO. LTD. $48 (www.canadabread.ca) is seeing lower demand for its fresh baked goods. At the same time, its costs for wheat and other ingredients are rising. As a result, its earnings fell 62.5% in the first quarter of 2012, to $0.21 a share from $0.56 a year earlier. Sales rose just 0.4%, to $371.8 million from $370.2 million. Hold.

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP., $15.58, symbol CHK on New York, has attracted the interest of activist investor Carl Icahn, who has purchased 7.6% of the natural gas producer. Mr. Icahn now aims to replace four of Chesapeake’s nine directors with his own nominees. The stock is down nearly 50% in the past year. That’s largely because rising production of shale gas and record-warm winter temperatures have increased gas supplies and depressed prices. The stock has also suffered in the past month on allegations that Aubrey K. McClendon, the company’s co-founder, CEO and chairman, took out loans that could put him in a conflict of interest. In response, Chesapeake’s board of directors has removed McClendon from his position and will soon replace him with an independent chairman....

American Depositary Receipts make foreign investing easier and safer for individual investors. The foreign company must provide detailed financial information to U.S. regulators and to the sponsor, or depositary, bank or broker. As well, since ADRs trade on U.S. stock exchanges in U.S. dollars, you don’t have to worry about currency exchange rates, foreign stock exchange rules, or language barriers. Today we highlight one of the world’s most prominent commodity stocks, an ADR with its home base in Australia, and one that made headlines in Canada when its attempted takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (Toronto symbol POT) was blocked by Ottawa in 2010....

American Depositary Receipts make foreign investing easier and safer for individual investors. The foreign company must provide detailed financial information to U.S. regulators and to the sponsor, or depositary, bank or broker. As well, since ADRs trade on U.S. stock exchanges in U.S. dollars, you don’t have to worry about currency exchange rates, foreign stock exchange rules, or language barriers. We have a high opinion of these four global leaders, but not all are buys right now. BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $63 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $170.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) is the world’s largest mining company, with operations in Australia, South Africa, Chile and the U.K. It produces iron ore, coal, oil, natural gas, aluminum, manganese, diamonds and titanium....