CP

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. (Toronto symbol CP; www.cpr.ca) fell almost 7% this week after activist investor Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. announced that it will sell 7 million of its CP shares over the next year. Pershing currently holds 24 million CP shares, or 14.2% of the total outstanding. In June 2012, Pershing helped install Hunter Harrison as CP’s chief executive officer. Mr. Harrison is the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co. (Toronto symbol CNR)....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $123.16 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 174.6 million; Market cap: $21.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca) continues to benefit from a major restructuring plan, which includes new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

In the first three months of 2013, CP’s earnings jumped 52.8%, to $217 million, or $1.24 a share. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.21. A year earlier, the company earned $142 million, or $0.82 a share.

Revenue rose 8.6%, to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion. The company saw revenue gains from shipping consumer and industrial products (up 24.8%), fertilizers (up 20.6%), grain (up 9.0%), coal (up 8.8%) and forest products (up 6.0%). That offset declines in automotive products (down 7.6%) and intermodal (down 4.2%).
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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $132 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 174.7 million; Market cap: $23.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) continues to benefit from a major restructuring plan, which includes new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

In the first three months of 2013, CP’s earnings jumped 52.8%, to $217 million, or $1.24 a share. A year earlier, the company earned $142 million, or $0.82 a share.

The higher earnings are mainly due to CP’s improving efficiency. Its operating ratio improved to 75.8% from 80.1% a year ago. The company aims to cut its operating ratio to 65% by the middle of 2016.
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CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $102 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 424.1 million; Market cap: $43.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. The company’s 32,350-kilometre network stretches across Canada and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

Ottawa nationalized CN in 1918 because of the vital role the company played in Canada’s early growth. In 1995, CN became a publicly traded company. Unlike CP, Ottawa limits a single investor’s ownership in CN to 15%.

Due to a drop in freight volumes during the recession, CN’s revenue fell 13.1%, from $8.5 billion in 2008 to $7.4 billion in 2009. Revenue recovered to $8.3 billion in 2010 and surged to $9.9 billion in 2012.

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CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $83.78, Toronto symbol CTC.A, jumped 13% this week after the company announced a plan to spin off most of its real estate holdings into a new, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). Under the company’s plan, which is similar to a move by grocery retailer Loblaw Companies Ltd. (Toronto symbol L), Canadian Tire will transfer 250 of its stores, a distribution centre and other properties to the new REIT. In all, these assets total 18 million square feet and are worth $3.5 billion; that’s 72% of Canadian Tire’s 25 million square feet of real estate. After this transaction closes in the fall of 2013, Canadian Tire will sell units of the REIT to the public. It will hang on to an 80% to 90% interest. Meanwhile, the company earned $73.0 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013. That’s up 2.8% from $71.0 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 3.4%, to $0.90 from $0.87, on fewer shares outstanding. That matched the consensus estimate....

We made CP Rail (see box at right) our “Stock of the Year” for 2012 because we felt its earnings would jump if it cut costs and made better use of its trains. A U.S.-based activist investor agreed with us and brought in CN Rail’s former chief executive officer, Hunter Harrison, who helped make CN North America’s most efficient railroad.

Some investors feel that a stronger CP will hurt CN....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $132 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 174.7 million; Market cap: $23.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) continues to benefit from a major restructuring plan, which includes new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

In the first three months of 2013, CP’s earnings jumped 52.8%, to $217 million, or $1.24 a share....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $123.16 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 174.6 million; Market cap: $21.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca) continues to benefit from a major restructuring plan, which includes new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

In the first three months of 2013, CP’s earnings jumped 52.8%, to $217 million, or $1.24 a share....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $122.51 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 174.2 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca), transports freight between Montreal and Vancouver and connects with hubs in the U.S. midwest and northeast.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2012, CP’s revenue rose 6.7%, to $1.50 billion from $1.41 billion a year earlier. Earnings rose 17.9%, to $224 million, or $1.28 a share, from $190 million, or $1.11.

CP’s operating ratio improved to 74.3% in the latest quarter from 78.5% a year ago. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing regular operating costs by revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.) The company shipped more goods and made better use of its assets in the latest quarter. CEO Hunter Harrison feels he can cut CP’s operating ratio to as low as 65% by 2016.
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TECK RESOURCES LTD., $26.27, Toronto symbol TCK.B, reported lower quarterly revenue and earnings this week. That’s mainly because slowing industrial activity in China and elsewhere has hurt prices for its metallurgical coal, which is a key ingredient in steelmaking. Prices of Teck’s other commodities, such as copper and zinc, also declined. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Teck earned $328 million, or $0.56 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as gains and losses on asset sales. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.41 a share. However, they are down 39.7% from $544 million, or $0.93 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 8.5%, to $2.3 billion from $2.5 billion. Even with the decline, the latest figure also beat the consensus estimate of $2.2 billion....