Enbridge Inc.

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, April 5, 2012. RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD., $14.63, Toronto symbol RIM, earned $418 million, or $0.80 a share, in its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter, which ended March 3, 2012 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). These figures exclude a $346-million (after-tax) writedown of goodwill and a $197-million writedown of inventory of unsold BlackBerry smartphones. On this basis, RIM’s latest earnings fell short of the consensus estimate of $0.81 a share. The latest earnings are also down 55.2% from $934 million, or $1.78 a share, a year earlier....

ENBRIDGE INC. $38 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 782.3 million; Market cap: $29.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) plans to build a new pipeline that would pump shale oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to refineries in the U.S. and Canada. If it can sign up enough oil shippers, this new line would increase Enbridge’s capacity in the region by 67,000 barrels a day by the end of 2013. Right now, the company’s North Dakota pipelines can pump 210,000 barrels a day.

The new line would cost $650 million, which is equal to 59% of the $1.1 billion, or $1.48 a share, that Enbridge earned in 2011. However, investments like this will help it take advantage of rising oil production in North Dakota, which has quadrupled since 2005.

Enbridge is a buy.

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BCE INC. $39.64, Toronto symbol BCE, is buying Astral Media Inc. (Toronto symbols ACM.A and ACM.B). Montreal-based Astral owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and several pay TV and specialty channels, such as The Movie Network, Family Channel and Teletoon. It also owns billboards and sells other outdoor advertising services in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. The purchase price is $3.4 billion, including $380 million of Astral’s debt. BCE will pay roughly 75% of this cost in cash and 25% in common shares. To put this purchase in context, BCE earned $2.4 billion, or $3.13 a share, in 2011....

ENBRIDGE INC. $38 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 782.3 million; Market cap: $29.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) plans to build a new pipeline that would pump shale oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to refineries in the U.S. and Canada. If it can sign up enough oil shippers, this new line would increase Enbridge’s capacity in the region by 67,000 barrels a day by the end of 2013. Right now, the company’s North Dakota pipelines can pump 210,000 barrels a day. The new line would cost $650 million, which is equal to 59% of the $1.1 billion, or $1.48 a share, that Enbridge earned in 2011. However, investments like this will help it take advantage of rising oil production in North Dakota, which has quadrupled since 2005. Enbridge is a buy.

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $40.00, Toronto symbol SNC, fell 18% this week after the company warned that its 2011 earnings will be $80 million, or 18% below its earlier forecast. In 2010, SNC earned $437.0 million, or $2.87 a share. The earnings drop is partly due to $35 million in unusual payments related to certain construction contracts. Because of the recent civil war, SNC will also write down the value of its Libyan operations, including a prison, an airport and a water treatment system, by $23 million. The company did not say if the unusual payments are connected to its Libyan projects. SNC is working with its external auditors and legal advisors to examine these payments and certain other contracts. The company still aims to report its 2011 earnings by March 30, 2012. However, the stock will likely remain under pressure until SNC clarifies the nature and extent of these payments....

LOBLAW COMPANIES $34.72 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 281.4 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.4%; www.loblaw.ca) continues to make progress with its multi-year plan to streamline its supply chain and avoid product shortages. The company says that about 99% of its products are now in stock at its 1,000 supermarkets across Canada. These upgrades have helped improve Loblaw’s results: in 2011, sales gained 1.3%, to $31.3 billion from $30.8 billion in 2010. Same-store sales rose 0.9%. Earnings rose 13.9% in 2011, to $769 million, or $2.71 a share, from $675 million, or $2.38. Loblaw is a buy....

ENBRIDGE INC. $39 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 779.2 million; Market cap: $30.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) gets 85% of its revenue by operating pipelines that pump crude oil and natural gas from western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S. The company’s pipelines handle 65% of all western Canadian crude oil exports.

The remaining 15% of revenue mainly comes from distributing natural gas to 2 million consumers in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State.

Enbridge’s revenue rose 51.5%, from $10.6 billion in 2006 to $16.1 billion in 2008. Revenue fell 22.7% in 2009, to $12.5 billion, as the recession cut gas sales and prices. New pipelines pushed up revenue by 21.3%, to $15.1 billion, in 2010.

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Enbridge continues to invest heavily in its pipelines and other businesses. Since 2008, it has started up over $12 billion worth of new growth projects. That’s equal to 39% of its market cap. The company now wants to take advantage of rising oil sands production by building the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Edmonton to a proposed storage terminal in Kitimat, B.C. From there, the oil would be shipped by tanker to refineries in Asia. At $5.5 billion, Northern Gateway is the single biggest pipeline project in Enbridge’s 63-year history. If regulators approve, the line could start up in 2017....

In next week’s Successful Investor Hotline, we’ll reveal our #1 stock pick for 2012. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to profit. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $69.08, Toronto symbol CP, rose 4% this week on media reports that Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. is pressuring the company to replace its current chief executive officer with Hunter Harrison, the retired CEO of rival Canadian National Railway Co. (Toronto symbol CNR). Pershing Square is an activist investment firm that is now CP’s largest shareholder. CP’s shares have gained 8.3% since October 28, 2011 when Pershing Square said that it had bought 12.2% of the company on. Pershing Square now owns 14.2% of CP....

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $51.85 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $57.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%, www.scotiabank.com) earned $5.3 billion in the year ended October 31, 2011. That’s up 21.4% from $4.3 billion in 2010. Earnings per share rose 18.2%, to $4.62 from $3.91, on more shares outstanding. Revenue rose 11.5%, to a record $17.3 billion from $15.5 billion. Strong gains at its international and wealth-management operations offset slower growth at its Canadian banking and securities-trading divisions. The bank’s 2012 earnings should rise to $4.82 a share. The stock trades at just 10.8 times that figure. The $2.08 dividend yields 4.0%. The bank paid out 44% of its earnings as dividends in fiscal 2011, which was within its target of 40% to 50%. That gives it room to raise its dividend in fiscal 2012....