Enbridge Inc.

TRANSCANADA CORP. (Toronto symbol TRP; www.transcanada.com) has agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline around an environmentally sensitive aquifer in Nebraska’s Sandhills region. The state government will work closely with TransCanada to find an acceptable route. That should speed up the environmental approval process for this Canadian stock’s biggest pipeline project....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $42.88 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 704.0 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) has agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline around an environmentally sensitive aquifer in Nebraska’s Sandhills region. The state government will work closely with TransCanada to find an acceptable route. That should speed up the environmental approval process. Keystone XL will pump oil from the Alberta oil sands through Oklahoma to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Last week, the U.S. State Department postponed a final decision on the project until 2013 to give TransCanada time to find a better route through Nebraska. This compromise makes it less likely that TransCanada will have to write off the $1.9 billion that it has already spent on the $7-billion project....

TRANSCANADA CORP., $41.57, Toronto symbol TRP, has agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline around an environmentally sensitive aquifer in Nebraska’s Sandhills region. The state government will work closely with TransCanada to find an acceptable route. That should speed up the environmental approval process. Keystone XL will pump oil from the Alberta oil sands through Oklahoma to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Last week, the U.S. State Department postponed a final decision on the project until 2013 to give TransCanada time to find a better route through Nebraska. This compromise makes it less likely that TransCanada will have to write off the $1.9 billion U.S. that it has already spent on the $7-billion U.S. project. To put these figures in context, the company’s cash flow was $2.8 billion (Canadian), or $3.97 a share, in the first nine months of 2011....

ENBRIDGE INC. $35 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 774.5 million; Market cap: $27.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) is buying 50% of a 300-megawatt wind power project northeast of Quebec City. This investment will cost Enbridge $330 million, or 25% of the $1.3 billion, or $1.75 a share, of cash flow that it reported for the first half of 2011. Wind farms are uneconomic, but operators profit from subsidies. This project has a 20-year deal to sell its power to Hydro-Quebec. Enbridge is a buy.

Enbridge continues to build new oil and gas pipelines. These are expensive projects, but the company’s regulated businesses give it lots of cash flow to keep expanding and raising its dividend. ENBRIDGE INC. $34.46 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 760.0 million; Market cap: $26.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.8%; www.enbridge.com) gets 80% of its revenue by operating pipelines that pump crude oil and natural gas from western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S. The remaining 20% mainly comes from distributing gas to two million consumers in Ontario, Quebec and parts of New York State. It’s also developing a gas distribution system in New Brunswick....

EMERA INC. $33 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 121.8 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) gets 70% of its revenue from Nova Scotia Power Inc., which is Nova Scotia’s main electrical-power supplier. It gets the rest comes from its interests in pipelines and power companies in the U.S. and Caribbean. Emera’s regulated businesses provide over 80% of its earnings. That gives it plenty of steady cash flows for dividends: Emera recently raised its quarterly dividend by 3.8%, to $0.3375 a share from $0.325. The new annual rate of $1.35 yields 4.1%. Emera is a buy....

PRECISION DRILLING CORP., $9.54, Toronto symbol PD, sells contract-drilling services to oil and natural-gas producers. Precision owns 360 drilling rigs in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The company continues to see strong demand for its Super Series horizontal-drilling rigs. Horizontal drilling involves drilling development wells sideways or at an angle to reach isolated pockets of oil or gas, or to follow a reservoir spread out in a narrow layer. Horizontal drilling works well in situations where conventional drilling is either impossible or too expensive. This week, Precision announced that it will build eight more Super Series rigs. That brings the total number of Super Series rigs it will build this year up to 38. Precision expects to deliver 18 of these rigs in 2011, and the remaining 20 in 2012. Customers have already signed long-term contracts for these rigs. That cuts the risk of these investments....

RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD., $21.36, Toronto symbol RIM, rose earlier this week on speculation that activist investor Carl Icahn is planning to buy a stake in the company.

Mr. Icahn has a long history of pushing companies to make changes that help increase shareholder value. In RIM’s case, that may involve splitting the company into two separate firms. One would sell BlackBerry smartphones and email servers to corporate clients, and the other would focus on consumer products. Icahn may also push RIM to increase its earnings by licensing more of its wireless technology patents.

The company’s two co-founders own 11% of the outstanding shares. That would hinder any radical changes. Still, Mr. Icahn’s involvement would draw investor attention to RIM’s value.

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RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD., $23.50, Toronto symbol RIM, reported lower than-expected revenue and earnings, mainly because demand for the company’s older BlackBerry smartphones has slowed as it launches newer models. That caused the stock to fall 20% on Friday.

In RIM’s second quarter, which ended August 27, 2011, revenue fell 9.8%, to $4.2 billion from $4.6 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). That fell short of the consensus revenue estimate of $4.5 billion.

Earnings fell 58.7%, to $329 million, or $0.63 a share, from $797 million, or $1.46 a share. The company is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce as it streamlines its operations. If you exclude severance payments and related costs, RIM would have earned $419 million, or $0.80 a share, in the latest quarter. On this basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $0.89 a share.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $32 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 776.4 million; Market cap: $24.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) continues to win support from shippers for its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Edmonton to a storage terminal in Kitimat, B.C. From there, the oil would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to Asia. Oil-sands operators have already pledged $100 million to the pipeline, which could cost $5.5 billion to build. Northern Gateway still faces strong opposition from environmentalists and Aboriginal groups, but if regulators approve, it could begin operating in 2017. Enbridge is a buy.