enbridge

NEWMONT MINING $26.31 (New York symbol NEM; Shares outstanding: 498.8 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.4%; www.newmont.com) recently shut down its 48.5%-owned Batu Hijau copper/gold mine in Indonesia. The move was in response to the Indonesian government’s ban on raw material exports, which is aimed at pushing miners to process more ore in the country. Newmont has now agreed to develop a new smelter with Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (New York symbol FCX), which also operates a copper mine in Indonesia. In addition, Batu Hijau has signed new deals to supply copper to two Indonesian companies that plan to build their own smelters. These developments should let Batu Hijau comply with the new regulations. The mine will probably reopen in the next few weeks....

Keyera Corp. $97.75, symbol KEY on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 83.9 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; www.keyera.com), provides a number of services to the oil and gas industry, including gathering, processing, storage and transportation. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, the company reported cash flow of $1.04 a share, up 3.0% from $1.01 a year earlier. Keyera raised its monthly dividend by 7.5%, to $0.215 a share from $0.20, beginning with the June 2014 payment. The stock now yields 2.6%....

ENBRIDGE INC. $53.46 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 834.8 million; Market cap: $45.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividendyield: 2.6%; www.enbridge.com) recently won Ottawa’s approval for its Northern Gateway pipeline.

The project faces strong opposition from environmentalists and First Nations. As well, the Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that makes it easier for aboriginal groups to claim title to their traditional lands.

However, Enbridge does not expect the ruling to block Northern Gateway. There are no land claims along the pipeline’s route, and the company has signed equity-sharing deals with 26 First Nations.

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CAE INC. $13.45, Toronto symbol CAE, plans to sell its mining operations, which make simulators for training workers to operate underground trucks, loaders and drills. This business supplies just 2% of the company’s revenue. The mining operations were part of CAE’s New Core Markets division, which applies the company’s flight simulator expertise to other industries. This division, now called Healthcare, will focus on medical-simulation products, such as mannequins for training nurses and medical students. In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended June 30, 2014, CAE’s earnings from ongoing operations fell 2.0%, to $43.6 million from $44.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.17, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19. Lower earnings from the company’s military-related businesses offset strong gains from its commercial division....

ENBRIDGE INC. $53.46 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 834.8 million; Market cap: $45.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividendyield: 2.6%; www.enbridge.com) recently won Ottawa’s approval for its Northern Gateway pipeline. The project faces strong opposition from environmentalists and First Nations. As well, the Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that makes it easier for aboriginal groups to claim title to their traditional lands. However, Enbridge does not expect the ruling to block Northern Gateway. There are no land claims along the pipeline’s route, and the company has signed equity-sharing deals with 26 First Nations....

ENBRIDGE INC. $50.81 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 834.8 million; Market cap: $4242 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.8%; www.enbridge.com) has won approval from Ottawa for its Northern Gateway pipeline.

The line will pump crude from Alberta’s oil sands to Kitimat, B.C. From there, tankers would ship the oil to customers in Asia.

It will cost $7.9 billion to build this project. However, that estimate is sure to rise as other oil sands and pipeline projects drive up labour and material costs.

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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $21.94 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.1%; TD Bank, 7.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.4%; Suncor Energy, 4.8%; CN Railway, 4.2%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Enbridge, 3.1%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 3.0%; Manulife Financial, 2.9%; CIBC, 2.8%; BCE, 2.7%; TransCanada Corp., 2.6%; Potash Corp., 2.5%; CP Rail, 2.2%; and Cenovus, 1.9%.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $52 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 834.8 million; Market cap: $43.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) had hoped to complete its new Flanagan South pipeline in the third quarter of 2014, but the company now says it will start up in the fourth quarter.

Flanagan South will connect Enbridge’s main oil-export pipeline in Illinois with storage facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma. From there, the company will pump the oil to refineries in Texas. The new line will let Enbridge transport up to 775,000 barrels a day on this route, up from just 175,000 on its existing Spearhead line.

Demand for this extra capacity should be strong, because it will let oil producers ship more of their crude from Western Canada and North Dakota’s Bakken area to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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ENCANA CORP. $24 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 740.9 million; Market cap: $17.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to sell its operations in Alberta’s Bighorn area to privately held Jupiter Resources. Encana will get $1.8 billion when the sale closes in the next few weeks (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). To put that in context, the company earned $515 million, or $0.70 a share, in the quarter ended March 31, 2014. The company is also selling a gas-fired power plant and its 50% stake in a second plant, both in Alberta, for an undisclosed sum....

BCE INC., $48.80, Toronto symbol BCE, fell slightly in response to the federal government’s new plan to auction off more blocks of high-quality wireless frequencies (or spectrum). Ottawa has set aside 60% of this spectrum for smaller wireless providers. It will also limit how much of the remainder that larger providers like BCE can buy. Ottawa hopes these moves will encourage other wireless carriers, which mainly operate in certain regions, to expand into other parts of Canada. The new rules are unlikely to substantially hurt BCE’s wireless operations, which supply 28% of its revenue. Meanwhile, the company continues to see strong demand for its Fibe service, which uses fibre optic cable to deliver high-speed Internet and digital TV. As of March 31, 2014, it had 534,110 Fibe TV subscribers in Ontario and Quebec, up 80.6% from a year earlier....