holding company

MCDONALD’S CORP., $98.74, New York symbol MCD, reported lower quarterly results this week. However, the stock rose 4% on news that the company will soon unveil a new plan to spur sales. That’s in addition to several already-announced initiatives, like a simpler menu and a phase-out of chicken raised with certain antibiotics. It’s also closing 700 less profitable outlets, or about 2% of its 36,000 locations. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s earnings per share fell 30.6%, to $0.84 from $1.21 a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, McDonald’s earned $1.01 a share in the latest quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06. As well, 70% of its sales come from overseas, and the high U.S. dollar cut the latest earnings by $0.09 a share....

POWER CORP. $33.52 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.5%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial.

These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider.

As well, Power Financial owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 55.5% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European firms: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), SGS (inspection, testing and certification services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia.

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POWER CORP. $33.52 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.5%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial. These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider. As well, Power Financial owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 55.5% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European firms: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), SGS (inspection, testing and certification services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia....

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Good Friday holiday, our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, April 2, 2015. KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC., $89.10, Nasdaq symbol KRFT, jumped 40% this week after agreeing to merge with rival food maker H.J. Heinz. The new firm—The Kraft Heinz Company—will be North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and fifth-biggest in the world. It will have $28 billion of annual revenue, including eight brands with over $1 billion in yearly sales....

POWER CORP. $31.38 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 3.7%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial. These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider. Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds 55.5% of Switzerland- listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), SGS (inspection, testing and certification services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia....

POWER CORP. $31.38 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 3.7%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial.

These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider.

Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds 55.5% of Switzerland- listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), SGS (inspection, testing and certification services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia.

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PG&E Corp., $58.16, symbol PCG on New York (Shares outstanding: 475.1 million; Market cap: $27.6 billion; www.pgecorp.com), is a holding company for Pacific Gas and Electric, which supplies power and natural gas, mainly in northern and central California. The company serves 5.3 million power customers (80% of revenue) and 4.4 million gas users (20%). PG&E’s electricity revenue breaks down as follows: 41% residential, 39% commercial, 11% industrial, 8% agricultural and 1% from other customers. Natural gas distribution revenue is 60% residential and 40% commercial. The company buys 57% of its power from other producers. It also generates electricity from its own plants: nuclear (24%), hydroelectric (11%) and gas (8%)....

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, $47.36, symbol BIP.UN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 150.2 million; Market cap: $7.1 billion; www.brookfieldinfrastructure.com), owns and operates utilities, transport and energy assets in North and South America, Australasia and Europe. These holdings include power lines, railroads, ports, toll roads and energy storage facilities. The company has just bought a 23% interest in TDF, France’s largest independent communication tower operator, for $500 million. The telecom industry is new to Brookfield, but the company has been studying it for some time. Brookfield’s units yield 4.6%....

Every Thursday we bring you our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Procter & Gamble’s sales have slowed in recent years, mainly due to competition from cheaper generic brands. In response, the company is eliminating less profitable household goods and cutting costs. It’s also doing a good job of developing new products and finding new markets for existing ones. These moves will give Procter more room to adjust its prices without hurting its profit margins. They’ll also provide more cash for share buybacks and dividend hikes....

WAL-MART STORES INC., $82.96, New York symbol WMT, rose 5% this week after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. In the third quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2014, Wal-Mart’s earnings fell 0.4%, to $3.71 billion from $3.73 billion a year earlier. However, earnings per share rose 0.9%, to $1.15 from $1.14, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.12. Revenue rose 2.9%, to $119.0 billion from $115.7 billion, also exceeding the consensus forecast of $118.4 billion. If you disregard unfavourable currency rates, Wal-Mart’s sales would have risen 3.1% in the latest quarter....