investment

RUSSEL METALS INC., $31.50, symbol RUS on Toronto, reported strong quarterly results this week. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Russel’s revenue rose 30.4%, to $1.04 billion from $796.8 million a year earlier. The company’s metal-services business raised its prices in response to higher demand, increasing its revenue by 14% in the latest quarter. The energy products division, which supplies pipes for oil and gas exploration and development, saw its revenue jump 41%....

TRANSCANADA CORP., $56.05, Toronto symbol TRP, rose this week in response to the U.S. mid-term elections, which gave the Republican Party control of the Senate. That makes it more likely that the U.S. government will approve the company’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Due to various delays, the company now expects Keystone XL to cost $8.0 billion U.S., up 48.1% from its 2008 estimate of $5.4 billion U.S. To date, it has spent $2.4 billion U.S. on this project. TransCanada also plans to spend $2.7 billion to expand its Nova pipeline network in Western Canada to handle rising shale gas production in Alberta and B.C. In addition, it will invest $475 million to upgrade its Ontario gas pipelines. The company expects to complete these projects in 2016 and 2017....

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $11.76 (New York Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index. The fund has now regained all of the ground it lost in the recent market downturn. Its latest rise came after the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan announced huge increases in their economic stimulus programs. Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s so-called “Abenomics” strategy, the Bank of Japan has pumped money into the country’s economy. However, consumer spending has remained sluggish, especially after the government raised the sales tax to 8% from 5% on April 1, 2014....

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $35.46 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 74.6 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.alliedreit.com) owns 138 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.9 million square feet of leasable area. Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors. Allied bought $400 million of properties in 2012 and $182.4 million worth in 2013. In the first half of 2014, it added six more for $110.0 million....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on stock investment tips as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday.

This week an Inner Circle member asked us about the biggest retailer of natural and organic foods in the U.S. Whole Foods is the clear leader in its niche market and has expanded beyond the United States with nine stores in Canada and nine in the U.K. Pat assesses the company’s success in tapping into the growing interest in natural foods, its ambitious expansion plans and the state of its balance sheet. He also looks at its ability to improve efficiency and keep prices in line as it attempts to capture a growing share of the increasingly health-conscious baby boom generation.

Q: Hi, Pat. Thanks for your many years of great advice. Could you please give me your thoughts on Whole Foods?

A: Whole Foods Market Inc. (symbol WFM on Nasdaq; www.wholefoodsmarket.com), is the largest retailer of natural and organic foods in the U.S. The company was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, when three local businessmen decided the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket format.

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TRANSCANADA CORP. $56.86 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 708.0 million; Market cap: $39.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.4%; www.transcanada.com) recently completed the purchase of three more Ontario solar power plants from Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq symbol CSIQ). TransCanada now owns seven of the nine solar farms it agreed to buy from Canadian Solar in 2011. It will probably take possession of the remaining two in 2015. In all, it will pay about $500 million. The company has 20-year deals to sell the power from these solar farms, which cuts this investment’s risk....

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. Today’s stock is covered in our advisory on more aggressive investing, Stock Pickers Digest.

DEVON ENERGY CORP. (New York symbol DVN; www.dvn.com) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 48% gas and 52% oil.

In 2011, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop.

The company narrowed its focus even further with the July 2014 sale of some of its properties to Linn Energy for $2.3 billion. The sale included Devon’s holdings in the Rockies, the onshore Gulf Coast and the Mid-Continent region (which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas).

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When I sat down to write about the 2014 U.S. mid-term Congressional Election results, I was struck by how little things had changed since the 2010 mid-term. Here’s what I wrote four years ago for our Inner Circle Q&A about the 2010 U.S. mid-term: “November 9, 2010 Dear Inner Circle member,...

Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., $34.34, symbol WTE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 74.3 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; www.westshore.com), owns a coal storage and loading terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C., about 30 kilometres south of Vancouver. The terminal started up in 1970. Teck Resources accounts for 56% of the terminal’s volume, and other Canadian coal producers supply 12%. The remaining 32% comes from U.S. customers. Producers ship their coal to the terminal by rail. Westshore then loads it onto ships that deliver it to customers in over 20 countries. The company does not purchase the coal. Instead, it receives a handling fee for loading it....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of stock market advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “The value and quality of the stocks you consider are far more important than what the share price happens to be doing at any given moment.”...