investment

EMERA INC. (Toronto symbol EMA; www.emera.com) is Nova Scotia’s main power supplier. It also holds interests in electrical utilities in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Other operations include the Brunswick pipeline, which pumps natural gas from the U.S. to a liquefied natural gas plant in New Brunswick....

Every industry and group has its own special jargon. This specialized language always has the same purpose. It simplifies communications within the industry, and helps make insiders feel they are part of a tightly knit community. It also helps the group pursue its goals. It does that by shaping concepts so that they facilitate lines of thought and discussions that match the industry’s view of the world....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $30.69 (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 121.2 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 85% of all proxy votes in the U.S.

In its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2013, Broadridge’s earnings jumped 61.4%, to $134.6 million from $83.4 million a year earlier. Pershare earnings rose 67.2%, to $1.12 from $0.67, on fewer shares outstanding.

If you disregard unusual items, such as writedowns and costs to integrate recent acquisitions, Broadridge’s per-share earnings would have risen 12.7%, to $1.15 from $1.02. On that basis, the company’s latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $1.09 a share.
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TIM HORTONS $58.56 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 153.1 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.8%) operates 3,468 coffee-anddonut shops in Canada, 807 in the U.S. and 29 in the Persian Gulf.

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Tim Hortons’ sales rose 1.9%, to $800.1 million from $785.6 million a year earlier. Same-store sales increased 1.5% at its Canadian outlets and 1.4% in the U.S. Earnings per share rose 17.4%, to $0.81 from $0.69.

The company continues to benefit from new menu items it has recently introduced, such as panini sandwiches. It also raised its prices to cover higher ingredient costs.
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Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on what stocks to buy and other questions on investment strategy and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. 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 one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about the popular online movie and TV service Netflix. A pioneer in sending DVD’s by mail and offering online entertainment at a low monthly fee, the company has seen its share price rocket by over 360% in less than a year. Pat examines the company’s aggressive thrust into producing original content as it seeks to maintain its dominant position in an increasingly competitive industry. ...

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; www.chemtradelogistics.com) is one of North America’s largest providers of removal services for resource firms, such as oil refineries and base-metal processors. These companies create sulphur, acid and other by-products as part of their activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid. Chemtrade’s Marsulex subsidiary provides a range of environmental services, including improving air quality and treating and handling industrial waste....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you our specific advice on successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing advice and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “Index-linked GICs are one of the newer investment products that promise safety but usually deliver more in fees and commissions than in profits for investors.”...

FEDEX CORP. (New York symbol FDX; www.fedex.com) delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries and territories. The stock has moved up in the past few weeks, partly due to speculation that activist investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management will soon make a significant investment in FedEx....

Gold has dropped by a third or more from the $1,800 U.S. peak it reached last October. Many investors now wonder if this is a heaven-sent second opportunity to buy. Others wonder if they should wait for the price to drop to, say, $1,000. I don’t have any such strong feeling about owning gold. Then again, I also don’t share the widespread feeling that gold is a great crisis barometer, safe haven, or hedge against disaster/chaos/social breakdown or whatever. My feeling is that gold first gained its safe-haven reputation centuries ago, when wars were more common and cities still maintained walls around them to keep out marauders. You could bury a few gold coins under a dirt floor and the soldiers or robbers might miss them....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $46 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $32.5 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) operates a 57,000- kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to Eastern Canada and the U.S. The company’s pipelines supply 20% of North America’s natural gas. In 2012, they provided 53% of TransCanada’s revenue and 60% of its earnings.

The company also owns or invests in 21 power plants in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern U.S. In all, these facilities have over 11,800 megawatts of generating capacity. TransCanada’s electricity operations now supply 34% of its revenue and 21% of its earnings.

In 2011, the company started up its oil-pipeline division. This business mainly consists of the Keystone pipeline, which pumps oil from Alberta to refineries in Illinois, and a distribution hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. Oil pipelines supply the remaining 13% of TransCanada’s revenue and 19% of its earnings.
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