investment

BCE INC. $42 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 773.6 million; Market cap: $32.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is joining a consortium of investors, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to buy privately held Q9 Networks Inc., which provides data-storage and web-hosting services to businesses across Canada. Q9 has 11 data centres in Ontario, Alberta and B.C.

This investment will help BCE take advantage of growing demand from business clients for reliable cloud-computing services. BCE already operates six data centres. It will open a seventh later this year.

BCE will pay $180 million for a 30% stake in Q9 when the deal closes, probably by the end of 2012. The purchase price is equal to 31% of the $580 million, or $0.75 a share, that BCE earned in the three months ended March 31, 2012.

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GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $21 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 949.8 million; Market cap: $19.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend Yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $523.0 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds, as well as retirement-planning and wealthmanagement services. Canada accounts for 53% of the company’s earnings, followed by Europe (31%) and the U.S. (16%).

In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Great-West’s earnings rose 8.7%, to $451 million, or $0.48 a share. A year earlier, it earned $415 million, or $0.44 a share. Revenue rose 3.9%, to $6.5 billion from $6.3 billion.

The gains mainly came from its European division, which earned $141 million, up 64.0% from $86 million a year earlier. That’s because it set aside $75 million in the year-earlier quarter to cover claims related to the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. Earnings fell 1.2% in Canada and 14.8% in the U.S.

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SHAWCOR LTD. $33 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.7 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting (88% of revenue). It also manufactures electrical wire and protective sheaths (12% of revenue).

So far this year, ShawCor has won over $45 million U.S. of coating orders related to big offshore natural gas projects near Australia. In addition, it has received a $30-million U.S. contract to coat undersea pipelines for a gas platform off the coast of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, ShawCor’s revenue rose 11.7% in the three months ended March 31, 2012, to $312.3 million from $279.5 million a year earlier. The company is benefiting as pipeline operators expand their operations to handle higher oil and gas production in North America and Latin America.

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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $73 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 170.9 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) has attracted a lot of media attention lately. That’s mainly due to efforts by a U.S.-based investment firm that wants to improve its performance and possibly spark a takeover offer.

In our three-part Successful Investor portfolio strategy, we advise investors to invest mainly in well-established companies, spread your money out across the five main economic sectors, and downplay stocks that are in the broker/media limelight, which can bloat investor expectations.

Downturns can be brutal when stocks fail to live up to those inflated expectations. So, investors have asked why we chose a #1 stock that’s in what they see as ‘the limelight’. The difference is in the definition.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investment topics 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. Inner Circle members often ask us about dividend stocks In this case, Pat responds to a question about a U.S. company that provides business outsourcing services to a wide variety of clients and is counting on strategic acquisitions and an improving employment rate to keep its dividend rising. ...

MICROSOFT CORP., $30.70, Nasdaq symbol MSFT, plans to launch a new tablet computer, called the Surface, powered by its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. The company will make two versions of the Surface, both of which will feature a 10.6-inch touch-screen display and a protective cover with a built-in keyboard. The first version will cost about the same as similar tablets. The second, more expensive model will run Microsoft’s Office suite of business programs and will cost about the same as a lightweight laptop computer. The company did not say when it would start selling these devices, but it will probably launch the cheaper model this fall, before the Christmas shopping season....

ENCANA CORP., $20.37, Toronto symbol ECA, continues to produce more oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs), such as ethane, propane and butane. NGLs tend to be priced at the same level as crude oil. The company is shifting toward oil and NGLs because low natural gas prices are cutting profits at its regular gas business, which supplied 95% of its overall production in the first quarter of 2012. Encana does not plan to cut its natural gas production. This week, Encana announced that it will spend an extra $600 million (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars) on its oil and NGL properties this year. The company had originally planned to spend $2.9 billion on all of its capital projects in 2012....

This is the latest in a series of video interviews in which Pat McKeough will give his advice on a variety of topics. Some will deal with his overall investment philosophy, others on specific investment strategies and still others will be comments on events that are affecting the markets and the economy. This time, the topic is one that figures into the retirement planning of many Canadians. Is my home an investment? Make sure you’ve made careful and complete calculations before you come to that conclusion, advises Pat.
Planning for Retirement: Your House as an Investment...

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $15.05 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics.com; Units outstanding: 41.7 million; Market cap: $627.6 million; Dividend yield: 8.0%) 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 processing activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid. In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Chemtrade’s revenue rose 34.4%, to $227.9 million from $169.6 million. That mostly reflects the contribution of Marsulex Inc., which Chemtrade bought for $419.5 million in cash and stock in June 2011. Cash flow rose 6.0%, to $27.5 million from $25.9 million. Cash flow per share fell 28.6%, to $0.66 from $0.84, on more shares outstanding from the Marsulex purchase....

YAMANA GOLD $16.36 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 746.0 million; Market cap: $12.2 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) owns seven operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina, and has three other properties in advanced stages of development. In the quarter ended March 31, 2012, Yamana’s revenue rose 17.6%, to $559.7 million from $476.1 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The company increased its production and benefited from higher gold prices. Earnings per share rose 19.0%, to $0.25 from $0.21. Yamana held a high cash balance of $867.6 million, or $1.16 a share, on March 31. Its $766.0 million of debt is just 6.3% of its market cap. Thanks to the improved results, the company is raising its quarterly dividend by 18.2% with the July 2012 payment, to $0.065 from $0.055. The shares now yield 1.3%....