oil and gas

Aecon Group Inc., $14.77, symbol ARE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 56.9 million; Market cap: $853.4 million; www.aecon.com), is one of Canada’s largest infrastructure developers. The company and its predecessors helped to build Canadian landmarks such as the CN Tower, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Calgary Olympic Oval and the Halifax Shipyards. Aecon has three main divisions: The energy group accounted for 43% of the company’s revenue in the latest quarter. It builds facilities and components for clients in the power industry, including nuclear reactors....

Energy sector stocks can round out any well balanced portfolio—and there is a crucial role they can play

NISSAN MOTOR CO., $19.30, symbol NSANY on Nasdaq, is Japan’s second-largest automaker, after Toyota and ahead of Honda. Nissan is up 13% over the last week after announcing that it will buy back as many of 300 million of its common shares, or 6.7% of the total outstanding. The share repurchase will cost as much as 400 billion yen, or $3.5 billion U.S. The company plans to complete those buybacks by December 22, 2016....

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $59.50, Toronto symbol BNS, reported better-than-expected results this week. It also raised its dividend.

For the fiscal 2016 first quarter, earnings rose 5.1%, to $1.8 billion from $1.7 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 5.9%, to $1.43 from $1.35. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.42.

The bank’s revenue also beat the consensus forecast, of $6.3 billion. It rose 8.6%, to $6.4 billion from $5.9 billion.

Earnings at its Canadian banking division (49% of the total) rose 7.4%. That’s partly due to a $1.7 billion deal with J.P. Morgan Chase to buy its Canadian credit card operations. This includes MasterCard and Sears Canada credit card accounts.

The international division (31% of earnings) reported 20.9% higher profits, thanks to strong loan demand in Latin America and favourable currency rates. However, earnings at the securities-trading division (20%) fell 9.4% on higher loan-loss provisions.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $57.75 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $69.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%, www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest of Canada’s five big banks. In the three months ended January 31, 2016, the bank earned $1.81 billion. That is up 5.1% from $1.73 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share increased 5.9%, to $1.44 from $1.36, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 8.6%, to $6.4 billion from $5.9 billion. Earnings at the Canadian banking division (50% of the total) rose 7.4%, mostly due to higher fee income and steady loan and deposit growth. The international division (30% of earnings) reported 21.0% higher profits, thanks to strong loan, deposit and fee growth in Latin America. However, earnings at the securities-trading division (20%) fell 9.4% on lower earnings at its U.S. investment-banking operations....

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $22.11 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that’s designed to track the Brazilian stock market. Its top holdings are AmBev SA (beer and beverages), 10.8%; Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 10.0%; Banco Brandesco SA, 7.1%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 5.3%; BRF SA (food), 4.3%; Cielo SA (payment processing), 3.6%; Ultrapar SA (gas distribution and petrochemicals), 3.1%; and Itausa Investimentos SA (financial services), 2.9%. iShares launched the ETF on July 10, 2000. It has a 0.64% expense ratio....

We think conservative investors could hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus. The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks. Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as buys, and two we feel you should hang on to:...

AltaGas adds power plants with long-term contracts, sells assets to protect cash flow, make up for weak natural gas prices.

BANK OF MONTREAL, $74.15, Toronto symbol BMO, reported better-than-expected results this week, thanks mainly to strong gains from its U.S. operations. In its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended January 31, 2016, the bank’s revenue rose 0.4%, to $5.08 billion from $5.06 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $4.88 billion. Overall earnings increased 13.2%, to $1.2 billion from $1.0 billion. Earnings per share gained 14.4%, to $1.75 from $1.53, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items such as the cost to integrate recent acquisitions. On that basis, they exceed the consensus estimate of $1.72 a share....

BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $60(www.buckeye.com) operates 9,600 kilometres of pipelines in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. Its network pumps gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. The partnership also owns oil and gas storage terminals. Buckeye continues to benefit from oil producers that opt to store their crude instead of selling it at today’s low prices....