oil and gas

VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $38.53 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the FTSE Emerging Transitions Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies located in developing countries around the world. The fund has an MER of just 0.18%.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), China Mobile (China: wireless), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), Vale SA (Brazil: mining), Banco Bradesco (Brazil: banking), Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China Construction Bank, Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Cia de Bebidas das Americas (Brazil: beer and other beverages).

The $65.2-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (20.7%), Brazil (13.7%), Taiwan (13.3%), South Africa (9.2%), India (8.7%), Russia (7.0%), Mexico (5.9%), Malaysia (5.0%), Indonesia (3.2%), Thailand (3.2%), Turkey (2.1%), Chile (2.0%), Poland (1.7%) and others (4.3%).
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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $82.43 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of shares of large U.S. companies. The fund’s MER is just 0.10%.

The $32.6-billion Vanguard Growth ETF’s top holdings are Apple, IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris International, Oracle, Comcast, Qualcomm and Intel.

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Technology (26.1%), Consumer Services (20.9%), Financials (12.0%), Consumer Goods (10.6%), Industrials (11.5%), Health Care (9.3%), Oil and Gas (7.2%), Materials (1.6%), Telecommunication Services (0.4%) and Utilities (0.4%).
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PASON SYSTEMS (Toronto symbol PSI; www.pason.com) rents equipment for monitoring and managing oil and gas rigs. It also sells communication technology, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations. Pason serves oil and gas producers and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Argentina and Australia....

SHAWCOR LTD. (Toronto symbol SCL; www.shawcor.com) gets 90% of its revenue by making sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting. The remaining 10% comes from manufacturing industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths....

PASON SYSTEMS $21.70 (Toronto symbol PSI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-301-3400; www.pason.com; Shares outstanding: 82.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.4%) rents equipment for monitoring and managing oil and gas rigs. It also sells communication technology, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations....

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $59.82 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 406.0 million; Market cap: $23.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers....

MART RESOURCES $1.19 (Toronto symbol MMT; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-270-1841; www.martresources.com; Shares outstanding: 356.6 million; Market cap: $449.3 million; Dividend yield: 16.8%) produces oil at its 50%-held Umusadege field in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria.

The company recently completed construction of a new central processing facility at the Umusadege field....

PENN WEST PETROLEUM (Toronto symbol PWT; www.pennwest.com) is one of North America’s largest oil and gas producers. Its output is 63% oil and 37% gas....

CanElson Drilling, $6.44, symbol CDI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 82.9 million; Market cap: $533.6 million; www.canelsondrilling.com), mainly operates drilling rigs in Western Canada, the Permian Basin (West Texas), North Dakota and the Ebano-Panuco-Cacalilao field near Tampico, Mexico. The company operates the rigs under contract to oil and gas exploration and development firms. It is now operating 43 rigs: 22 in Canada, 12 in Texas, five in North Dakota and four in Mexico. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, CanElson’s revenue rose 10.8%, to $37.5 million from $33.8 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share rose 25.0%, to $0.15 from $0.12....

Essential Energy Services, $2.87, symbol ESN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 125.2 million; Market cap: $359.4 million; www.essentialenergy.ca), provides well-servicing support through its 73 rod and service rigs and 47 coil tubing units. Rod rigs specialize in servicing producing oil wells. Service rigs are typically used to repair, maintain or deepen existing oil and gas wells or to complete new ones. Coil tubing rigs have continuous coiled tubing that is used to pump inert gas or other fluids through the tubing to clean out oil and gas wells or deal with specific problems and conditions in the wellbore. In addition, the company provides nitrogen and fluid pumping equipment to well-servicing operations. Essential also rents equipment and tools and provides support personnel....