oil and gas

WESTJET AIRLINES LTD., $21.36, symbol WJA on Toronto, moved up almost 7% this week after reporting record quarterly earnings. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, the company’s earnings rose 5.2%, to $44.7 million from $42.5 million a year earlier. That marks WestJet’s 33rd consecutive quarter of profitability. Earnings per share rose 9.7%, to $0.34 from $0.31, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue increased 4.3%, to $843.7 million from $809.3 million a year earlier. WestJet shares fell as low as $19.65 earlier this week after reaching an all-time high of $25.47 in April 2013. The decline was mostly due to investor concern that the company’s profit growth could slow if it can’t fill the new planes it’s adding to the same level as its current fleet. That includes its new Canadian regional airline, WestJet Encore, which launched in June 2013....

MARKET VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $18.89 (New York symbol VNM; buy or sell through brokers) holds shares of Vietnamese companies or foreign firms that get a significant amount of their revenue from Vietnam.

The ETF’s top 10 holdings are Pha Lai Thermal Power, 8.2%; Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, 7.2%; Baoviet Holdings (finance and insurance), 7.1%; PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical, 6.9%; Vincom Corp. (real estate), 6.8%; Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, 5.3%; Gamuda Bhd (a Malaysiabased construction group), 5.2%; Minor International (a Thailand-based firm with hotels and fast-food restaurants in Vietnam), 4.4%; Vietnam Construction and Import-Export, 4.3%; and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (an India-based oil and gas company), 4.2%.

Market Vectors Vietnam ETF’s industry breakdown is as follows: Financials, 36.2%; Energy, 19.9%; Industrials, 14.5%; Materials, 10.0%; Utilities, 8.2%; Consumer Discretionary, 5.3%; and Consumer Staples, 3.7%. Its expense ratio is 0.76%.
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ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEX FUND $31.73 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largest and most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York exchange.

The fund’s top holdings are China Mobile, 10.5%; China Construction Bank, 8.7%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 7.4%; Tencent Holdings, 6.8%, Bank of China, 5.9%; PetroChina, 4.0%, CNOOC, 4.0%; China Shenhua Energy, 3.9%; China Life Insurance, 3.9%, and Ping An Insurance, 3.9%.

The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials, 52.1%; Telecommunications, 16.7%; Oil and Gas, 11.8%; Technology, 6.8%, Basic Materials, 5.0%; and Consumer Goods, 3.2%. Its expense ratio is 0.73%.
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ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS EASTERN EUROPE INDEX FUND $22.87 (New York symbol ESR; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index. The fund’s geographic breakdown is as follows: Russia, 73.1%; Poland, 20.1%; Czech Republic, 3.0%; and Hungary, 2.9%.

The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 14.6%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 10.9%; Lukoil (Russia: oil), 10.5%; Magnit OJSC (Russia: retailing), 5.1%; Novatek (Russia: natural gas), 3.9%; PKO Bank Polski SA (Poland: banking), 3.5%; Mobile TeleSystems (Russia: wireless), 3.4%; Uralkali (Russia: potash), 3.3%; and Rosneft Oil Company (Russia: oil and gas), 3.1%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund’s expense ratio is 0.66%.
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TECK RESOURCES LTD., $25.11, Toronto symbol TCK.B, reported lower results this week due to weaker metallurgical coal and copper prices. Even so, the latest revenue and earnings beat the consensus forecasts. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Teck’s earnings fell 50.5%, to $197 million, or $0.34 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as foreign exchange losses and asset writedowns. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.31 a share. A year earlier, Teck earned $398 million, or $0.68 a share. Revenue fell 16.0%, to $2.2 billion from $2.6 billion. Even with the decline, the latest figure also beat the consensus estimate of $2.1 billion....

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $72 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 132.0 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) earned $78.6 million in its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended May 31, 2013....

Mitcham Industries, $17.99, symbol MIND on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 12.8 million; Market cap: $230.2 million; www.mitchamindustries.com), leases and sells new and used seismic equipment, mainly to clients in the oil and gas industry (86% of revenue). It also designs, makes and sells specialized seismic marine gear (14% of revenue) through its Seamap business. Oil and gas firms use seismic surveys to help locate oil and gas reserves and evaluate the potential for drilling, development and production. The industry has used seismic technology since the 1920s, and recent advancements have significantly improved it. For example, starting in the early 1990s, oil and gas firms increased their use of 3-D seismic data, which provides a more comprehensive subsurface image. That has contributed to higher drilling success rates, particularly in mature oil and gas basins such as those in North America....

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $193.54, New York symbol IBM, reported lower second-quarter earnings this week, although they still beat the consensus forecast. The company also raised its earnings estimate for all of 2013. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, the company earned $3.2 billion, down 16.9% from $3.9 billion a year earlier. IBM spent $3.6 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell at a slower pace of 12.9%, to $2.91 from $3.34. If you exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate recently purchased companies, IBM’s per-share earnings would have risen 8%, to $3.91. That easily beat the consensus forecast of $3.77....

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES, $23.65, symbol AAH on Toronto, jumped this week after the company reported improved sales and earnings in the latest quarter—and announced a $7.20-a-share special dividend. The company develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centred around business telephone systems and includes products that integrate land lines and mobile phones. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Aastra’s sales rose 2.5%, to $150.8 million from $147.1 million a year earlier, as the company’s key markets in Germany and France showed significant improvement. Earnings per share jumped to $0.21 from $0.13....

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD., $48.39, Toronto symbol L, is buying Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. (Toronto symbol SC), which operates over 1,240 drugstores across Canada. Under the deal, Shoppers investors can choose to receive $61.54 in cash or 1.29417 Loblaw common shares and $0.01 cash for each Shoppers share they hold. Loblaw will cap the cash portion, so Shoppers investors will probably wind up with $33.18 in cash plus 0.5965 of a Loblaw common share. Based on today’s share price, the deal is worth $12.5 billion. This is a big purchase for Loblaw, which has a market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares) of $13.6 billion....