oil and gas

DOMINO’S PIZZA INC., $55.98, symbol DPZ on New York, is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. It operates10,040 outlets in the U.S. and over 70 other countries. Franchisees run most of these stores. Excluding one-time items, the company’s earnings per share rose 25.5% in the quarter ended March 24, 2013, to $0.59 from $0.47 a year earlier. Sales rose 8.6%, to $417.6 million from $384.6 million. Same-store sales rose 6.5% internationally and 6.2% in the U.S. Domino’s continues to boost its sales by aggressively promoting its new pizza recipes. It’s also profiting by moving into ordering online and through software applications, or apps, on smartphones. In addition, Domino’s still has lots of growth potential overseas....

Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. The group manages over $2 trillion U.S. in 170 mutual funds.

Vanguard, which went into business in 1975, offers low-fee index mutual funds. Generally speaking, Canadians can’t buy units of mutual funds that are registered in the U.S., because they aren’t registered with provincial securities commissions....

The price of natural gas has more than doubled in the past year, but prices of natural gas stocks have not kept pace. Maybe that’s because investors take it for granted that winters will remain warm due to global warming. But if that’s how things turn out, rising temperatures will increase demand for air conditioning, which of course runs on electricity.

As well, natural gas may be dirtier than wind and solar, but it offsets coal use, mainly in electricity generation....

Enterprise Group, $0.52, symbol E on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 61.0 million; Market cap: $32.7 million; www.enterprisegrp.ca), provides underground construction services for utilities, including installing power, communication and natural gas lines. In early 2012, the company started up a heavy equipment rental division called E One Limited. In September 2012, E One acquired Artic Therm International Ltd. Founded in 1998, Artic Therm rents flameless heaters to customers in the construction and oil and gas industries. These heaters range in heat output from 375,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) to 3 million BTUs....

SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $68.23 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) is an ETF that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index, which is made up of all publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, SPDR S&P China ETF holds 184 stocks.

The $1.1-billion fund’s top holdings are China Construction Bank, 7.9%; China Mobile, 6.7%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 6.2%; Tencent Holdings, 4.1%; Bank of China, 4.0%; CNOOC Ltd., 3.9%; PetroChina, 3.5%; Baidu, 2.9%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 2.5%; and China Life, 2.5%;

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Financials, 34.9%; Oil and Gas, 14.0%; Information Technology, 11.4%; Industrials, 9.2%; Telecommunication Services, 8.6%; Consumer Discretionary, 6.2%; Consumer Staples, 5.6%; Basic Materials, 4.8%; Utilities, 3.2%; and Health Care, 2.1%.
...

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS EASTERN EUROPE INDEX FUND $24.07 (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, 75.4%; Poland, 18.4%; Czech Republic, 3.2%; and Hungary, 2.6%.

The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 15.4%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 11.5%; Lukoil (Russia: oil), 11.1%; Magnit OJSC (Russia: retailing), 4.0%; Mobile TeleSystems (Russia: wireless), 3.6%; Novatek (Russia: natural gas), 3.3%; Uralkali (Russia: potash), 3.3%; Rosneft Oil Company (Russia: oil and gas), 3.3%; Tafneft (Russia: oil and gas), 3.2%; and PKO Bank Polski SA (Poland: banking), 3.1%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund’s expense ratio is 0.69%.
...

ENBRIDGE INC. $46.66 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 806.5 million; Market cap: $37.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.7%; www.enbridge.com) gets 90% of its revenue from pipelines that pump oil and gas from western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S.

The remaining 10% mainly comes from distributing gas to 2 million consumers in Ontario, Quebec and parts of New York State.

Enbridge is spending $27 billion on expansion projects between 2012 and 2016. This excludes the controversial $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline—but it includes a $6.2-billion plan to build pipelines and rail links to move oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Saskatchewan, as well as $5.8 billion of new lines to pump more oil from western Canada to the Gulf Coast.
...

CENOVUS ENERGY $30.90 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 755.0 million; Market cap: $23.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.1%; www.cenovus.com) has three heavy oil projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. The oil sands supply about half of its output. The other half is conventional oil and gas.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects. Cenovus ships the heavy bitumen from these assets to refineries in Illinois and Texas, which are also 50% owned by ConocoPhillips.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2012, cash flow per share fell 17.8%, to $0.92 from $1.12 a year earlier. Expansion pushed up oil output by 23.1%, to 177,646 barrels a day from 144,273, but that was offset by lower prices. Cenovus aims to boost its production to 500,000 barrels a day by 2021.
...

RUSSEL METALS (Toronto symbol RUS; www.russelmetals.com) is one of North America’s largest metal distributors. It serves its 39,000 clients through 54 locations in Canada and 12 in the U.S. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Russel’s revenue rose 7.6%, to $765.9 million from $711.6 million a year earlier....

FAIR ISAAC CORP., $44.18, symbol FICO on New York, makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. FICO Scores dominates this niche market. In addition, Fair Isaac continues to profit by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2013, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share before one-time items rose 4.4% from a year ago, to $0.69 from $0.66. Revenue rose 12.4%, to $179.3 million from $159.5 million. That’s largely because the company recently acquired Adeptra, which makes systems that let businesses communicate with customers through a range of channels, including voice, instant messaging, mobile applications and email. Fair Isaac continues to spend around 8% of its revenue on research. That lets it keep producing innovative new products that help it stay ahead of its competitors....