oil and gas

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $50 (www.snclavalin.com) continues to win new oil and gas engineering contracts. Recent deals include an agreement to design pipelines and pumping stations in Iraq for an unspecified amount. In addition, Colombia’s Ecopetrol oil firm has hired SNC to help improve its oil pipeline systems....

VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS ETF$45.47 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers)aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index,which is made up of common stocks of companieslocated in developing countries around the world.The fund has an MER of just 0.20%.

Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdingsinclude Samsung Electronics Co. (South Korea),China Mobile (China: wireless), Petroleo BrasileiroSA (Brazil: oil and gas), Taiwan Semiconductor(Taiwan: computer chips), Vale SA (Brazil: mining),America Movil SAB de CV (Latin America: wireless),Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China ConstructionBank, Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil:banking), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China,CNOOC Ltd. (China: oil and gas) and China LifeInsurance.

The $71.4-billion fund’s breakdown by country isas follows: China (17.8%), South Korea (15.3%),Brazil (12.5%), Taiwan (10.6%), South Africa(7.6%), India (6.6%), Russia (6.0%), Mexico (4.9%),Malaysia (3.5%), Indonesia (2.7%), Thailand (2.2%),Chile (1.8%), Turkey (1.7%), Poland (1.4%) andOther (5.4%).
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ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEXFUND $41.85 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell throughbrokers) is an ETF that aims to track the FTSE/XinhuaChina 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largestand most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks inthe index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Somealso trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)on the New York exchange.

The fund’s top holdings are China ConstructionBank, 9.6%; China Mobile, 9.4%; Industrial &Commercial Bank, 8.8%; CNOOC, 6.5%; Bank ofChina, 6.2%; Agricultural Bank of China, 4.5%;China Overseas Land & Investment, 4.2%; ChinaPacific Insurance, 4.2%; China Petroleum andChemical; 4.1%; and PetroChina, 3.9%.

The fund’s holdings give it the following industrybreakdown: Financials, 59.2%; Telecommunications,15.7%; Oil and Gas, 14.5%; Basic Materials, 8.9%;and Industrials, 2.1%. Its expense ratio is 0.74%.

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U.S. Silica Holdings, $20.30, symbol SLCA on New York (Shares outstanding: 52.8 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion, www.ussilica.com), produces commercial silica, which is used to stimulate and maintain oil and gas flow in horizontally drilled wells. It’s also a raw material in a wide range of industrial applications, including glass-making and chemical manufacturing. U.S. Silica operates through two segments: Oil & Gas Proppants and Industrial & Specialty Products. The company operates 13 production facilities across the U.S. and controls 283 million tons of reserves, including about 138 million tons that can be processed to meet the American Petroleum Institute (API) specifications for hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process that is used to extract oil and gas from shale rock. U.S. Silica first sold shares to the public and began trading on Nasdaq in February 2012 at $17 a share....

A: Total S.A. (ADR), $52.69, symbol TOT on New York (Shares outstanding: 2.4 billion; Market cap: $126.4 billion; www.total.com), is one of the world’s largest publicly traded integrated oil companies. Total is based in France. The company is involved in various aspects of the oil and gas industry around the world. It also has interests in refineries, chemical production and service stations. In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Total’s earnings rose 5.7%, to $1.85 per ADR from $1.75. Revenue fell 4.4%, to $62.4 billion from $65.2 billion....

A month ago, we examined one of the energy stocks we cover in our newsletter for aggressive investing, Stock Pickers Digest. Zargon Oil and Gas (Toronto symbol ZAR) has trimmed its commitment to natural gas due to the slump in prices (view the article here). Today, in the wake of a recent rally in oil prices, we look at the prospects for a tech stock that serves the oil and gas drilling industry.
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PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on the U.S. stock markets, will reveal its #1 pick for 2013. SHAWCOR LTD., $40.88, Toronto symbol SCL.A, plans to convert its class A subordinate voting (one vote per share) and class B multiple voting (10 votes per share) shares into a single class of common shares (one vote per share). The company makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting. It also manufactures industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths....

RUSSEL METALS $29.20 (Toronto symbol RUS; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905-819-7777; www.russelmetals.com; Shares outstanding: 60.2 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Dividend yield: 4.8%) is one of North America’s largest metal distributors. The company serves its roughly 33,000 customers through 51 locations in Canada and 12 in the U.S.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Russel’s revenue rose 1.0%, to $712.6 million from $705.4 million a year earlier....

PASON SYSTEMS $17.26 (Toronto symbol PSI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-301-3400; www.pason.com; Shares outstanding: 82.0 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Dividend yield: 2.8%) rents equipment for monitoring and managing oil and gas rigs. It also sells communication systems, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations....

COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $22.10 (Toronto symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-531-1300; www.cmgroup.com; Shares outstanding: 37.8 million; Market cap: $835.4 million; Dividend yield: 2.9%) sells consulting services and software that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their existing wells. The company has customers in over 50 countries and offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Caracas and Dubai.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 34.1%, to $16.1 million from $12.0 million a year earlier.


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