oil and gas

IMPERIAL OIL LTD., $54.44, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares o/s: 695.6 million; Market cap: $38.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.5%; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company after Canadian Natural Resources (No....

RUSSEL METALS INC. $31 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol RUS; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 63.0 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.9%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.russelmetals.com) is one of the largest metals distributors in North America.


Russel has paid regular quarterly dividends of $0.38 a share since the third quarter of 2014; the annual rate of $1.52 yields a high 4.9%.


In July 2021, the company and Japan’s Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars America combined their respective Canadian OCTG/line pipe businesses....

Commodity prices continue to improve with the global economy. Still, we continue to recommend investors cap their Resources holdings at 15% of their total portfolio or less. As always, we also prefer high-quality producers like these two.


ALCOA CORP....

Oil stocks continue to rebound from their 2020 lows as the re-opening of the global economy pushes oil and gas prices to multi-year highs. In view of new caps on greenhouse gas emissions, global oil producers are likely to focus on cutting costs and improving their efficiency, rather than spending more money on exploration....

CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (class A non-voting) is a buy.

The company (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $35.70 and CU.X [class B voting] $35.82) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also has 5 power plants—1 in Canada, 2 in Australia and 2 in Mexico....

DOMINO’S PIZZA INC., $473.04, remains a buy. Through their shares, investors gain exposure to the world’s largest chain of pizza stores offering takeout and delivery. The company (symbol DPZ on New York) operates 18,380 outlets, in the U.S. and 85 other countries....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $97.33, Toronto symbol CP, is your #1 Conservative Buy for 2022.

CP ships freight over a 23,700-kilometre rail network, mainly between Montreal and Vancouver. It also links to hubs in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

This is the fourth year in a row we’ve picked CP as our #1 Conservative stock....

In addition to the top picks for 2022 and beyond that we feature this issue (including our #1 pick), we recommend the following three ETFs. All are poised to move up this year and to help you tap key market segments. For myriad reasons (see the Supplement on pages 19 and 20), each of the funds could significantly add to your 2022 returns.


First, we still feel that virtually all Canadians should have, say, 20% to 30% of their portfolio in U.S....

CP Rail has been one of our favourite stocks over the past two decades. In fact, we made it the #1 Conservative Buy for our flagship newsletter The Successful Investor in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Our confidence has been rewarded: In the past three years, the stock has gained an impressive 88.9% compared to just 41.7% for the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

We feel CP’s merger with U.S.-based railway Kansas City Southern will push the stock even higher over the next few years.

While big takeovers like this always entail risk, the purchase will greatly extend CP’s reach in the U.S....

CENOVUS ENERGY, $16.58, remains a buy for long-term gains. The company (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $32.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 0.8%; www.cenovus.com) continues to sell less-important assets to pay down the debt it took on as part of the Husky acquisition.


On January 1, 2021, the Cenovus completed its acquisition of rival oil producer Husky Energy Inc....