oil and gas

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $15 (New York symbol GE; Manufacturing sector; Shares o/s: 8.7 billion; Market cap: $130.5 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Lowest; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ge.com) is a leading maker of industrial machinery.

Activist investment firm Trian Partners, controlled by Nelson Peltz, owns 1% of GE....

THE CHEMOURS CO. $49 (New York symbol CC; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 185.2 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; Dividend yield 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.chemours.com) began trading in July 2015 after Du- Pont spun off the company....

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $42 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $71.4 billion; Price-tosales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company, with its major projects in the Alberta oil sands....

Oil prices have jumped over 30% in the past six months. That’s mainly due to production cuts by OPEC and an improving global economy.

The good news for Pengrowth and Precision Drilling doesn’t end there: those higher oil prices will spur their earnings but also help them pay down their high debt loads....

ISHARES S&P/TSX SMALL CAP ETF $16 (Toronto symbol XCS; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $121.1 million) invests in smaller listed Canadian companies.

The ETF holds 197 stocks, with the top 10 comprising only 13% of its assets....

Smaller firms can sometimes generate higher returns than their larger counterparts, but they are often riskier, less liquid, and may underperform for long periods. One way to offset some of the risk is to focus on ETFs that hold top-quality small-capitalization companies....

BCE INC. $57.52 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares o/s: 900.4 million; Market cap: $51.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.bce.ca) has completed the acquisition of AlarmForce Industries (symbol AF on Toronto). The purchase price was $182 million.

BCE will now sell AlarmForce’s Western Canadian opertions to TELUS $46.31 (Toronto symbol T; Shares o/s: 594.5 million; Market cap: $27.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd....

Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. In all, it administers nearly $5 trillion U.S., spread across 370 mutual funds and ETFs.

Generally speaking, Canadians are blocked from buying mutual funds that are registered in the U.S....

BONAVISTA ENERGY $1.72 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 251.7 million; Market cap: $442.9 million; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 2.3%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and gas across B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan....

MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. $26.10 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $52.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.1%; www.manulife.ca) is now Canada’s largest life insurer.

As the company’s new CEO, Roy Gori plans to cut Manulife’s dependence on its “alternative assets.” They include direct investments in timberland, agricultural crops, and oil and gas wells.

Gori’s predecessor, Donald Guloien, saw those purchases as a way to boost returns for Manulife’s investment portfolio at a time of low interest rates....