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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $44.62, Toronto symbol SNC, rose 8% this week after it said that it plans to sell all or part of AltaLink, which provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations. SNC could also spin off AltaLink as a separate publicly traded firm. The company did not say when it expects to complete this process. As of June 30, 2013, AltaLink’s net book value was $856.8 million. That’s equal to 13% of SNC’s $6.8-billion market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares). The sale is part of SNC’s plan to sell some of its less important operations. The company will invest the cash from these sales in engineering projects in areas with strong potential, such as mining, water treatment and oil and gas....

J.C. PENNEY CO., INC., $9.05, New York symbol JCP, fell 13% on Friday after the company announced that it is selling 84.0 million new common shares to the public at $9.65 each. Underwriters have an option to buy an additional 12.6 million shares. The potential 96.6 million new shares would increase the total outstanding by 44%. The department store operator will probably use the $932-million proceeds to build up its inventories ahead of the busy Christmas shopping season. Penney is also making progress with its plan to win back shoppers it alienated under a failed everyday low price strategy. The company expects to report positive same-store sales in the fourth quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, which ends January 31, 2014. In the second quarter, same-store sales fell 11.9%. As well, sales through its website continue to improve....

Here’s the text of the quarterly letter I recently sent to our Portfolio Management clients: “In current media discussions of market trends, here are a couple of issues that often come up:

1. The outlook for corporate earnings, and how that affects the market’s P/E ratio (the ratio of stock prices to earnings).

...

ING Global Equity Dividend and Premium Opportunity Fund, $9.35, symbol IGD on New York (Shares outstanding: 97.5 million; Market cap: $911.6 million; www.ingfunds.com), is a closed-end fund that holds 130 global common stocks with a history of high dividend yields. The fund currently has 41.9% of its assets in U.S. stocks, with Japan next at 8.7%. Its top holdings are Metlife, Pfizer, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Royal Dutch Shell, Eli Lilly & Co., Novartis AG, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, Microsoft and St. Jude Medical. ING Global Equity Dividend and Premium Opportunity Fund trades at a 4.3% discount to its net asset value and yields a high 10.8%. The fund’s MER is 1.18%....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment tips and stock market advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Dividend Reinvestment Plans have attractive features, but they shouldn’t be the sole reason you invest in a stock—or limit yourself to a portfolio of DRIPs.”...

The possibility of U.S.-based Verizon Communications entering the Canadian wireless market has hurt BCE’s shares. (Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks.) However, BCE’s strategy of selling bundles of services—wireless, regular phone, Internet and TV—under long-term contracts should help it hang on to its customers.

BCE INC....

CARBO Ceramics, $85.09, symbol CRR on New York (Shares outstanding: 23.1 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; www.carboceramics.com), makes and sells ceramic proppant, which is used in hydraulic fracturing. In 2010, the company began selling resin-coated sand. CARBO also sells, through its StrataGen subsidiary, what it believes is the oil and gas industry’s most popular fracture-simulation software. In addition, it provides fracture-design and consulting services and a range of technologies for spill prevention and containment. Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping fluids down a well at pressures sufficient to create fractures in oil- and gas-bearing rock formations. Proppant is a granular material that the fluid carries in to fill the fracture, thereby “propping” it open. The proppant-filled fracture creates a channel through which the oil and gas can flow more freely, increasing production rates....

Income Streams III Corp equity dividend shares, $7.28, symbol STQ.E on Toronto; (Units outstanding: 1.4 million; Market cap: $10.2 million; www.quadravest.com), is a split-share company with two types of shares: equity dividend (symbol STQ.E on Toronto) and capital yield (symbol STQ on Toronto). Split-share companies typically issue two classes of shares. Usually the capital shares get all or most of the capital gains and losses, and the preferred shares (or equity dividend shares in the case of Income Streams III Corp) get most of the dividend income. In the case of Income Streams III Corp, the equity dividend shares receive a fixed monthly dividend of $0.0875 a share ($1.05 annually). That gives them a 14.4% yield....

BLACKBERRY INC., $11.08, Toronto symbol BB, fell 26% on Friday after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings. In its 2014 first quarter, which ended June 1, 2013, BlackBerry shipped 6.8 million smartphones, down 12.8% from 7.8 million a year ago. The latest quarter’s shipments included 2.7 million of its new, higher-priced BlackBerry 10 models, which fell short of the consensus estimate of 3.3 million. BlackBerry also lost $84 million, or $0.16 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Still, that’s a big improvement over the $510 million, or $0.97 a share, it lost a year earlier....

AIMIA INC., $15.74, symbol AIM on Toronto, rose over 13% this week after TD Bank agreed to become the primary credit card issuer for Aeroplan, Aimia’s main loyalty program. TD is a recommendation of The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on conservative Canadian investing. Aeroplan is Canada’s largest loyalty program, with over 4.6 million members who collect Aeroplan miles from participating companies. Members can exchange their miles for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms and merchandise. Under this new 10-year deal, which would begin January 1, 2014, TD will launch new credit cards under the Aeroplan banner, including cards for frequent flyers and small businesses....