price to sales ratio

EMERA INC. $42 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 145.3 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) recently agreed to acquire Teco Energy (New York symbol TE), which supplies electricity and natural gas to 1.05 million customers in Tampa Bay and the surrounding region....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $175 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.9 million; Market cap: $26.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) has revised its takeover offer for U.S.-based railway Norfolk Southern Corp. (New York symbol NSC). The combined firm would be North America’s largest railway, with more than 56,000 kilometres of track. Buying Norfolk would also give CP greater access to ports on the U.S. Gulf Coast and Atlantic Ocean. Under the new deal, Norfolk shareholders would receive more stock and less cash: $32.86 U.S. a share in cash plus 0.451 of a CP share. That would give them 47% of the combined company, compared to 41% under the original offer....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 320.4 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.1; Dividend yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 305 shopping centres in Canada, including 16 under development. It also owns 49 malls in the U.S. RioCan has settled its dispute with U.S.-based retailer Target (New York symbol TGT). In April 2015, Target closed all 133 of its Canadian stores, including 26 in RioCan’s malls. So far, the trust has found new tenants for seven of these stores. It will have to remodel the other 19, but it expects to have them rented by the end of 2017....

METRO INC. $39 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 241.5 million; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates 600 grocery stores and 250 drugstores in Quebec and Ontario. In its 2015 fiscal year, which ended September 26, 2015, Metro’s earnings rose 13.6%, to $523.6 million from $460.9 million in 2014. It spent $418.0 million on share buybacks in 2015, which is why earnings per share gained 18.7%, to $2.03 from $1.71. Overall sales rose 5.5%, to $12.2 billion from $11.6 billion. Same-store sales increased 4.0%....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $122 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 75.0 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) has 495 Canadian Tire stores, which sell automotive, household and sporting goods. Franchisees run most of these outlets. Other operations include 297 gas stations and 91 PartSource auto parts stores. Canadian Tire also owns Mark’s, which sells casual and work clothing through 379 stores, and the Forzani Group, which offers sporting goods and athletic clothing at 428 outlets, mainly under the Sport Chek and Sports Experts banners. In the quarter ended October 3, 2015, Canadian Tire earned $199.7 million, up 15.9% from $172.2 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 20.5%, to $2.62 from $2.17, on fewer shares outstanding....

ENBRIDGE INC. $43 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 863.7 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 4.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. enbridge.com) will make a final decision on its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in the second half of 2016....

ENCANA CORP. $9.14 (Toronto symbol ECA; Con- servative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 845.7 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) raised $2.7 billion in 2015 by selling less important properties (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). These sales are part of the company’s plan to focus on four key projects: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta) and Eagle Ford and Permian (both in Texas). These fields produce large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as propane and butane, which cuts Encana’s reliance on natural gas. They’re also efficient, which helps the company cope with low oil and gas prices. Because of these asset sales, Encana’s production fell 15.4% in the three months ended September 30, 2015, to 398,300 barrels a day (65% gas and 35% oil and natural gas liquids) from 470,600 a year earlier....

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $18 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 169.3 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment. Its main customers are in the oil, mining, forest-products and construction industries. Weaker commodity prices continue to hurt equipment demand. In response, Finning has laid off 13% of its workforce and closed 11 of its locations in Western Canada. The company is now looking at other ways to lower its costs, such as shipping parts directly to customers instead of through dealerships. Meanwhile, Finning’s earnings fell 42.4% in the three months ended September 30, 2015, to $0.19 a share from $0.33 a year earlier. Without one-time items, the company earned $0.34 a share in the latest quarter....

TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 600.1 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) plans to launch several new cloud computing services that will use Microsoft’s cloud software and Internet equipment from Cisco Systems. The company aims to work closely with its clients to develop cloud-based systems that are secure, fast and easily expandable. More businesses are shifting to a cloud platform, as it lets them avoid the high cost of buying new computers and continuously updating software. Over the next five years, companies will probably spend up to eight times more on cloud services than non-cloud technologies....

ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $34 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $34; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.1 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) operates power plants in Western Canada, the U.K. and Australia. It also builds temporary buildings for construction, mining and energy-exploration firms. Weak commodity prices are hurting demand for electricity and shelters, particularly in Alberta. In response, ATCO is cutting 4% of its global workforce. A new carbon tax in Alberta has also weighed on ATCO’s stock. However, most of the company’s power plants burn natural gas, not coal, which should help reduce the impact of the tax. In addition, ATCO is looking at replacing some of its current facilities with a new hydroelectric plant in northern Alberta....