recent acquisitions

The outbreak of COVID-19 and a weakening global economy sharply slowed air travel volumes and demand for new planes in both 2020 and 2021. However, the outlook for CAE—a leading provider of flight simulators and pilot-training services—remains bright.

Airlines and their service providers still face challenges from COVID-19 variants and restriction on many international destinations....

RUSSEL METALS INC., $32.90, is a buy. Through their shares, investors tap one of North America’s largest metal distributors: the company (symbol RUS on Toronto) serves 33,000 clients at 48 locations in Canada and 16 others in the U.S.

Russel’s revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2022, jumped 51.2%, to $1.34 billion from $885.4 million a year earlier....

SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC, $45.75, symbol ST on New York, develops, makes and sells sensors and controls. Through its Performance Sensing business (73% of revenues), the company supplies a wide array of automotive/heavy vehicle sensors (pressure, speed, temperature) that are embedded in transmission, air conditioning, and other key systems....

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia continue to rebound as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, they have lagged the gains of Canada’s other four big banks (see page 43).


That’s mainly because Bank of Nova Scotia has shifted its international focus in the past few years to four countries in Latin America—Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile....

Technology stocks such as Alphabet (see page 31) and the three we analyze below tend to trade at somewhat high multiples to their earnings. That can scare away many more-conservative investors.


However, all of these firms are market leaders in their niche fields, which helps shield them from the chip shortages that are hurting tech companies like HP and HP Enterprise (see page 35)....

The Bank of Canada recently raised its benchmark lending rate from 0.25% to 0.50%, its first increase since 2018. It has also signalled that more hikes are coming as it aims to lower Canada’s inflation rate to around 2% from the current 5.1%.


Generally, higher interest rates should help these three financial firms....

Agilent’s spinoff of Keysight in November 2014 let each firm focus on its core strengths in its own niche markets. The split also continues to please investors—Agilent is up 230%, while Keysight has gained 385%.


AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $126 is a buy. The company (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 300.0 million; Market cap: $37.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.3; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent.com) makes specialized testing equipment for medical research laboratories and industrial clients....

BCE INC., $66.66, Toronto symbol BCE, is a buy.

The company is Canada’s largest traditional telephone service provider. It also provides wireless services and high-speed Internet access, in addition to owning TV and radio stations.

BCE has raised its dividend rate each year since 2008....

WAJAX CORP., $22.55, is a buy. Through their shares, investors benefit from the company’s (symbol WJX on Toronto) sales and servicing of cranes, forklifts and other heavy equipment. Wajax also provides related parts and systems such as ball bearings, hoses, diesel engines and transmissions.

The company’s customers are spread across the resources, construction, manufacturing and transportation industries.

Wajax is now buying the assets of Thunder Bay, Ontario-based Process Flow Systems Ltd....

Canada’s banking regulator recently lifted the freeze on bank and insurer dividend hikes it imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Manulife and Sun Life have now rewarded investors with special dividends. We expect recent acquisitions and other moves will also let them raise your regular dividend payments in 2022.


MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP....