snc lavalin

BCE INC., $58.16, Toronto symbol BCE, continues to benefit from strong demand for its wireless, high-speed Internet and Fibe TV services. That’s offsetting weaker revenue from traditional telephone services. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, the company’s earnings rose 0.8%, to $615 million from $610 million a year earlier. Per-share profits were unchanged at $0.72 on more shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs related to acquisitions and early debt repayments. On that basis, the latest earnings matched the consensus estimate....

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We recommend that you limit aggressive holdings to 30% of your overall portfolio (10% for more conservative investors). That’s especially true in light of the recent stock market volatility. We like the long-term outlook for these five aggressive stocks. However, only four are buys right now. RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $23 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 320.4 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.7; Dividend yield: 6.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 305 shopping centres in Canada, including 16 under development....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $169.77, Toronto symbol CP, 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 for each Norfolk share held. That would give them 47% of the combined company, compared to 41% under the original offer....

Aecon Group Inc., $13.50, symbol ARE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 56.5 million; Market cap: $769.1 million; www.aecon.com), is one of Canada’s largest infrastructure developers. The company and its predecessors built Canadian landmarks like the CN Tower, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Calgary Olympic Oval and the Halifax Shipyards. Aecon has three main divisions: •The energy group, which accounted for 39% of the company’s revenue in the latest quarter, builds facilities and components for clients in the power industry, including nuclear reactors....

SNC-Lavalin readies for more public works contracts, acquires oil and gas-focused contractor

The new Liberal government in Ottawa plans to spend more on roads, bridges and public transit over the next three years. SNC-Lavalin, below, is already working on big public works projects, including a transit line in Toronto and a bridge in Montreal, so it should gain from this new spending. The Liberals are also in favour of certain new pipelines, which should help ShawCor (see next article). SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $42 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 149.8 million; Market cap: $6.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) is narrowing its focus to engineering projects in the oil and gas, mining and water-treatment industries....

Purpose Core Dividend Fund ETF, $24.97, symbol PDF on Toronto (Units outstanding: 8.2 million; Market cap: $204.8 million; www.purposeinvest.com), holds U.S. and Canadian stocks its managers see as being able to sustain and grow their dividends. The ETF yields 3.3%. The fund holds mostly high-quality companies. Its holdings include Rogers Communications, Peyto Exploration, CIBC, SNC-Lavalin, BCE, Altria Group, Bank of Montreal, General Motors and Philip Morris. The Purpose Core Dividend Fund ETF holds 61.0% of its funds in Canadian stocks, 36.6% in U.S. stocks and 2.4% in cash. Its breakdown by industry is as follows: Financials, 14.9%; Utilities, 14.7%; Energy, 14.5%; Real Estate, 14.4%; Consumer Discretionary, 12.3%; Telecom Services, 10.0%, Industrials, 7.5%; Consumer Staples, 5.2%; and Materials, 4.2%....

ENBRIDGE INC., $51.21, Toronto symbol ENB, has received regulatory approval to reverse the flow of crude oil on its Line 9 pipeline between Sarnia, Ontario, and Montreal. Under the plan, oil will now flow from Sarnia to Montreal. Enbridge will also increase the line’s capacity so it can handle heavy crude from Alberta’s oil sands. It took longer than expected for regulators to sign off, so the project’s cost jumped to $800 million from the company’s original estimate of $100 million. To put that in context, Enbridge earned $505 million, or $0.60 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2015. The company still needs to finish some technical preparations, so it didn’t say when crude would start flowing through the line....

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC., Toronto symbols TPX.A $107.34 and TPX.B $111.00, jumped 20% this week in response to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s offer to buy rival brewer SABMiller plc. In 2008, Molson Coors merged its U.S. brewing operations with those of SABMiller to form MillerCoors. Each company has a 50% voting interest in this joint venture, but SABMiller gets 58% of the profits, while Molson Coors gets 42%. To satisfy competition regulators, a combined Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller would probably have to sell its stake in the MillerCoors joint venture....