snc lavalin

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $52 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.1 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1,8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) has agreed to sell AltaLink to Berkshire Hathaway (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Wholly owned AltaLink provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations.

The company will receive $3.2 billion (or $2.9 billion after taxes). The transaction should close by the end of this year.

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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $52 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.1 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1,8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) has agreed to sell AltaLink to Berkshire Hathaway (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Wholly owned AltaLink provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations.

The company will receive $3.2 billion (or $2.9 billion after taxes)....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $169.99, Toronto symbol CP, and CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO., $61.98, Toronto symbol CNR, have had trouble shipping last year’s record grain harvest on the Prairies to Canada’s west coast due to bad winter weather. To help clear the backlog, Ottawa now plans to fine CP and CN if they fail to ship a minimum amount of grain per day. The railways already plan to increase shipments as the weather improves, so any fines should be small next to their earnings. CP Rail and CN Rail are still buys....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice and stock tips as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

E-L Financial Corp. Ltd., $701.13, symbol ELF on Toronto (Shares outstanding; 4.0 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; www.empire.ca), is a holding company that owns 80% of the Empire Life Insurance Company. In addition to life insurance, Empire provides employee benefit plans and financial services. E-L also owns an investment portfolio that includes both direct investments in companies and publicly traded stocks and bonds. As well, it has a 51.38% interest in United Corporations, a closed-end investment fund (symbol UNC on Toronto). The company sold its 100% interest in the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, which underwrites property and casualty insurance, on November 1, 2013. That brought in cash of $1.1 billion and let E-L pay a $75 dollar-a-share special dividend....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol SNC; www.snclavalin.com) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company that specializes in large-scale public works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water treatment plants. SNC has offices in over 40 countries....

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $3.02 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704- 6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 297.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) has announced that its new Ambatovy mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast, has achieved commercial production.

Commercial production is defined as 70% of capacity on average over a 30-day period....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $47 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.8 million; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company that specializes in large-scale public works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and watertreatment plants....

BCE INC., $46.58, Toronto symbol BCE, reported higher-than-expected earnings and raised its dividend this week. In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the company’s earnings rose 16.4%, to $540 million, or $0.70 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate recently acquired broadcaster Astral Media. On that basis, BCE’s earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.69 a share. A year earlier, it earned $464 million, or $0.60 a share. Revenue rose 4.3%, to $5.4 billion from $5.2 billion. In addition to Astral’s contribution, the company is attracting more wireless, high-speed Internet and digital TV customers. That’s helping offset lower revenue from traditional phones....

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $3.02 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704- 6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 297.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) has announced that its new Ambatovy mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast, has achieved commercial production.

Commercial production is defined as 70% of capacity on average over a 30-day period. Sherritt will now focus on reaching full capacity, which is 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,500 tonnes of cobalt a year.

Ambatovy is a joint venture that includes Sherritt, which owns 40% and operates the facility; Sumitomo Corp. and Korea Resources Corp., with 27.5% each; and SNC-Lavalin (a recommendation of The Successful Investor) with 5%.
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