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Alimentation Couche-Tard (symbol ATD.B on Toronto; www.couche-tard.com) operates 6,314 convenience stores throughout North America. Canadian outlets operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates 2,233 stores across Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia.

In the three months ended February 1, 2015, Couche-Tard’s sales rose just 1.7%, to $2.33 billion from $2.29 billion a year earlier. The higher U.S. dollar cut the revenue contribution of its European operations.

However, per-share earnings jumped 64.5%, to $0.51 from $0.31. Couche-Tard saw higher profit margins on merchandise and fuel, and it continues to save on interest costs as it pays down the debt it took on to acquire Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail gas station chain, which it bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012.

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CAMECO CORP., $19.70, symbol CCO on Toronto, rose almost 8% this week after Canada and India signed a uranium-supply agreement that will see the company sell 7.1 million pounds of uranium concentrate to India over the next five years. The concentrate is worth around $350 million at today’s uranium price. The deal is the final step in a nuclear co-operation agreement that took effect in September 2013. Canada had previously banned uranium exports to India after the country used Canadian reactor technology to build a nuclear bomb. The agreement is small compared to Cameco’s annual sales of 31 million to 33 million pounds of concentrate. However, it will likely grow over the next couple of decades as India uses more nuclear power....
Up 243% since it was Canadian Stock of the Year in 2012, CP Rail continues to reap the rewards of a very successful restructuring plan.
REITMANS (CANADA) LTD., $7.48, symbol RET.A on Toronto, shot up over 15% this week after reporting a return to profitability in the latest quarter. Reitmans owns 823 women’s clothing stores across Canada, including 341 Reitmans stores, 139 Penningtons, 105 Addition Elle, 76 RW & Co., 68 Thyme Maternity and 94 Smart Set locations. It also has 21 Thyme Maternity boutiques in some Canadian Babies “R” Us locations. In the three months ended January 31, 2015, Reitmans’ sales fell 1.8%, to $236.3 million from $240.7 million a year earlier. Sales declined because the company closed 55 less-profitable stores. Same-store sales gained 2.1%....
Meta Description: With its new 50% stake in the Ruby pipeline and an LNG plant in the works, Veresen can sustain big growth and its high dividend yield.
Stock Investing
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

SolarCity Corp. (symbol SCTY on Nasdaq; www.solarcity.com) provides rooftop solar systems for homeowners, businesses, schools and government agencies in the U.S.

The company creates a customized energy plan for each customer, then sells, finances, engineers, installs, monitors and maintains the system. Customers can “sell” any electricity they don’t use onto the power grid for credits they can use to “buy” electricity at night.

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PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, April 10, 2015. HECLA MINING CO., $3.18, symbol HL on New York, explores for, mines and processes silver and gold in the U.S. and Mexico. This week, the company agreed to buy Revett Mining Company (symbol RVM on New York) for $20 million in Hecla shares....
One of Canada’s last income trusts, Chemtrade Logistics turns industrial waste services and a big acquisition into a high dividend yield.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Good Friday holiday, our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, April 2, 2015. ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK, $70.37, symbol ATNI on Nasdaq, owns wireless and wireline telecom operations in the U.S. Southwest, New England, New York State, Guyana, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean islands. The company continues to improve its technology and expand its wireless capacity and coverage. That’s paying off as customers use more mobile data for profitable services like music downloads, mobile gaming and e-books....
Shrugging off a slow first quarter, Goodyear sees a good year ahead, thanks to falling costs of rubber and oil and a good labour deal