stock pickers

AIMIA INC., $15.77, symbol AIM on Toronto, has finalized its deal for TD Bank to become the primary credit card issuer for Aeroplan, Aimia’s main loyalty program. TD is a recommendation of The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on conservative Canadian investing. Aeroplan is Canada’s largest loyalty program, with over 4.6 million members who collect Aeroplan miles from participating companies. Members can exchange their miles for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms and merchandise. Under this new 10-year deal, which would begin January 1, 2014, TD will launch new credit cards under the Aeroplan Visa banner, including cards for frequent flyers and small businesses....

TELUS CORP., $31.97, Toronto symbol T, gained 3% this week in response to media reports that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) may postpone its plan to enter Canada’s wireless market. Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks. Verizon is reportedly interested in buying two smaller Canadian wireless carriers, Mobilicity and Wind Mobile, and bidding on new wireless frequencies, or spectrum. For technical reasons, Verizon may prefer to buy the new spectrum at an auction to be held in January 2014 before acquiring the two companies. Telus gets 53% of its revenue and 67% of its earnings from wireless services. That makes it particularly vulnerable to new competition from Verizon. Telus’s stock will likely remain volatile until Verizon’s intentions become clearer....

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION (Toronto symbol BXE; www.bellatrixexploration.com) produces oil and natural gas in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Gas makes up about 69% of its output; the remaining 31% is oil....

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION, $7.16, symbol BXE on Toronto, continues to enter into joint ventures to speed up the development of its Cardium shale oil deposits in west-central Alberta. Under the latest agreement, Bellatrix will sell a 50% interest in its producing wells in the Ferrier and Willesden Green area to Daewoo International Corporation and Devonian Natural Resources Private Equity Fund for $52.5 million. These wells produce 268 barrels of oil equivalent per day. To put that in context, Bellatrix’s output averaged 22,102 barrels per day in the latest quarter. Following the sale, Daewoo and Devonian will invest $100 million in a multi-year program to drill 70 new wells on the Ferrier and Willesden Green properties. Bellatrix will match that spending, and the joint-venture partners will share in any new production....

WESTJET AIRLINES LTD., $21.36, symbol WJA on Toronto, moved up almost 7% this week after reporting record quarterly earnings. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, the company’s earnings rose 5.2%, to $44.7 million from $42.5 million a year earlier. That marks WestJet’s 33rd consecutive quarter of profitability. Earnings per share rose 9.7%, to $0.34 from $0.31, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue increased 4.3%, to $843.7 million from $809.3 million a year earlier. WestJet shares fell as low as $19.65 earlier this week after reaching an all-time high of $25.47 in April 2013. The decline was mostly due to investor concern that the company’s profit growth could slow if it can’t fill the new planes it’s adding to the same level as its current fleet. That includes its new Canadian regional airline, WestJet Encore, which launched in June 2013....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; www.chemtradelogistics.com) is one of North America’s largest providers of removal services for resource firms, such as oil refineries and base-metal processors. These companies create sulphur, acid and other by-products as part of their activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid. Chemtrade’s Marsulex subsidiary provides a range of environmental services, including improving air quality and treating and handling industrial waste....

Gold has dropped by a third or more from the $1,800 U.S. peak it reached last October. Many investors now wonder if this is a heaven-sent second opportunity to buy. Others wonder if they should wait for the price to drop to, say, $1,000. I don’t have any such strong feeling about owning gold. Then again, I also don’t share the widespread feeling that gold is a great crisis barometer, safe haven, or hedge against disaster/chaos/social breakdown or whatever. My feeling is that gold first gained its safe-haven reputation centuries ago, when wars were more common and cities still maintained walls around them to keep out marauders. You could bury a few gold coins under a dirt floor and the soldiers or robbers might miss them....

AIMIA INC., $15.35, symbol AIM on Toronto, rose as high as $16.63 this week after the Canadian Competition Tribunal dismissed a complaint that Visa Canada and MasterCard impose anti-competitive rules on merchants. Merchants want to place surcharges on consumers’ credit card purchases to offset fees they pay to Visa and MasterCard. Credit card companies and the banks that issue the cards currently split these fees, which range from 1.5% to 3%. The merchants also wanted to be able to choose not to accept premium credit cards, which charge higher fees. The current rules, set by credit card issuers, prohibit merchants from doing either of these things. Visa and MasterCard currently process over 90% of credit card transactions in Canada....

YAMANA GOLD (Toronto symbol YRI; www.yamana.com) owns eight operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina and has a number of other properties in advanced stages of development. In the quarter ended March 31, 2013, Yamana’s revenue fell 4.4%, to $534.9 million from $559.7 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Gold production rose, but prices for gold, as well as copper and silver, which are both significant by-products of Yamana’s gold mining, dropped. Cash flow per share fell 3.3%, to $0.29 from $0.30....

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES, $23.65, symbol AAH on Toronto, jumped this week after the company reported improved sales and earnings in the latest quarter—and announced a $7.20-a-share special dividend. The company develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centred around business telephone systems and includes products that integrate land lines and mobile phones. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Aastra’s sales rose 2.5%, to $150.8 million from $147.1 million a year earlier, as the company’s key markets in Germany and France showed significant improvement. Earnings per share jumped to $0.21 from $0.13....