Telus Corp.

TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 600.1 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) plans to launch several new cloud computing services that will use Microsoft’s cloud software and Internet equipment from Cisco Systems. The company aims to work closely with its clients to develop cloud-based systems that are secure, fast and easily expandable. More businesses are shifting to a cloud platform, as it lets them avoid the high cost of buying new computers and continuously updating software. Over the next five years, companies will probably spend up to eight times more on cloud services than non-cloud technologies....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $29.57 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 79.3 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.mts.ca) has agreed to sell its Allstream division, which offers telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada. Allstream supplies 40% of Manitoba Telecom’s revenue. The remaining 60% comes from its MTS division, which has 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. The buyer is U.S.-based Zayo Group (New York symbol ZAYO), which will pay $465.0 million. Manitoba Telecom will probably use some of the proceeds to pay down its long-term debt of $677.1 million, which is equal to 29% of its $2.3-billion market cap (or the value of all outstanding shares)....

TELUS $42.20 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 605.0 million; Market cap: $25.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.telus.com) earned $398 million in the three months ended September 30, 2015, up 2.8% from $387 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 3.1%, to $0.66 from $0.64, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 4.2%, to $3.2 billion from $3.0 billion. Telus continues to sign up high-speed Internet and TV customers, which is helping offset lower demand for traditional phone services. The company now aims to improve its earnings by cutting 3% of its workforce. That should lower its annual costs by $100 million to $125 million....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $29.57 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 79.3 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.mts.ca) has agreed to sell its Allstream division, which offers telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada.

Allstream supplies 40% of Manitoba Telecom’s revenue. The remaining 60% comes from its MTS division, which has 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. The buyer is U.S.-based Zayo Group (New York symbol ZAYO), which will pay $465.0 million.

Manitoba Telecom will probably use some of the proceeds to pay down its long-term debt of $677.1 million, which is equal to 29% of its $2.3-billion market cap (or the value of all outstanding shares).

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TRANSCANADA CORP., $43.32, Toronto symbol TRP, fell 4% on Friday after the U.S. rejected its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have pumped crude from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. So far, TransCanada has spent $2.4 billion U.S. on this $8.0-billion U.S. project. However, it can use some of the line’s equipment on other projects, which would minimize a writedown. Meanwhile, the company’s earnings fell 2.2% in the three months ended September 30, 2015, to $440 million (Canadian), or $0.62 a share, though that was still ahead of the consensus estimate of $0.60. A year earlier, it earned $450 million, or $0.63....

TD BANK $54.16 (Toronto symbol TD; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $100.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.td.com) is seeing slowing loan demand, especially in Western Canada, where the oil-price drop has forced producers to postpone projects and lay off workers. At the same time, low interest rates are cutting the interest income TD earns on its loans, and more of its customers are banking online instead of in bank branches. All of these factors have prompted the bank to look for ways to cut costs and boost efficiency at its Canadian and U.S. operations. That will probably lead to several hundred job cuts....

FORTIS INC. $38 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 279.9 million; Market cap: $10.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.fortisinc.com) owns electrical utilities across Canada and in the U.S. and Caribbean. It also distributes natural gas in British Columbia. The company recently raised its quarterly dividend by 10.3%, to $0.375 a share from $0.34. The new annual rate of $1.50 yields 3.9%. Fortis has raised its payout every year for the past 43 years. The company also plans to increase the payout by around 6% each year through 2020. Fortis is a buy....

ENCANA $11.04 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 842.5 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.3%; www.encana.com) continues to increase production at its four main properties: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta) and Eagle Ford and Permian (both in Texas). These fields produce large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as propane and butane, making Encana less reliant on natural gas. In August 2015, these four properties produced an average of 257,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including gas), up 15.2% from 223,000 barrels in the second quarter of 2015. Encana expects these fields’ output to rise to 270,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter of 2015....

< p>TELUS CORP. $42 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 602.4 million; Market cap: $25.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) plans to speed up its fibre optic network in Vancouver. < p>Initially, clients will be able to connect at 150 megabits a second, or 50% faster than the network’s current top speed. Eventually, Telus plans to boost that to one gigabit (or 1,000 megabits) per second. < p>The company will spend $1 billion on this project over the next five years. Faster speeds should spur demand for Telus’s other services, like digital TV....

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....