Telus Corp.

BLACKBERRY INC., $11.08, Toronto symbol BB, fell 26% on Friday after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings. In its 2014 first quarter, which ended June 1, 2013, BlackBerry shipped 6.8 million smartphones, down 12.8% from 7.8 million a year ago. The latest quarter’s shipments included 2.7 million of its new, higher-priced BlackBerry 10 models, which fell short of the consensus estimate of 3.3 million. BlackBerry also lost $84 million, or $0.16 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Still, that’s a big improvement over the $510 million, or $0.97 a share, it lost a year earlier....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $129.16, Toronto symbol CP, fell 6% this week after activist investor Pershing Square Capital Management announced that it will sell 7 million of its CP shares over the next year. Pershing holds 24 million CP shares, or 14.2% of the total outstanding. In June 2012, Pershing helped install Hunter Harrison as CP’s chief executive officer. Mr. Harrison is the former CEO of Canadian National Railway (Toronto symbol CNR). Under his leadership, CP has improved its efficiency with new locomotives, upgraded tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds. The company is also cutting 25% of its workforce over the next two years....

TELUS $35.16 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 654.0 million; Market cap: $23.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.telus.com) recently agreed to buy rival wireless carrier Mobilicity for $380 million. Mobilicity began operating in 2010 and has 250,000 subscribers, mainly in large cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton....

ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $22.02 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of its assets. The fund’s MER is 0.50%. It yields 4.3%.

The fund’s top holdings are CIBC, 6.5%; Bonterra Energy, 6.4%; National Bank, 5.8%; TD Bank, 5.5%; Bank of Montreal, 5.3%; Telus Corp., 4.9%; BCE Inc., 4.4%; Royal Bank, 4.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.1%; and IGM Financial, 4.1%.

The fund holds 51.4% of its assets in financial stocks. The top Canadian finance stocks have sound prospects. However, if you invest in this ETF, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so it won’t be overly concentrated in the financial sector.
...

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $17.66 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 7.8%; TD Bank, 6.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.0%; Suncor Energy, 4.6%; Bank of Montreal, 3.6%; CN Railway, 3.6%; Potash Corp., 3.3%; Enbridge, 3.1%; Trans- Canada Corp., 3.0%; BCE, 3.0%; CIBC, 2.9%; Canadian Natural Resources, 2.9%; Barrick Gold, 2.9%; Goldcorp, 2.6%; Manulife Financial, 2.3%; Cenovus Energy, 2.2%; and Telus, 1.9%.
...

TELUS CORP., $37.39, Toronto symbol T, has agreed to buy rival wireless carrier Mobilicity. This privately held company began operating in 2010 and has 250,000 subscribers, mainly in large cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. To put that in context, Telus has 7.7 million wireless customers across Canada. Like other new entrants into Canada’s wireless market, Mobilicity has had a hard time competing with large, established carriers like Telus. As a result, it is close to bankruptcy....

Most U.S. markets have risen lately, while Canada’s resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange has lagged. But as always, both remain subject to unexpected downturns. One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but their low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

Most U.S. markets have risen lately, while Canada’s resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange has lagged. But as always, both remain subject to unexpected downturns. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher stock prices.

One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks....

TELUS $69.31 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 326.0 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.telus.com) will split its common shares on a 2-for-1 basis on April 16, 2013. Following the split, the company will have roughly 653.6 million common shares outstanding.

The split will make Telus’s shares more liquid. The lower trading price could also entice more investors to buy the stock.

Even without the positive impact that usually accompanies stock splits, Telus’s outlook remains bright. Demand for wireless services should continue to rise, particularly as more users upgrade from cellphones to smartphones. As well, Telus’s new Internet television service, Optik TV, is helping it compete with cable companies.
...

BCE INC. $47 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $36.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca), like Telus (see left), continues to benefit from strong demand for wireless and high-speed Internet services. That’s a big reason why the stock is up 31% since 2008.

Unlike Telus, however, BCE has invested heavily in expanding its media operations, which include the 28-station CTV Television Network, 30 specialty channels and 33 radio stations.

BCE now hopes to complete its $3.0-billion purchase of Astral Media in June 2013. Montreal-based Astral owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and popular specialty channels like The Movie Network and Teletoon.
...