thomson reuters

TRIMARK CANADIAN FUND $18.44 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (AIM Funds Management Inc., 5140 Yonge Street, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6X7. 1-800-631- 7008; Website: www.aimfunds.ca. Buy or sell through brokers.) uses a bottom-up stock-picking style (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) that looks at valuation measures and then tries to pick stocks selling at a discount to long-term value. The fund’s 10 largest holdings are Thomson Reuters Corp., TD Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, MacDonald Dettwiler, Time Warner, Willis Group Holdings, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Power Corporation, Toromont Industries and Molex Inc. The fund’s portfolio breaks down by sector as follows: Financials, 26.3%; Consumer discretionary, 20.1%; Information technology, 10.8%; Materials, 9.8%; Energy, 4.2%; and Industrials, 7.8%....

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $35 now trades under the symbol “TRI”. It plans to resume regular share buybacks following the recent merger of The Thomson Corp. and Reuters Group plc. The company aims to repurchase 2% of its shares. Buy.

BCE INC. $35 has delayed declaring its second-quarter dividend of $0.365 a share. The company is currently appealing a ruling by the Quebec Court of Appeal in favour of BCE’s bondholders that could threaten the company’s $42.75-a-share privatization plan. The case will go to the Supreme Court of Canada on June 17, 2008....

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $36 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 640.3 million; Market cap: $23.1 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is the new name for The Thomson Corp. (old symbol TOC), following its merger with UK-based Reuters Group plc. The new company provides a variety of information services to professionals in the finance, medical, scientific and legal fields. If you assume the two companies merged on January 1, 2007, revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2008 would have increased 13.8%, to $3.3 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Pro forma operating earnings, which exclude income taxes and interest costs, rose 36.6%, to $579 million from $424 million. The company expects the merger will cut its annual expenses by $1.2 billion by the end of 2011. Thomson Reuters is a buy....

FORDING CANADIAN COAL TRUST $62.31, Toronto symbol FDG.UN, rose 10% this week after South Korean steelmaker Posco agreed to pay $308 U.S. a tonne for coal from BHP Billiton in the coal year that began on April 1, 2008. That’s 210% more than the industry benchmark price of $98 U.S. in the prior year. Fording is still negotiating new prices with its customers. Higher coal prices will help it offset rising labour, transportation and other costs. It should also let Fording increase its current quarterly distribution of $0.50 a unit, which implies an annual yield of 3.2%. Fording is still a buy for aggressive investors....

THE THOMSON CORP. $36 (Toronto symbol TOC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 638.9 million; Market cap: $23.0 billion; SI Rating: Above average) provides specialized information to users in the legal, accounting, financial, scientific and healthcare professions. Over 80% of Thomson’s revenue comes from electronic products, such as software and databases. As well, 80% comes from subscriptions, which gives its predictable revenue streams. In 2007, Thomson earned $1.1 billion before one-time items, up 28.4% from $857 million in 2007 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Per-share earnings rose 27.1%, to $1.69 from $1.33. Revenue grew 10.6%, to $7.3 billion from $6.6 billion. If you disregard acquisitions, revenue rose 6%. Thomson aims to complete its merger with UK-based Reuters Group plc in mid-April. The deal will let Thomson take advantage of Reuters operations to expand sales in Europe and Asia and cut its reliance on North America, which accounts for 83% of its revenue. The company can also market Reuters products to its own customers....

Fears of a slowing economy and falling advertising revenue have hurt all three of these information providers in the past few months. However, investments in new printing presses and other modern equipment will help keep their costs down. They should also gain from their expanding Internet businesses and lower computing costs. TORSTAR CORP. $17 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.7 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; SI Rating: Above average) publishes The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper. It also publishes other daily and community newspapers in Southern Ontario. Newspapers supply 70% of Torstar’s profit and revenue. The remaining 30% comes from wholly owned subsidiary Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., which is the world’s largest publisher of romance novels....

THE THOMSON CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol TOC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 640.8 million; Market cap: $25.6 billion; SI Rating: Above average) provides a wide range of specialized information to professionals in the financial, tax and accounting, medical, legal and scientific fields. Over 80% of Thomson’s revenue comes from electronic products, which cuts its printing and distribution costs. As well, 80% of its revenue comes from subscription-based products, which cuts its reliance on cyclical advertising. In May 2007, Thomson agreed to acquire UK-based Reuters Group plc for $17 billion in cash and stock (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars)....