transcanada

TRANSCANADA CORP. $44 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 707.1 million; Market cap: $31.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) expects to complete the southern portion of its Keystone XL pipeline by the end of 2013....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $44.62, Toronto symbol SNC, rose 8% this week after it said that it plans to sell all or part of AltaLink, which provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations. SNC could also spin off AltaLink as a separate publicly traded firm. The company did not say when it expects to complete this process. As of June 30, 2013, AltaLink’s net book value was $856.8 million. That’s equal to 13% of SNC’s $6.8-billion market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares). The sale is part of SNC’s plan to sell some of its less important operations. The company will invest the cash from these sales in engineering projects in areas with strong potential, such as mining, water treatment and oil and gas....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $45.56 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $32.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.transcanada.com) has announced two major new pipeline projects.

First, the company says it will proceed with its $12-billion Energy East oil pipeline now that it has received enough support from producers. When completed, this new system will pump crude oil from Western Canada to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick.

In addition, TransCanada will spend $1.5 billion to expand its gas pipeline network in B.C. This will help it pump more natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a planned liquefied natural gas terminal near Prince Rupert.
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CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $92.02, Toronto symbol CTC.A, has announced more details of its plan to spin off most of its real estate holdings as a new, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). This new REIT, called CT Real Estate Investment Trust, will hold 72% of Canadian Tire’s real estate assets, including 255 stores and one distribution centre. Canadian Tire will be CT REIT’s major tenant, accounting for 95.7% of its rental income. The average lease term is 16 years for the retail stores. Canadian Tire will also sign a new deal to lease the distribution centre for 17 years....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $45.56 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $32.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.transcanada.com) has announced two major new pipeline projects.

First, the company says it will proceed with its $12-billion Energy East oil pipeline now that it has received enough support from producers....

The U.S. is the sole country worldwide that requires its citizens to file an income tax return and report any income regardless of where they live or whether they hold dual citizenship in another country. That’s unlike Canada, which mainly bases its tax system on country of residence, like most other nations. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that five to seven million American citizens reside abroad. Of that total, about one million live in Canada. Most U.S. citizens paying income taxes in Canada pay no additional U.S. income tax. However, they still have U.S. tax filing and compliance requirements....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on Canadian stocks and other investments as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $17.88 (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, 8.2%; TD Bank, 7.1%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.2%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; CN Railway, 3.9%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Enbridge, 3.4%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.2%; TransCanada Corporation, 3.0%; Manulife Financial, 3.0%; BCE, 2.9%; CIBC, 2.8%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 2.8%; Potash Corp., 2.3%; Cenovus Energy, 2.0%; and Goldcorp, 2.0%.
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CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $89.56, Toronto symbol CTC.A, rose 6% this week after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. In the three months ended June 29, 2013, Canadian Tire’s earnings rose 15.9%, to $154.9 million from $133.7 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 17.2%, to $1.91 from $1.63, on fewer shares outstanding. That easily beat the consensus estimate of $1.80 a share. Sales rose 1.0%, to $3.02 billion from $2.99 billion. Same-store sales gained 2.0% at the company’s 490 Canadian Tire stores, thanks to strong sales of automotive and kitchen goods. Higher demand for seasonal merchandise, like bicycles and patio furniture, also contributed to the higher results....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or subindex. They hold a more-or-less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index.

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