transcanada

TRANSCANADA CORP. $41 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 703.0 million; Market cap: $28.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) may have to kill its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which will pump oil from oil-sands projects in Alberta through Oklahoma to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. That’s mainly because the Governor of Nebraska now wants TransCanada to re-route the pipeline around underground water tables. As well, the U.S. State Department is reviewing its recent decision that Keystone XL will have no significant impact on the environment. These delays would add to Keystone XL’s $7-billion U.S. cost, and might prompt oil shippers and refineries to cancel their commitments....

TRANSCANADA CORP., $42.37, Toronto symbol TRP, is still waiting for final approval to proceed with its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Keystone XL includes the third and fourth phases of a four-phase, $13-billion U.S. project; phases one and two are already pumping crude oil from the Alberta oil sands to refineries in the U.S. Midwest. Keystone XL will cost $7 billion U.S., and will pump oil from Alberta through Oklahoma to the U.S. Gulf Coast. So far, TransCanada has spent $1.9 billion U.S. on Keystone XL. The U.S government should make a final decision by the end of 2011. If the pipeline is approved, TransCanada expects to complete it in the second half of 2013....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $32.72 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 65.5 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.mts.ca) plans to deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology in 2012. LTE networks are up to five times faster than its current high-speed wireless systems. The company did not reveal the cost of these upgrades. However, this technology should help Manitoba Telecom sell more smartphones, including the hugely popular Apple iPhone. That’s good news for the company, because it earns higher fees from these devices than regular cellphones. Manitoba Telecom is a buy....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $16.56 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; 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. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 6.7%; TD Bank, 6.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.5%; Barrick Gold, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.1%; Potash Corp., 3.9%; Goldcorp, 3.8%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.2%; CN Railway, 3.2%; BCE Inc., 3.0%, TransCanada Corp., 2.9%, CIBC, 2.9%; Enbridge, 2.6%; Cenovus Energy, 2.3% and Manulife Financial, 2.1%....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders. Below, we update our advice on six ETFs — five buys and one we don’t recommend....

RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD., $21.36, Toronto symbol RIM, rose earlier this week on speculation that activist investor Carl Icahn is planning to buy a stake in the company.

Mr. Icahn has a long history of pushing companies to make changes that help increase shareholder value. In RIM’s case, that may involve splitting the company into two separate firms. One would sell BlackBerry smartphones and email servers to corporate clients, and the other would focus on consumer products. Icahn may also push RIM to increase its earnings by licensing more of its wireless technology patents.

The company’s two co-founders own 11% of the outstanding shares. That would hinder any radical changes. Still, Mr. Icahn’s involvement would draw investor attention to RIM’s value.

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Companies that pay dividends have a “record” date. That raises two interesting questions investors often ask. Does the record date determine who owns the stock on that day and who gets the dividend? If so, why not buy stock the week before the day of record, collect the dividend and then sell the stock? Here is what you need to know. There are a number of dates related to payments from dividend stocks:...

TRANSCANADA CORP. $43 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 703.0 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) continues to face strong opposition from environmentalists and celebrities over its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. (Keystone XL is the third and fourth phases of the four-phase Keystone project; the first two phases are already pumping oil from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest.) These activists oppose the development of the oil sands, due to concerns that they will produce large amounts of greenhouse gases, and contribute to global warming. They also worry that the pipeline could leak and contaminate underground water tables. However, it’s looking more likely that Keystone XL will be built. As the pipeline crosses an international border, the U.S. State Department must approve the project. It recently concluded that Keystone XL will have no significant impact on the environment....

IMPERIAL OIL $40.16 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 853.9 million; Market cap: $33.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.imperialoil.ca) continues to work on its Kearl oil-sands project in northern Alberta. Imperial owns 71% of Kearl. ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM) owns the remaining 29%. Exxon also owns 69.6% of Imperial. The company had to import some of the larger mining equipment it needs from South Korea. This gear is now in Idaho. Due to problems securing permits to truck this equipment to the Kearl site, Imperial and Exxon are now taking apart most of this equipment so it will fit on smaller trucks. Kearl is now 68% complete. When the first phase starts up in late 2012, it will add 78,100 barrels to Imperial’s daily production; in the latest quarter, the company produced 231,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including natural gas). Imperial’s share of Kearl’s output will jump to 245,000 barrels a day when the project reaches full production later this decade. Kearl’s reserves should last at least 40 years....

PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index ETF, $18.44, symbol PDC on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 250,000; Market cap: $4.6 million; www.investco.ca), aims to replicate the performance of the Indxis Select Canadian Dividend Index. PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index ETF was launched on June 16, 2011. The units began trading at $20. However, the fund duplicates the PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index mutual fund, which started up in November 2009. The fund holds 35 stocks, eight real estate investment trusts (REITs) and two income trusts. It has an expense ratio of 0.50%, and yields 3.6%. Its top 10 holdings are Royal Bank, 10.0%; TD Bank, 10.0%, Bank of Nova Scotia, 9.7%; Bank of Montreal, 7.4%; CIBC, 5.6%; TransCanada Corp., 5.4%; Thomson Reuters, 5.2%; Enbridge, 4.6%; Great-West Lifeco, 4.4%; and Power Financial, 3.9%....