Updating Bell Aliant, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal

Article Excerpt

BELL ALIANT INC. $26 (www.aliant.ca) earned $0.45 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2012. That’s up 2.3% from $0.44 a year earlier. Revenue was unchanged at $682.0 million. Strong demand for high-speed Internet and TV services offset lower local and long distance revenue. Buy. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $53 (www.scotiabank.com) will get $93 million in earnings from Scotiabank Mexico, its Mexican subsidiary, in its current quarter. That’s small next to the $1.3 billion, or $1.20 a share, that Bank of Nova Scotia earned in the quarter ended January 31, 2012. However, the Mexican operation’s earnings are rising sharply: they’re up 24.0% from a year earlier due to strong loan growth and lower loan-loss provisions. Best Buy. BANK OF MONTREAL $56 (www.bmo.com) has opened an office in Abu Dhabi. This will help it take advantage of rising demand for wealth management services in the United Arab Emirates. Buy. Buy…