Updating Indigo Books & Music Inc., Fortis Inc., Canadian National Railway Col. And MDS Inc.

Article Excerpt

INDIGO BOOKS & MUSIC INC. $14 (Toronto symbol IDG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 24.7 million; Market cap: $345.8 million; SI Rating: Extra risk) earned $3.2 million in its second fiscal quarter ended September 27, 2008, down 4.5% from $3.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.13. Sales fell 1.9%, to $205.3 million from $209.2 million. The year-earlier quarter benefitted from the release of the final Harry Potter novel. If you exclude this book, overall sales would have increased by $7.6 million. Indigo is a buy. FORTIS INC. $27 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 157.3 million; Market cap: $4.2 billion; SI Rating: Above average) earned $0.31 a share in the third quarter of 2008, up 55.0% from $0.20 a year earlier. However, the latest earnings included a $0.05 a share tax gain related to its May, 2007 acquisition of Terasen Inc., which distributes natural gas in B.C. Excluding this gain, earnings…