These four offer growth, inflation hedge

Article Excerpt

Resource prices have climbed sharply since early 2009, as the global recession began to ease and some countries’ economies returned to growth. Despite their recent gains, prices for oil, gold and other commodities will likely keep rising. That’s partly because resources act as a hedge against inflation. We feel the best way to profit from rising resource prices is with high-quality companies, such as these four. They are all leaders in their fields, and are doing a good job of keeping their costs down. However, only three are buys right now. ENCANA CORP. $55 (New York symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 751.2 million; Market cap: $41.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1: WSSF Rating: Average) will split itself into two separate companies in December, now that shareholders have approved the plan. Break-ups like this help unlock hidden value, and generally lead to above-average results for a period of years. One company will keep the EnCana name, and will focus on unconventional…