Updating on MANITOBA TELECOME, BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA and LOBLAW COS.

Article Excerpt

MANITOBA TELECOM $30.48 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 77.1 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.6%; www.mts.ca) earned $0.23 a share in the three months ended December 31, 2013, down 47.7% from $0.44 a year earlier. Revenue declined 1.1%, to $408.5 million from $413.1 million. Lower revenue from its traditional phone business offset gains from wireless and high-speed Internet. Manitoba Telecom is still a hold. BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $63.72 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $76.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.0%, www.scotiabank.com) continues to benefit from strong demand in Canada for car loans and credit card use. Its November 2012 purchase of ING Direct has also spurred its growth. As well, the bank’s wealth management business is benefiting from rising stock markets, which has pushed up the value of the assets it manages. However, volatile currency exchange rates and higher operating costs have hurt earnings at its international banking…