CI Financial, EnCana, Gildan, Westport: Canada Equity Preview

By John Kipphoff

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Canadian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from yesterday's close in Toronto.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index declined 0.8 percent to 12,532.63.

CI Financial Income Fund (CIX-U CN): Canada's third-largest mutual-fund manager has halted acquisition efforts because stock market volatility is making it difficult to assign a value to targets, Chief Executive Officer Bill Holland said.

Separately, CI Financial was raised to ``sector perform'' from ``underperform'' by RBC Capital Markets analyst Geoffrey Kwan, who said that the stock is fairly valued after a recent price decline. The shares gained 4.1 percent to C$19.90.

Cinram International Income Fund (CRW-U CN): Clarke Inc. (CKI CN), the investment company of Canadian financier George Armoyan, said it bought an additional 233,000 units of Cinram, the Toronto-based maker of digital video discs. The purchase brings the company's stake in Cinram to 14.5 percent, Halifax- based Clarke said in a statement on Market News. Cinram rose 2.4 percent to C$3.85. Clarke increased 0.8 percent to C$6.25.

EnCana Corp. (ECA CN): Canada's biggest energy company by market value and partner ConocoPhillips will start construction this month on an expansion at the Wood River refinery in Roxana, Illinois. The project is estimated to cost EnCana $1.8 billion and is expected to be finished in the next three years, EnCana said. The shares fell 1.1 percent to C$73.36.

Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL CN): North America's biggest T- shirt maker was rated ``buy'' in new coverage by UBS AG analyst Vishal Shreedhar, who cited, in a report, Gildan's ability, as an ``industry leader,'' to achieve strong per-share earnings growth.

Gildan was also cut to ``outperform'' from ``strong buy'' by Raymond James & Associates analyst Andy Nasr in Toronto, who wrote in a note that the company faces ``weaker pricing related to a slowdown in end-market demand.'' The shares fell 1.5 percent to C$24.49.

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWO CN): The insurer's Putnam Investments unit said investment chief Kevin Cronin resigned, effective Oct. 1. Robert Reynolds, chief executive officer of the Boston-based money-management firm, didn't immediately name a replacement. Great-West shares rose 2.8 percent to C$32.75.

Homburg Invest Inc. (HII/A CN): The real-estate company led by Richard Homburg rose the most in more than two years in Amsterdam after announcing a plan to buy back as much as 10 percent of the stock yesterday. Homburg, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, also said it will ``consolidate'' 10 existing shares into 1 new one. The Toronto-traded shares gained 0.4 percent to C$2.69.

Junex Inc. (JNX CN): The oil and natural gas exploration company that owns leases in the Quebec Lowlands was rated ``buy'' in new coverage by Fraser Mackenzie Ltd. analyst Victor Vallance in Toronto. The shares fell 0.9 percent to C$2.19.

Westport Innovations Inc. (WPT CN): The developer of technology that allows engines to use cleaner-burning fuels was rated ``buy'' in new coverage by Laurence Alexander at Jefferies & Co. The New York-based analyst set a share-price target of C$13.44 ($13). The shares gained 3.9 percent to C$11.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net.