BCE, Nexen, Suncor, Thomson Reuters: Canada Equity Preview

By John Kipphoff

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close in Toronto.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 1.99 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 8,442.86.

Canadian oil producers Suncor Energy Inc. (SU CN), Nexen Inc. (NXY CN), Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS-U CN) and Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGF-U CN) were cut to “underperform” from“buy” at Merrill Lynch & Co. after the brokerage reduced its 2009 oil price forecast to $50 from $90 to reflect the “very weak” economic outlook. Husky Energy Inc. (HSE CN) and Petrominerales Ltd. (PMG CN) were downgraded to “neutral” from “buy.”

Suncor rose 1.5 percent to C$23.30. Canadian Oil Sands fell 1 percent to C$23.45. Pengrowth dropped 2.1 percent to C$11. Husky added 1.2 percent to C$31. Petrominerales declined 7.4 percent to C$8.05.

BCE Inc. (BCE CN): Canada’s largest phone company said the credit slump may prevent its C$52 billion ($42 billion) takeover from closing on time, signaling the buyout may collapse.

The shares may fall as low as C$24 according to bids already submitted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. That’s 37 percent below yesterday’s closing price and 44 percent less than the C$42.75 a share offered by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and its partners.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR CN): The nation’s largest railroad and its smaller rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP CN) lost a bid at the federal court of appeals to reverse a government-ordered rate cut for grain shipments.

Canadian National, which had sales of C$7.9 billion in 2007, said the decision will reduce annual grain revenue by C$23 million ($19 million). Canadian National fell 0.6 percent to C$42.95. Canadian Pacific dropped 2.4 percent to C$37.74.

Rogers Sugar Income Fund (RSI-U CN): The owner of a sugar manufacturer said that the Toronto Stock Exchange authorized it to buy back more than 6.38 million of its units, or 10 percent of the total outstanding. Recent prices of the units do not reflect their value, Montreal-based Rogers Sugar said in a statement on Marketwire. The units rose 2 percent to C$3.54.

Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI CN): The provider of financial and legal data was cut to “sell” from “hold” by Royal Bank of Scotland analysts led by Paul Gooden in London. The shares were unchanged at C$28.75.

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