Agrium, CN Rail, Loblaw, RIM, Suncor: Canadian Equity

By John Kipphoff

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies may have unusual fluctuations in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from yesterday’s close.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index fell 0.9 percent to 8,841.48.

Fertilizer makers may be active after Citigroup Inc. analyst P.J. Juvekar gave Agrium Inc. (AGU CN) a “sell” rating and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT CN) a “hold” rating. Fertilizer sales may fall by 10 percent to 20 percent this year before a possible “robust recovery” in 2010, the New-York based analyst wrote in a note to clients today.

Agrium rose 1.1 percent to C$42.50. Potash fell 1.5 percent to C$89.25.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR CN): The nation’s largest railroad was cut to “neutral” from “buy” at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. because it won’t escape the “headwinds of lower volume growth.” The shares fell 1.3 percent to C$42.

Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO CN): Canada will offer financial aid for Imperial Oil’s C$16.2 billion ($12.9 billion) Mackenzie natural-gas pipeline, including a sharing of the “risks and returns” from the project, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said. The shares fell 2.8 percent to C$38.70.

Loblaw Cos. (L CN): Canada’s biggest grocery chain was downgraded to “neutral” from “buy” by Vishal Shreedhar at UBS AG. Following a 36 percent gain since third-quarter results were announced in November, Loblaw’s valuation fairly reflects the benefits of the company’s restructuring and a potential privatization by the controlling Weston family, the Toronto-based analyst wrote in note to clients today. The shares fell 0.3 percent to C$36.61.

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM CN): The maker of the BlackBerry handheld device was raised to “outperform” from “sector perform” by Mike Abramsky at RBC Capital Markets. RIM’s performance should exceed estimates, the analyst said in a note today. The shares were unchanged at C$63.75.

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU CN): The world’s second-largest oil- sands producer reported 16 percent more per-share profit for the fourth quarter than analysts estimated, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Telus Corp. (T CN): Canada’s second-largest phone company was downgraded to “underperform” from “buy” by Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Glen Campbell. The shares rose 3.6 percent to C$36.66.

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