AGF Management, CN Railway, Sherritt: Canada Equity Preview

By Matt Walcoff

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies may have unusual moves in Canadian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose for a second day, gaining 6.68 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,361.19.

AGF Management Ltd. (AGF/B CT): The mutual-fund manager said it earned 40 cents a share in the fourth quarter, excluding certain items, surpassing the average estimate in an analyst survey by 32 percent. The company also increased its quarterly dividend 4 percent to 26 Canadian cents a share, effective in March.

Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR CT): Canada’s largest railroad said it earned 90 Canadian cents a share in the fourth quarter, missing the average analyst estimate by 1 cent a share, or 1.2 percent. The company also said it will increase its quarterly dividend 6.9 percent to 27 Canadian cents a share effective in March and buy back as much as 3.2 percent of its outstanding shares this year.

Enablence Technologies Inc. (ENA CV): The supplier of fiber-optic equipment said it will sell as many as 62.5 million shares, not including over-allotment shares, at 40 Canadian cents a share. The company had 254.7 million shares outstanding as of Dec. 31. Shares fell 4.7 percent to 41 cents.

Metro Inc. (MRU/A CT): The grocery-store chain had its rating raised to “buy” from “neutral” by analyst Chris Li of Bank of America Corp. Li told clients Metro’s first-quarter earnings have “given us more confidence in the company’s ability to improve its margins over the longer term.” Metro’s profit, excluding certain items, topped analyst estimates by 6.6 percent, according to Bloomberg data.

Sherritt International Corp. (S CT): The diversified mining company had its rating increased to “outperform” from “sector perform” by analyst Ian Howat of National Bank of Canada, who cited the likelihood of higher coal prices and demand growth in Asia.

Whiterock Real Estate Investment Trust (WRK-U CT): The owner of commercial properties in Canada said it will sell at least 3 million units at C$14.95 a unit in part to help fund the C$214 million ($201.4 million) purchase of a minority interest in seven Toronto-area office buildings. Whiterock units rose 0.3 percent to C$15.60 before being halted.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Walcoff in Toronto at mwalcoff1@bloomberg.net.