Updating MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES LTD. and FORTIS INC.

Article Excerpt

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES LTD. $33 (www.mts.ca) recently agreed to sell its Allstream subsidiary, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to over 50,000 businesses across Canada. Manitoba Telecom will get $405 million when the sale closes later this year. Excluding Allstream, MTS earned $28.2 million, or $0.42 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2013. That’s down 12.7% from $32.3 million, or $0.49 a share, a year earlier. However, revenue rose 0.2%, to $247.4 million from $246.8 million, as strong demand for wireless and Internet services offset lower revenue from the company’s regular telephone services. Buy. FORTIS INC. $31 (www.fortis.com) recently completed its purchase of CH Energy, which distributes power in New York State. If you exclude costs related to this purchase and other unusual items, Fortis’s earnings fell 11.1% in the second quarter of 2013, to $0.32 a share from $0.36. Hold. Hold…