MORNING NEWS CALL REUTERS Canada Edition Wednesday, May 3, 2017 TOP NEWS INSIGHT • "Kong", "LEGO Batman" success drives Time Warner's profit beat Time Warner Inc, which is being bought by AT&T, reported a better-than- Buffett to face big crowd as Berk- expected quarterly profit, helped by the success of its movies "Kong: Skull Is- shire grows bigger land" and "The LEGO Batman Movie" in the first quarter. • Strong demand at Taco Bell drives Yum Brands' profit beat As the United States adapts to the Yum Brands Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit due to strong presidency of Donald Trump and global same-store sales growth, driven by robust demand at its Taco Bell res- faces rising tensions abroad, Berk- taurants and lower costs at its KFC chain. shire Hathaway Inc shareholders will • Toronto Star publisher posts bigger-than-expected loss descend on Omaha, Nebraska this Canadian newspaper publisher Torstar Corp on Tuesday reported a bigger- weekend seeking reassurance, from than-expected loss, as growth in some of its digital ventures failed to offset a Warren Buffett. decline in print advertising. The weekend known as "Woodstock • Canada's Loblaw profit beats estimates on lower expenses for Capitalists" is unique in corporate Canadian grocery and pharmacy retailer Loblaw Cos Ltd reported a higher- America, a celebration of the billion- than-expected quarterly profit as the company kept a tight lid on expenses and aire's image and success at a con- attracted more customers to its stores with discounts. glomerate whose businesses range • Canadian non-bank lender Home Capital delays Q1 earnings to next from Geico insurance to the BNSF week railroad to See's candies to Ginsu Canada's biggest non-bank lender, Home Capital Group Inc, has delayed its knives. first-quarter earnings to after close of market on May 11, the company said in Buffett, 86, and vice chairman Char- a statement on Tuesday. lie Munger, 93, will answer five hours of questions at Saturday's annual meeting. BEFORE THE BELL Many say it reinforces their views Stock futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index as about investing and Berkshire, even investors digested quarterly results from a slew of major companies including if it remains unclear how much new Loblaw, CGI and Torstar. U.S. stock index futures were lower after Apple's they learn. quarterly revenue missed expectations and as investors awaited the outcome "Watching someone like (Buffett) of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting. The U.S. dollar inched up against with strong command on details of most major currencies, while gold edged lower as investors look forward to the economy and Berkshire's opera- FOMC’s statement for guidance on whether bets for a June interest rate hike tions is very impressive," said Meyer are justified. European markets slipped as investors locked in some profits Shields, a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods following some underwhelming company results and Asian stocks recorded a analyst who rates Berkshire "market mixed trading day. Oil prices rebounded from near 2017 lows after preliminary perform." "But you're not going to data showed a much larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude stocks, reviving learn a lot about Berkshire Hathaway bullish sentiment about easing oversupply. the company." Last year's attendance fell to about 37,000 from more than 40,000 a STOCKS TO WATCH year earlier. But there were also 1.1 million real- Results time sign-ons to Yahoo Finance, • Torstar Corp (TSb). The newspaper publisher on Tuesday reported a 11.5 which webcast the meeting for the percent fall in quarterly revenue, as growth in some of its digital ventures failed first time. It will do so again, in Eng- to offset a decline in print advertising. Torstar, which publishes the Toronto lish and Mandarin. Star and a string of other titles, said net loss attributable to shareholders nar- rowed to C$24.4 million, or 30 Canadian cents per share, from C$53.5 million, LARGE, LARGE ORGANIZATION or 66 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to C$138.6 million Much of Berkshire's relative outper- from C$156.7 million. formance came decades ago when it • Loblaw Cos Ltd (L). The Canadian grocery and pharmacy retailer reported a was much smaller, and even Buffett higher-than-expected quarterly profit as the company kept a tight lid on ex- has called the company's huge size penses and attracted more customers to its stores with discounts. Loblaw's an "anchor on investment perfor- revenue rose marginally to C$10.40 billion. Sales at Loblaw's retail business mance." rose slightly to $10.17 billion, but same-store sales were hurt by the timing of Buffett has said Berkshire owns 10 New Year's Day and Easter holidays. Excluding items, the company earned 90 businesses big enough to make the Canadian cents per share, beating the average estimate of 87 Canadian Fortune 500 list of large U.S. compa- cents. MORNING NEWS CALL - CANADIAN EDITION May 3, 2017 Deals of the day nies on their own. • Intact Financial Corp (IFC). The property and casualty insurer said it would But details can be thin. For example, buy U.S.-based specialty insurer OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd for $1.7 aircraft parts maker Precision Cast- billion, creating a specialty insurer focused on small- and mid-sized business- parts, acquired last year for $32.1 es. The $18.10 cash offer represented a 15.3 percent premium to OneBea- billion, merited about a page in Berk- con's Tuesday close. The deal will create an insurer with over C$2 billion of shire's annual report. annual premiums, the company said. Precision's final annual report, in 2015, ran 87 pages. In Other News "It's a large, large organization," said • Home Capital Group Inc (HCG). The non-bank lender, has delayed its first- Jeffrey Stacey, founder of Stacey quarter earnings to after close of market on May 11, the company said in a Muirhead Capital Management in statement on Tuesday. Home Capital, which secured emergency funding last Waterloo, Ontario, who is attending week after investors pulled out nearly three quarters of its deposits, said the his 26th straight meeting. "I am will- delay would give the management time to update events that have occurred ing to give it the benefit of the doubt since the close of the first quarter. because the track record has been so good for so long." Buffett said in February that boosting ANALYSTS' RECOMMENDATION disclosure could put many Berkshire • Kinross Gold Corp (K). CIBC raises rating to outperform from neutral; price businesses at a disadvantage, and target C$4.75 saying that appealing value and consistent delivery of solid op- that "it's the growth of the Berkshire erating results appear to offset the risks of project delivery and geopolitical forest that counts." exposure. He also knows the perils of conglom- erates, saying in 2015 that dubious accounting, self-promotion and me- ECONOMIC EVENTS diocre businesses make them "richly No economic indicators are scheduled for release. deserve" their "terrible" reputation. Buffett says Berkshire is different, in part because he took Munger's ad- COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS vice to buy wonderful businesses at fair prices. Shareholders enjoy that focus less May 3: than they once did. Acadian Timber Corp (ADN). Expected Q1 earnings of 29 Canadian cents Berkshire's share price has slightly per share lagged the Standard & Poor's 500 ARC Resources Ltd (ARX). Expected Q1 earnings of 15 Canadian cents per including dividends during the eight- share year bull market, but has outper- Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH). Expected Q1 loss of 9 Canadian cents per share formed since the global financial cri- Blackpearl Resources Inc (PXX). Expected Q1 earnings of 1 Canadian cent sis mushroomed in September 2008. per share Shields, who is not attending Satur- CGI Group Inc (GIBa). Expected Q2 earnings of 93 Canadian cents per share day's meeting, wants Buffett to re- Dundee Precious Metals Inc (DPM). Expected Q1 earnings of 2 cents per veal more, even if shareholders can share "safely assume" his eventual suc- Echelon Financial Holdings Inc (EFH). Expected Q1 earnings of 17 Canadi- cessor as chief executive is top- an cents per share flight. EcoSynthetix Inc (ECO). Expected Q1 loss of 3 cents per share Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL). Expected Q1 earnings of 35 cents per share ISSUES APLENTY Great Panther Silver Ltd (GPR). Expected Q1 earnings of 1 Canadian cent While Buffett and Munger do not per share know in advance the questions they Home Capital Group Inc (HCG). Expected Q1 earnings of 98 Canadian cents will get from shareholders, journal- per share ists and analysts at Saturday's meet- Intact Financial Corp (IFC). Expected Q1 earnings of C$1.08 per share ing, they can anticipate many. Loblaw Companies Ltd (L). Expected Q1 earnings of 87 Canadian cents per Buffett may need to review Berk- share shire's support of Wells Fargo & Co, Manulife Financial Corp (MFC). Expected Q1 earnings of 52 Canadian cents in which it holds a roughly 10 per- per share cent stake, despite a sales scandal Novadaq Technologies Inc (NDQ). Expected Q1 loss of 21 cents per share over bogus customer accounts. Points International Ltd (PTS). Expected Q1 earnings of 4 cents per share He may also get questions about his Rogers Sugar Inc (RSI). Expected Q2 earnings of 8 Canadian cents per support for 3G Capital, a Brazilian share firm known for ruthless cost-cutting. Torstar Corp (TSb). Expected Q1 loss of 13 Canadian cents per share Berkshire controls Kraft Heinz Co Trican Well Service Ltd (TCW).