Author: Consultant

Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T +4.31%increase says profits rose five per cent in its latest quarter as the country’s biggest railroad operator worked through a trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump.

CN is reporting net income rose to $1.16 billion in the first quarter, from $1.10 billion the year before.

The Montreal-based company says revenues increased four per cent to $4.40 billion in the three months ended March 31 from $4.25 billion in the same period a year earlier.

It says diluted earnings per share jumped nearly eight per cent to $1.85 from $1.72.

The railway says cargo volumes – as measured in revenue ton miles, a key metric gauging how many tons of freight are hauled in a mile – increased one per cent year-over-year.

In a release Thursday, CN said its financial forecast for 2025 remains unchanged, but stressed the “heightened recessionary risk related to tariffs and trade actions” taken by the U.S. and other countries.

Magna International Inc. MG-T -3.73%decrease reported its first-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as sales decreased.

The auto parts company says its profit attributable to the company was US$146-million, compared with $9-million during the same period a year ago.

The auto parts company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 52 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, up from three cents US per diluted share in the first three months of 2024.

Sales for the quarter totalled US$10.1-billion, down from US$11-billion a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Magna says it earned 78 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of US$1.08 per diluted share a year earlier.

In its revised outlook for 2025, Magna says it now expects total sales between US$40-billion and US$41.6-billion, and adjusted net income attributable to Magna of US$1.3-billion to US$1.5-billion for the year.

General Motors Co. GM-N +0.20%increase said it will cut production at its pickup-truck plant in Oshawa, Ont., by the fall, a move the union says will result in more than 2,000 job losses at the plant and at parts suppliers.

Detroit-based GM said on Friday morning it is cutting one of three shifts at the factory east of Toronto “in light of forecasted demand and the evolving trade environment.” The plant makes Chevrolet Silverado trucks, which are also produced in Mexico and the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump on April 3 imposed 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian- and Mexican-made vehicles, based on their non-U.S. content.

Eliminating one shift cuts more than 700 GM hourly positions, said Jeff Gray, president of the Unifor local at the plant. The cuts also affect 1,500 to 2,000 employees at parts suppliers that operate within the plant and at other factories.

U.S. gives Canadian auto parts makers a tariff break

Unifor plant chairperson Chris Waugh called the news “very upsetting” for the workers. “It’s been quite the morning.”

He said the workers need federal and provincial politicians to find a way to convince the U.S. administration to end its tariff war. The move opens the door for the U.S.-based automakers to leave Canada entirely, he said.

“I need the political parties to step up,” Mr. Waugh said by phone. “Get in touch with Donald Trump, meet him, fix the tariffs. Mark Carney needs to hold a meeting with the Big 3 auto executives and fix this.”

GM said in a statement the plant will focus on building trucks for the Canadian market. “GM has been building vehicles in Canada since 1918, and we are implementing a plan to keep building here for Canadians for another 100-plus years,” GM said.

Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a statement, “Trump’s tariffs are designed to crush Canadian production – but GM doesn’t get a free pass to abandon its commitments, and the U.S. doesn’t get to free ride in Canada.”

“GM has had strong support from workers, the community, and governments. Canadians invested millions to revive this plant. Cutting jobs now has consequences. The company has six months to fix this.”

GM employs about 3,000 workers at the Oshawa assembly plant.

The automaker recently hired hundreds of people to boost annual production of the Silverado by 50,000 at its plant in Fort Wayne, Ind., Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive officer, said on Thursday. The increase allows GM to avoid paying tariffs on imported vehicles, she said, without naming Oshawa. GM also makes the Silverado model in Flint, Mich., and Silao, Mexico.

The Oshawa plant, built more than a century ago, has seen tough times in recent years. The plant closed in 2019, eliminating 2,300 GM jobs and thousands more at suppliers. The plant reopened in 2021 to meet surging demand for pickup trucks in the U.S.

GM’s CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, which produces Chevrolet BrightDrop electric cargo vans, is reopening for a brief period on Monday after closing in April. The plant will remain mostly closed until October, resulting in the loss of 500 of the 1,300 hourly jobs.

On Thursday, Stellantis NV said its minivan assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., will close for a week beginning on May 5, putting 3,800 workers on temporary layoff. The plant was closed for two weeks in April, a move the company said it made while it assessed the effect of the tariffs.

• Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 177,000 for the month, slightly below the downwardly revised 185,000 in March but above the Dow Jones estimate for 133,000.
• The unemployment rate, however, stayed at 4.2%, as expected, indicating that the labor market is holding relatively stable.
• Average hourly earnings rose just 0.2% for the month, below the 0.3% forecast, while the annual rate of 3.8% also was 0.1 percentage point less than expected

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/02/jobs-report-april-2025.html

Reiterating 2025 Guidance and Robust Long-term Growth Outlook

CALGARY, AB, May 1, 2025 /CNW/ – AltaGas Ltd. (“AltaGas” or the “Company”) (TSX:ALA.TO) reported first quarter 2025 financial results and provided an update on its operations, projects and other corporate developments.

Read more at newswire.ca

TC Energy Corporation (TRP) on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $700.7 million.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company said it had net income of 65 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 66 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 70 cents per share.

The energy infrastructure company posted revenue of $2.52 billion in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.54 billion.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research.

Access a Zacks stock report on TRP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TRP

Cameco Corp. CCO-T +1.29%increase reported a first-quarter profit as its revenue rose compared with a year ago, citing strong production of uranium and fuel services.

The company says it earned a profit attributable to equity holders of $70-million or 16 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $7-million or two cents per diluted share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Cameco says it earned 16 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 11 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $789-million, up from $634-million a year earlier.

Uranium production totalled 6.0 million pounds for the quarter, up from 5.8 million a year earlier, while sales volumes amounted to 6.9 million pounds, down from 7.3 million pounds. Cameco’s average realized price for uranium was $89.12 per pound, up from $77.33 a year earlier.

Cameco’s fuel services business saw production of 3.9 million kilograms, up from 3.7 million a year earlier, while fuel services sales volumes totalled 2.4 million kilograms, up from 1.5 million kilograms. Fuel services reported an average realized price of $56.64 per kilogram, up from $48.36 in the first quarter of 2024.

Thomson Reuters TRI-T +1.53%increase on Thursday reaffirmed 2025 financial guidance amid tariff-induced global economic turmoil that has led some companies to revise or scrap forecasts altogether.

The Toronto-based content and technology company reported quarterly revenue rising 1 per cent to $1.9-billion, slightly below analyst expectations of $1.93-billion, according to LSEG data.

Organic revenue, which strips out the impact of currency moves, acquisitions and asset sales, rose 6 per cent.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Hasker said businesses and government agencies were broadly more cautious about investment decisions amid the turmoil, but most of Thomson Reuters revenue was recurring in nature, often locked into multi-year contracts.

“Everyone is bracing themselves,” Hasker said in a post-results interview of the unstable economic backdrop caused in part by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

“But as we’ve seen with Microsoft, we haven’t seen any impact yet … We’ve made a good start to the year, meeting or exceeding our expectations,” he added, referring to Wednesday’s results from the U.S. tech giant.

Thomson Reuters is also expected to reaffirm its 2026 organic revenue growth target of 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent, Chief Financial Officer Mike Eastwood said. “Steve and I remain confident in delivering all aspects of our 2026 framework.”

The company, which owns the Westlaw legal database, Reuters news agency and the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.12. Wall Street expected a profit of $1.05 per share.

Shares of Thomson Reuters, which have risen 15 per cent since the beginning of the year, have outpaced the S&P 500 index, which has fallen 5 per cent over the same period.

Organic revenue for the company’s “Big 3” business segments, comprising its legal, corporates and tax and accounting businesses, rose 9 per cent in the quarter.

Revenue at constant currencies in the legal professionals business fell 3 per cent due to the impact of the sale of legal marketing business FindLaw. Revenue in the tax and accounting division rose 12 per cent, boosted by the purchase of SafeSend.

Reuters News revenue fell 7 per cent after benefiting from non-recurring generative AI licensing revenue a year ago.

Second-quarter company-wide organic revenue is expected to pick up from the first quarter and rise 7 per cent. The company reaffirmed its forecast for full-year organic revenue to increase by 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Thomson Reuters purchased tax automation company cPaperless, LLC, owner of SafeSend, for $600-million in cash in the first quarter.

The company has said it has $10-billion to spend on potential acquisitions through 2027.

Woodbridge Co. Ltd., the Thomson family holding company and controlling shareholder of Thomson Reuters, also owns The Globe and Mail.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, extending a steep decline the previous session due to signs that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, could raise production and data showing a contraction in the U.S. economy, the world’s top oil consumer.

Brent crude futures fell $1.1, or 1.8 per cent, to $59.96 a barrel as of 1207 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell $1.14, or 2 per cent, to $57.07.

“The oil market remains concerned about weakening oil demand growth over the coming months due to the trade tensions as well as a faster unwinding of the OPEC+ production cuts,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Saudi Arabia is telling allies and industry experts that it is unwilling to prop up the oil market with supply cuts and can manage a prolonged period of low prices, sources told Reuters.

Several OPEC+ members will suggest the group accelerates output hikes in June for a second consecutive month, three people familiar with OPEC+ talks have said. Eight OPEC+ countries will meet on May 5 to decide a June output plan.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years in the first quarter, swamped by a flood of imports as businesses raced to avoid higher costs from tariffs and underscoring the disruptive impact of President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy.

Trump’s tariffs have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, a Reuters poll suggested.

“The U.S. administration’s volatile tariff policy strategy, especially those involving China, has made traders that were already skittish on the long-standing oversupply this year nervous about loosening fundamentals.” MUFG analyst Ehsan Khoman said.

A demand outlook clouded by trade disputes coupled with an OPEC+ decision to increase supply will weigh on oil prices this year, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Analytics firm Kpler has lowered its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast to 640,000 barrels per day from 800,000 bpd, citing the China-U.S. trade war and weak Indian demand.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels last week on higher export and refinery demand, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. That compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 429,000 barrel rise.