Most actively traded companies on the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange markets

TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (14,210.37 up 90.64 points):

TransAlta Corp. (TSX:TA). Utilities. Down $1.09, or 7.35 per cent, to $13.73 on 7.6 million shares.

Perpetual Energy Inc. (TSX:PMT). Oil and gas. Up one cent, or 0.75 per cent, to $1.35 on 5.9 million shares.

Rubicon Minerals Corp. (TSX:RMX). Miner. Down 35 cents, or 19.23 per cent, to $1.47 on 5.8 million shares. Rubicon has announced a bought-deal financing that could increase the number of company shares outstanding from 288.8 million to more than 363 million.

Sherritt International Corp. (TSX:S). Miner. Down 18 cents, or 5.96 per cent, to $2.84 on 5.7 million shares.

Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Aerospace. Unchanged at $3.55 on 8.6 million shares.

Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (TSX:PWT). Down 11 cents, or 1.23 per cent, to $8.86 on 5.1 million shares.

Toronto Venture Exchange (1,015.00 up 9.12 points):

Alexander Energy Ltd. (TSXV:ALX). Oil and gas. Down two cents, or 2.99 per cent, to 65 cents on 5.2 million shares.

Revolver Resources Inc. (TSXV:RZ). Miner. Down 3.5 cents, or 53.85 per cent, to three cents on 4.8 million shares.

Companies reporting major news:

Chorus Aviation Inc. (TSX:CHR.B). Airline. Up 19 cents, or 5.29 per cent, to $3.78 on 599,012 shares. The Halifax-based regional airline beat expectations in the fourth quarter as its net profit excluding severance and one-time costs grew 17.5 per cent to $20.8 million.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX:L). Grocer. Up $2.01, or 4.75 per cent, to $44.29 on 1.6 million shares. The supermarket giant reported fourth-quarter adjusted net earnings of $183 million or 65 cents per share, down 1.1 per cent from a year earlier but 10 cents above analyst estimates. Revenue was up 2.3 per cent at $7.64 billion, also better than expected.

Tim Hortons Inc. (TSX:THI). Restaurants. Up $1.04, or 1.80 per cent, to $58.98 on 854,710 shares. The stock advanced even though the coffee and doughnut chain's quarterly earnings of 69 cents per share were well below the 77 cents expected by analsts as revenue grew 10.7 per cent to $898.5 million from $811.6 million.

TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP). Pipelines. Down $1.07, or 2.14 per cent, to $48.83 on 1.9 million shares. TransCanada, which received another setback to its controversial Keystone XL pipeline from a Nebraska judge on Wednesday, reported comparable earnings in its latest quarter of $410 million, or 58 cents per share, up from $318 million, or 45 cents per share a year earlier but a penny per share under analyst expectations. It also raised is quarterly dividend two cents to 48 cents per share.