The volatile markets of the past few years have offered up many tempting stocks at bargain prices. But it’s important to remember that not all bargain stocks are created equal.

Investment success depends more on the quality of your investments than on the price you pay for them. That’s why you have to be very selective about which undervalued stocks …read more »

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “How we use three financial …read more »

SARA LEE CORP. $18 (New York symbol SLE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 590.7 million; Market cap: $10.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.saralee.com) has agreed to sell most of its North American coffee operations to J.M. Smucker Co. (New York symbol SJM) for $350 million. The deal should close by the …read more »

Maple Leaf Foods and its subsidiary, Canada Bread, are in the middle of multi-year restructuring plan. A big part of this restructuring involves closing smaller plants and moving their operations into larger facilities with better machinery.

The plan’s cost has held back Maple Leaf’s earnings and share price. However, these moves will cut its costs, and help it better deal with …read more »

MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES INC. $43 (New York symbol MHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 301.3 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mcgraw-hill.com) plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies.

One of these new firms, McGraw-Hill Markets, will sell a variety of financial-information products. This business will include Standard & Poor’s, …read more »

I hope you are enjoying and profiting from our free TSI Network daily updates.

Our dailies aim to educate you on the best practices in investing. They cover a range of investment topics—from how to make the best value stock picks to gold investing and capital gains tax—and explain conservative investment strategies you can use to grow your wealth with less …read more »

Maple Leaf Foods and its subsidiary Canada Bread are cutting costs so they can better compete with larger, U.S.-based food companies. Both companies are closing smaller plants and merging their operations with larger facilities. We like both, but Maple Leaf offers better value.

MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $11 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 140.0 million; Market …read more »

We hardly ever recommend buying new issues when they are first sold to the public, and often stay away from them for months, if not years, afterward. That’s because new issues often come to market when it’s a good time for the company and/or its insiders to sell, but that’s not necessarily a good time for you to buy.

Spinoffs …read more »

Torstar and Transcontinental should continue to benefit from rising advertising revenue as the economy improves. As well, both companies have bought new, efficient presses that have lowered their operating costs. Moreover, both are cheap in relation to their earnings.

TORSTAR CORP. $15 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 79.1 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; …read more »

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $30.49 (Toronto symbol TIH; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-667-5511; www.toromont.com; Shares outstanding: 76.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) has two divisions: the equipment group and the compression group.

In the three months ended December 31, 2010, Toromont’s revenue jumped 56.7%, to $709.7 million from $452.8 million a year earlier. The increase was mostly due to …read more »