Hidden value is one of the key factors we look for when we choose stocks to recommend in our newsletters and investment services, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. stock market.

By hidden value, we mean valuable assets that are not getting the attention they deserve from investors. When a company’s assets are wholly or partially …read more »

Technology has made extraordinary advances in the past decade, yet lots of investors lost money when they invested in it.

Often, that was because they invested too early. In their eagerness to get in on the “ground floor,” they bought tech stocks based mainly on potential improvements in the technology. But they failed to consider the political, financial and practical …read more »

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $30 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 346.0 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; WSSF Rating: Average) makes testing systems that help improve the quality of electronic products, such as cellphones, set-top boxes and high-speed Internet equipment.

The company gets 50% of its revenue from these systems, which it …read more »

AT&T INC. $27 (New York symbol T; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.9 billion; Market cap: $159.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; WSSF Rating: Average) sells traditional telephone services to 45.7 million consumer and business customers in 13 states. Its wireless division has 81.6 million customers nationwide.

Since 2007, AT&T has been the exclusive U.S. carrier of the hugely popular Apple …read more »

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $32 (New York symbol VZ; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $89.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; WSSF Rating: Average) has 33.4 million phone customers in 28 states. It also has 89 million wireless users.

The company is the exclusive carrier of Motorola’s new Droid smartphone, which uses the Android operating system developed by Internet …read more »

Agilent was a unit of Hewlett-Packard until 1999, when Hewlett set it up as a separate company and handed it out to its investors as a special dividend or spinoff. The company has since gone through a lot of changes. In 2005, it sold its struggling chip-making operations. In 2006, it spun off Verigy Ltd., its computer-chip-testing business. Meanwhile, it …read more »

HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. $50 (New York symbol HPQ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 2.4 billion; Market cap: $120.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; WSSF Rating: Above Average) spun off Agilent in November 1999 as part of a plan to focus on its main computer and printer businesses.

The company is expanding its computer-services operations, which help businesses manage their …read more »

VERIGY LTD. $11 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 58.8 million; Market cap: $646.8 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; WSSF Rating: Extra Risk) lost $87 million, or $1.49 a share, in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009. It earned $71 million, or $1.18 a share, in the prior year. These figures exclude writedowns of …read more »

MTS SYSTEMS CORP. $26 (Nasdaq symbol MTSC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 16.7 million; Market cap: $434.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; WSSF Rating: Average) earned $17.4 million, or $1.03 a share, in the fiscal year ended October 3, 2009. That’s down 63.1% from $47.1 million, or $2.68 a share, in the prior year. However, if you …read more »

The best way to profit from rising use of smartphones and other wireless devices is through carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon. That’s because they have more revenue sources than smartphone makers. These include traditional phone, Internet and TV services. This diversity limits their reliance on a single device.

AT&T INC. $27 (New York symbol T; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares …read more »

CANON INC. ADRs $38 (New York symbol CAJ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is paying roughly $1.1 billion for Oce N.V., a Netherlands-based maker of printers and scanners. Canon earned $408.2 million, or $0.33 per ADR, in the three months ended September 30, …read more »

GARMIN $32.48 (Nasdaq symbol GRMN; SI Rating: Speculative) (913-397-8200; www.garmin.com; Shares outstanding: 200.7 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion) faces an uncertain future because selling prices for its devices are falling and competition is increasing.

Motorola and Verizon Wireless recently announced the first smartphone to feature Google’s Android 2.0 operating system for mobile devices. The new phone will allow users to access …read more »

Technology stocks have always been a more speculative segment of the stock market. But you can turn the odds in your favour by investing in those that have hidden assets, or assets that other investors overlook.

Hidden assets are items that don’t show up on a company’s balance sheet, but can offer dramatic rewards for investors who are able to …read more »

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $33 and T.A $31; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 318 million; Market cap: $10.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; SI Rating: Above Average) earned $280 million in the three months ended September 30, 2009. That’s down 2.1% from $286 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 1.1%, to $0.88 from $0.89, on …read more »

CAE INC. $8.75 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 255.6 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; SI Rating: Average) recently won $55 million of orders for new flight simulators from several new customers, including Malaysia Airlines, Kenya Airways and New Zealand’s Mount Cook Airlines. CAE has sold 10 flight simulators in its …read more »

In the past few years, IBM has steadily moved away from less-profitable “commoditized” products, like printers and home computers. Instead, the company is offering more computer services and software. These generate higher profit margins, and help businesses cut costs and improve productivity. Moreover, the shift is helping IBM make higher profits, even with a slower global economy.

IBM $121.29 (New York …read more »

IBM $121.29 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $159.3 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) is the world’s largest computer company, with operations in over 170 countries. IBM specializes in making large mainframe computers for governments and corporations. The company is also the world’s second-largest software maker, after Microsoft Corp. IBM gets 22% of its revenue from …read more »

BCE INC. $25.79 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 767.2 million; Market cap: $19.8 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) and TELUS CORP. $31.35 (Toronto symbol T.A; Shares outstanding: 335.6 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) have begun selling Apple’s hugely popular iPhone smartphone. Until now, Rogers Communications was the sole Canadian carrier.

Adding the iPhone should help BCE and …read more »

SONY CORP. ADRs $29 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $29.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) will let users of its PlayStation 3 video game player instantly view movies and TV shows from Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq symbol NFLX). Netflix operates an online movie-rental service with over 100,000 …read more »

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. ADRs $25 (New York symbol PHG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 926.7 million; Market cap: $23.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; WSSF Rating: Average) gets roughly 50% of its revenue by making consumer electronics, such as TV sets, DVD players and kitchen appliances. Netherlands-based Philips also makes lighting equipment (25% of revenue) and medical …read more »

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $122 (New York symbol IBM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $158.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is looking to increase its software sales to businesses with a new suite of programs that use the free Linux operating system.

Many businesses put off upgrading their computers when …read more »

FAIR ISAAC CORPORATION $22.22 (New York symbol FICO; SI Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 48.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion) sells products and services that help businesses around the world make better decisions on customer creditworthiness.

Its main business is its FICO software, which lets creditors use a customer’s information to calculate a credit score. The lender can then use …read more »

RUGGEDCOM INC. $20.76 (Toronto symbol RCM; SI Rating: Speculative) (1-888-264-0006; www.ruggedcom.com; Shares outstanding: 12.1 million; Market cap: $251.3 million) has purchased Israel-based WiNetworks for $9.0 million U.S. WiNetworks is a privately owned company that designs WiMAX equipment.

WiMAX is a telecommunications technology that can provide wireless broadband access at a distance of up to 50 kilometres from fixed stations, and five …read more »

Giant computer maker Dell Inc. recently caught the attention of a number of tech stock investors when it bought Perot Systems, a computer outsourcing firm.

But it wasn’t the takeover itself that was surprising; it was the tech stock’s $3.9 billion offer for Perot that caused eyeballs to pop. That’s a 60% premium over Perot’s share price at the time …read more »

GENNUM CORP. $4.07 (Toronto symbol GND; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.4 million; Market cap: $144.1 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; SI Rating: Average) makes chips and other electronic equipment that let television broadcasters store, edit and transfer video signals without losing picture quality.

Many TV broadcasters are putting off buying new equipment due to lower advertising revenue. …read more »

On October 22, Microsoft will launch its new Windows 7 operating system.

If the release goes smoothly, Microsoft stands to gain from sales of the new software. That’s because many computer users put off upgrading from earlier versions because of complaints about its previous Windows release, Vista. The company has also timed the launch of Windows 7 to coincide with …read more »

NVIDIA CORP. $15 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 547.8 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; WSSF Rating: Average) designs video chips that make computer games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike. It outsources most of its production to chipmakers in Asia.

Nvidia earned $37.7 million in its second quarter, which ended …read more »

INTEL CORP. $20 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.6 billion; Market cap: $112 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s leading computer-chip maker, with 80% of the market.

The company is combining its operations into two main divisions. These will be organized by function instead of by product. The first, …read more »

AUTODESK INC. $24 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 229.7 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; WSSF Rating: Average) earned $56.7 million, or $0.24 a share, in its second quarter, which ended July 31, 2009. That’s down 56.5% from $130.3 million, or $0.56 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude costs …read more »

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $24 (New York symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $31.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; WSSF Rating: Average) is seeing higher demand for its analog chips. These convert sounds and temperatures into digital signals that computers can understand. As a result, Texas Instruments expects to earn between $0.37 and …read more »

Microsoft is planning to release its new Windows 7 operating system on October 22. This should spur computer sales and upgrades. That’s good news for leading chipmakers, such as Intel and Nvidia. Both are also profiting from the growing use of mobile devices to access the Internet.

INTEL CORP. $20 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares …read more »

APPLE INC. $186 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 895.8 million; Market cap: $166.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.8; WSSF Rating: Average) requires iPhone buyers to enter a two-year service contract. Because it offers users free software updates, accounting rules force Apple to spread the value and costs of these sales over two years. This …read more »

GARMIN $37.23 (Nasdaq symbol GRMN; SI Rating: Speculative) (913-397-8200; www.garmin.com; Shares outstanding: 200.5 million; Market cap: $7.5 billion) is launching its nuvifone G60 smartphone later this year. The company recently announced that AT&T will be the wireless carrier. AT&T also carries Apple’s iPhone. Garmin will make the nuvifone in partnership with Taiwanese PC maker Asustek.

The nuvifone faces considerable competition from …read more »

TERADATA CORP. $27 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 171.8 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; WSSF Rating: Average) makes computers and software that capture and store large amounts of a business’s data, including its sales and inventory. Teradata then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits and trends. This helps …read more »

XEROX CORP. $8.72 (New York symbol XRX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 869.1 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Average) makes copiers, laser printers and other high-end publishing equipment.

The company spends about 5% of its revenue on research. Over the past few years, this has let it develop new colour printers that …read more »

NVIDIA CORP. $14 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 547.8 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; WSSF Rating: Average) continues to spend a high 25% of its revenue on developing new chips. For example, Nvidia has combined processing power and graphics functions onto its new Tegra chip. Tegra brings high-definition graphics to …read more »

MICROSOFT CORP. $25 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.9 billion; Market cap: $222.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; WSSF Rating: Above Average) may have to stop selling Word, its word-processing program and a key part of its top-selling Office software package. A court has ruled that Word violates a patent held by Toronto-based i4i …read more »

SONY CORP. ADRs $27 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1 billion; Market cap: $27 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) has launched a new version of its Play-Station 3 video-game console. The new version is thinner and uses less power than the previous model, which it is now phasing out. Sony …read more »

RUGGEDCOM INC. $20.55 (Toronto symbol RCM; SI Rating: Speculative) (1-888-264-0006; www.ruggedcom.com; Shares outstanding: 12.1 million; Market cap: $248.6 million) makes computer-networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. The company’s products are designed to reliably operate under high levels of electromagnetic interference, wide variations in temperature and humidity, and high levels of vibration and exposure to dust. They also function …read more »

SYMANTEC CORP. $15.22 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; SI Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 814.5 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion) makes software that protects computers from viruses and electronic attacks. The popular Norton anti-virus program is its best-known product.

In the three months ended July 3, 2009, Symantec earned $73 million, or $0.09 a share. That’s down 57.6% from $172 million, or …read more »

CYBERPLEX $1.58 (Toronto symbol CX; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-597-8889; www.cyberplex.com; Shares outstanding: 65.2 million; Market cap: $103.1 million) continues to report higher revenue and earnings.

In the three months ended June 30, 2009, Cyberplex’s earnings rose more than fivefold, to $1.1 million, or $0.02 a share, compared to $206,522, or nil per share. Its revenue jumped 171.6%, to $25.7 million from …read more »

LOJACK CORP. $5.52 (Nasdaq symbol LOJN; SI Rating: Speculative) (www.lojack.com; 781-326-4700; Shares outstanding: 18.1 million; Market cap: $99.8 million) sells systems that help track and recover vehicles after they’ve been stolen. Lojack operates in the U.S. and 30 other countries. The company’s Canadian subsidiary is Boomerang Tracking.

In the three months ended June 30, 2009, LoJack’s revenue fell 31.1%, to $35.4 …read more »

AMAZON.COM $83 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 431.8 million; Market cap: $35.8 billion) plans to buy privately held Zappos.com for $807 million in common stock. Zappos is an online seller of shoes, clothing and accessories.

Zappos posted roughly $1 billion in sales last year (Amazon.com had $19.2 billion). Zappos was launched in 1999, and was …read more »

Many companies have cut their spending on information technology while they wait for the economy to start growing again. At the same time, consumers are buying less computer equipment as job losses push up the unemployment rate and erode confidence.

Still, we feel that high-quality junior tech stocks have a bright long-term outlook. Despite the recession, the best of them remain …read more »

IBM $118.47 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $155.3 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) plans to buy SPSS Inc. (Nasdaq symbol SPSS).

SPSS makes software that analyzes sales and other data. This helps its clients predict how their customers will react to such things as price changes and new advertising campaigns. SPSS adds to IBM’s expertise in …read more »

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $32 (New York symbol VZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $89.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; WSSF Rating: Average) gets 70% of its profits and 45% of its revenue from its wireless division, which consists of its 55% stake in Verizon Wireless. (U.K.-based Vodafone plc owns the other 45%.) Verizon Wireless has …read more »

CYBERPLEX $1.54 (Toronto symbol CX; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-597-8889; www.cyberplex.com; Shares outstanding: 64.8 million; Market cap: $99.7 million) sells a service that matches advertisers with electronic publishers.

Cyberplex links advertisers’ campaigns with its 10,000 or so affiliates, which include web-site operators, bloggers and email marketers. Advertisers only pay if Cyberplex’s campaigns prompt users to do something, such as a fill out …read more »

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $28.47 (Toronto symbol AAH; SI Rating: Speculative) (905-760-4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 13.7 million; Market cap: $389.3 million) develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet.

In the three months ended March 31, 2009, revenue rose 56.6%, to $219.3 million from $140 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share more than doubled, to $1.46 …read more »

NCR CORP. $11 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 158.6 billion; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) will spend $37.6 million to build a new automated teller machine (ATM) factory in Brazil. To put this cost in perspective, NCR lost $15 million, or $0.09 a share, in the first …read more »

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $19 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 343.3 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; WSSF Rating: Average) gets 60% of its revenue from selling testing equipment, mainly to makers of cyclical consumer electronics, such as cellphones. The company is now working on ways to broaden its sources of …read more »