Research And Development
Expenses incurred to develop new products or improve the efficiency of existing products. Companies have to treat this spending as a day-to-day expense, much like maintenance or tax payments. So research and development spending comes out of the current year's sales, and it lowers the current year's earnings. In competitive industries, high R&D spending can provide an advantage to a company.
A few years ago, many investors valued drug stocks the way they value the top software makers, bidding them up to 30 or more times earnings. However, drug stocks are riskier than investors generally realize.
Because of that, while drug stocks can show fantastic profits, it might be more appropriate to value drug makers the way you value companies that are …read more »
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $6.80 (Toronto symbol CMG; SI Rating: Speculative) (403- 531-1300; www.cmgl.ca; Shares outstanding: 17.3 million; Market cap: $101.4 million) is a computer software technology and consulting company specializing in the oil and gas industry. Its software provides engineers with oil and gas reservoir simulation, and three-dimensional visualization and animation. The company has over 330 clients worldwide in 40 …read more »
AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $8.28 (Toronto symbol AAH; SI Rating: Speculative) (905-760-4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 14.8 million; Market cap: $122.7 million) develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet.
In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Aastra’s revenues rose 59%, to $224.5 million from $141.1 million. The increase came mostly from the acquisition of the enterprise communications …read more »
Aggressive investing stock picks can give you bigger gains than conservative selections. But they can also give you bigger losses. Aggressive stocks are only suitable for investors who can accept substantial risk. You can be wrong on any of your stock picks, of course. But when you’re wrong on a speculative stock, losses are likely to be larger than with …read more »
ADOBE SYSTEMS $25.94 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; SI Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 531.0 million; Market cap: $13.8 billion) reported earnings in the latest quarter that exceeded consensus expectations. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share in the three months ended August 29, 2008 rose 11.1%, to $0.50 from $0.45 a year earlier. That beat expectations of $0.46 a share. Revenues …read more »
TRIMBLE NAVIGATION $31.62 (Nasdaq symbol TRMB; SI Rating: Speculative) (408-481-6914; www.trimble.com; Shares outstanding: 121.4 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion) makes GPS devices and technology for four main markets:
1) Engineering and construction is the biggest contributor to revenue for Trimble, at 55% of revenues.
2) Agriculture GPS products (25% of sales) let farmers cut costs and increase yields by, say, precisely plowing, …read more »
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $19.31 (Toronto symbol CMG; SI Rating: Speculative) (403- 531-1300; www.cmgl.ca; Shares outstanding: 8.5 million; Market cap: $164.1 million) is a computer software technology and consulting company specializing in the oil and gas industry. Its software provides engineers with oil and gas reservoir simulation, and three-dimensional visualization and animation. The company has over 330 clients worldwide in 40 …read more »
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $18.25 (Toronto symbol CMG; SI Rating: Speculative) (403- 531-1300; www.cmgl.ca; Shares outstanding: 8.4 million; Market cap: $153.3 million) is a computer software technology and consulting company specializing in the oil and gas industry. Its software provides engineers with oil and gas reservoir simulation, and three-dimensional visualization and animation. The company has over 250 clients worldwide in 45 …read more »
We have generally stayed out of drug stocks in this decade, and that’s a good thing for our subscribers. Drug stock enthusiasts focus on the rising demand they foresee from aging baby boomers, for newly developed drugs which are more effective than older ones. They overlook the drawbacks to investment in the drug industry, which concern us more. These drawbacks …read more »
BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $18 (New York symbol BR: SI Rating: Extra risk) (201-714- 3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 140 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion) fell to as low as $15.25 a share recently after Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating on certain of the company’s obligations. The shares have since regained all of the drop.
S&P is concerned that Broadridge is …read more »
