Jim Bates

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.

Posts by the author
Growth Stocks
RTX Keeps Adding to Its Strong Backlog
RTX Corp. (formerly Raytheon Technologies Corp.) hits new all-time highs on unprecedented global demand.
4 min read
Jim Bates
Value Stocks
Finning International Has a Surging Backlog Amid Mining and Infrastructure Boom
2 min read
Jim Bates
McDonald's Corp. plans to keep aggressively opening locations to continue to power its sales.
Blue Chip Stocks
McDonald’s Reports Higher Sales Despite Economic Headwinds
2 min read
Jim Bates
Growth Stocks
Lower gas and electricity prices weigh on this Wall Street stock’s earnings
Ameren Corp., symbol AEE on New York, sells electricity and natural gas to 3.4 million customers in Illinois and Missouri. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Wall Street stock’s earnings fell 36.8%, to $60.0 million, or $0.25 a share, from $95.0 million, or $0.40 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items, mainly gains and losses on hedging contracts that the company uses to lock in its fuel prices. The lower earnings were mainly due to lower prices for electricity and natural gas. Higher fuel and transportation costs, plus higher income taxes in Illinois, also hurt its earnings. Moreover, severe storms added to the company’s costs, and cut electricity sales during widespread power outages....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Stock trading: Alliant reports strong results
Alliant Energy Corp., symbol LNT on New York, sells electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. Alliant is one of the stock trading picks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Alliant’s earnings rose 45.5%, to $73.5 million, or $0.68 a share. It earned $50.5 million, or $0.45 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude one-time items, such as a writedown of a proposed wind farm development. Favourable rulings by government regulators on pricing, recovery of fuel expenses and tax credits were the main reason behind the higher earnings....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Investing in stocks: Severe weather weighs on Churchill’s earnings
The Churchill Corp., symbol CUQ on Toronto, sells construction, general-contracting, maintenance, insulation, fireproofing, electrical and power-line construction services. Its clients are in the resource, industrial, utility and power-generation industries. Churchill has customers throughout western Canada. We analyze Churchill in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for investing in stocks that are more aggressive. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Churchill’s revenue rose 67.0%, to $304.7 million from $182.5 million a year earlier. The rise was mainly due to Seacliff Construction, which Churchill bought for $380 million in May 2010. Seacliff sells general contracting, electrical-contracting and earth-moving services. Like Churchill, Seacliff mostly operates in western Canada....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Stock picks: RuggedCom earnings soar in latest quarter
RuggedCom Inc., symbol RCM on Toronto, makes computer networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. The stock pick’s products include ethernet switches, network routers, wireless devices and software. RuggedCom’s products are designed to reliably operate under high levels of electromagnetic interference. They can also cope with wide variations in temperature and humidity, as well as vibration and exposure to dust. They also work while exposed to such things as corrosive gases and water. The stock pick’s revenue jumped 38.0% in the three months ended March 31, 2011, to $26.7 million from $20.6 million a year earlier. Sales to clients in the electric-power market jumped 65%, and now account for 71% of the stock pick’s total sales....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Growth Stocks
Tech stocks: Varian acquisition pushes up Agilent earnings
Agilent Technologies Inc., symbol A on New York, makes testing systems that improve electronic products, such as cellphones and networking equipment. In May 2010, Agilent bought Varian Inc. for $1.5 billion. Varian makes a wide range of medical and drug-testing equipment, such as mass spectrometers that detect and measure substances in the blood and other samples. Medical-equipment demand is less cyclical than testing products, so this move cuts the tech stock’s risk. Thanks to Varian, Agilent earned $200.0 million, or $0.56 a share, in the three months ended April 30, 2011. That’s up 85.2% from $108.0 million, or $0.31 a share, a year earlier. These figures include restructuring costs and expenses related to integrating Varian. The tech stock’s revenue jumped 31.9%, to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion. The company spends around 10% of its revenue on research and development....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Energy Stocks
Natural gas stocks: Lower gas prices weigh on Trilogy Energy’s earnings
Trilogy Energy Corp., symbol TET on Toronto, owns oil and gas properties in the Kaybob and Grande Prairie areas of central Alberta. About 78% of Trilogy’s production is natural gas. The remaining 22% is oil. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Trilogy produced an average of 25,362 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas). That was up 9.9% from 23,079 barrels a day a year earlier. However, the natural gas stock’s cash flow per share fell 13.3%, to $0.39 from $0.45 a year earlier, mostly due to lower gas prices. Still, the company continues to bring new wells into production. Its daily production should jump to an average of 30,000 barrels for 2011....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Small cap stocks: Calian Technologies reports higher earnings
Calian Technologies, symbol CTY on Toronto, operates in two areas: the business and technology services division, which accounts for 74% of Calian’s revenue, provides engineers, health-care workers and other skilled professionals to clients on a contract basis. The small cap stock’s systems-engineering division contributes the remaining 26% of revenue, and sells hardware and software that is used for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communications systems. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the small cap stock’s revenue rose 11.9%, to $59.4 million from $53.1 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 6.5%, to $3.3 million from $3.1 million. Earnings per share rose 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40, on more shares outstanding. Calian earned higher profit margins on the business and technology service division’s contracts. That pushed up the company’s overall earnings. The strong Canadian dollar held back the systems-engineering division’s earnings....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Real estate investment trusts: Dundee REIT reports higher revenue and cash flow
DUNDEE REIT, symbol D.UN on Toronto, owns and manages 14.7 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space, including 88 office buildings and 49 industrial properties. The real estate investment trust’s occupancy rate is 96.1%. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Dundee’s revenue rose 57.4%, to $91.0 million from $57.8 million a year earlier. Most of the rise came from properties the trust recently purchased. The best way to look at a real estate investment trust’s operating performance is to look at its cash flow, and Dundee’s cash flow rose 72.9% in the latest quarter, to $28.8 million from $16.6 million. Cash flow per unit rose just 1.9%, to $0.55 from $0.54, due to more units outstanding. (The trust issued new units to pay for the acquired properties.)...
1 min read
Jim Bates
Dividend Stocks
Dividend paying stocks: This Canadian bank is looking overseas for growth
We’ve long recommended that all Canadian investors own shares of two or more of the big-five Canadian banks. That’s mainly because of the banks’ importance to Canada’s economy. However, each of the big five banks have different objectives, so they’re not all suitable for every investor.

Dividend paying stocks: Scotia is Canada’s most international bank

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3 min read
Jim Bates
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