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
How To Invest
Stock market pick: Pason earnings skyrocket in latest quarter
PASON SYSTEMS, symbol PSI on Toronto, rents equipment that its customers use to monitor and manage land-based oil rigs. The stock market pick also provides communication systems, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations. Pason serves oil and gas companies and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Argentina. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Pason’s revenue jumped 50.0%, to $84.7 million from $56.4 million a year earlier. The company’s Canadian operations benefited from a cold winter that allowed rig movement on frozen ground until the end of March. Earnings climbed 125.3%, to $17.9 million, or $0.22 a share, from $7.9 million, or $0.10 a share. Stronger oil and gas industry drilling and higher selling prices for the company’s equipment pushed up results....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Growth Stocks
U.S.A. stock market: How to increase your profits in the U.S. retail sector
The U.S. consumer sector is highly competitive. As well, retailers are more exposed to swings in the overall economy than companies in some other sectors, such as utilities. However, U.S. consumer stocks also hold the potential for strong gains. To cut your risk and earn higher profits when investing in this volatile sector, it’s especially important to focus on chains that can adapt quickly and prosper in the fast-changing retail landscape.

U.S.A. stock market: Shift to more profitable products pushed up this retailer’s latest results

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2 min read
Jim Bates
Wealth Management
Portfolio investing: Higher promotional costs weigh on Tim Hortons earnings
Tim Hortons Inc., Toronto symbol THI, saw less traffic at its Canadian coffee-and-donut stores in the first quarter of 2011, due to bad winter weather. As well, the company spent more on promotions, which hurt its earnings growth.

We analyze Tim Hortons in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for portfolio investing in aggressive stocks.

In the three months ended April 3, 2011, Tim Hortons’ earnings rose 2.3%, to $80.7 million from $78.9 million....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Growth Stocks
High return investments: Cash Store reports higher results in latest quarter
Cash Store Financial, symbol CSF on Toronto, operates 573 stores in Canada under two banners: Cash Store Financial and Instaloans. It also has six Cash Store outlets in the U.K. Both stores offer consumer payday loans (advances on upcoming paycheques). In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Cash Store earned $0.14 a share. That’s up 7.7% from $0.13 a share a year earlier. Revenue rose 15.7% in the latest quarter, to $47.2 million from $40.8 million, mainly because the company opened seven new branches in Canada and two new outlets in the U.K. Cash Store aims to increase its profitability by slowing its expansion, except in the U.K., where its stores’ profit margins are high. It is also offering a wider variety of bank accounts through an alliance with Calgary-based DirectCash Bank....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Stock market picks: Foreign-exchange losses weigh on Aastra’s results
Aastra Technologies, symbol AAH on Toronto, develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centered around business telephone systems, and includes products that integrate traditional and mobile phones. Aastra is one of the aggressive stock market picks we analyze in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. The company reports that its sales fell 4.9%, in the three months ended March 31, 2011, to $162.7 million from $171.1 million a year earlier. Earnings fell sharply, to $200,000, or $0.01 a share, from $4.1 million, or $0.29 a share, a year earlier....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Wealth Management
The role of bonds in your portfolio management
Some investors think by focusing our portfolio management strategy on stocks, and staying out of bonds and fixed-return investments, we’re missing out on bonds’ ability to lower portfolio volatility.

It’s true that bonds do tend to reduce your portfolio’s volatility, since they tend to rise when stock prices fall....
2 min read
Jim Bates
Dividend Stocks
This high dividend stock’s sales and earnings rose in the latest quarter
Verizon Communications Inc., symbol VZ on New York, owns 55% of Verizon Wireless, which is the largest wireless provider in the U.S.; U.K.-based Vodafone plc owns the other 45%. This business has 104 million customers in 50 states, and accounts for 63% of Verizon’s revenue. The remaining 37% comes from its wireline division, which sells local and long-distance telephone service to over 25 million customers in 28 states. The high dividend stock’s annual payout rate is $1.95 a share, for a yield of 5.2%. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Verizon earned $0.51 per share, up 218.8% from $0.16 a year earlier. If you exclude costs related to the spinoff of a subsidiary and other unusual items in the year-earlier quarter, earnings per share would have risen 6.3%. Sales rose just 0.3%, to $27.0 billion from $26.9 billion a year earlier....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Stock market picks: AT&T earnings rise on strong wireless demand
AT&T, symbol T on New York, was the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Apple iPhone, until Verizon started selling it in February. However, AT&T is rapidly upgrading its wireless networks, which should help it hang on to its current iPhone customers. Despite iPhone competition from Verizon, AT&T still activated nearly 3.6 million iPhones in the first quarter, with 23% of those being new customers for AT&T. In all, it sold 5.5 million smartphones in the quarter. Besides the iPhone, AT&T is benefiting from rising use of other wireless devices, such as the iPad and electronic-book readers. The company added 2 million wireless customers in the quarter, and now has 97.5 million....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Blue Chip Stocks
Large cap stocks: Xerox earnings rise in latest quarter
Xerox Corp., symbol XRX on New York, makes copiers, laser printers and other publishing equipment. Xerox is one of the large cap stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. In February 2010, Xerox paid $6.5 billion for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), which sells computer outsourcing services. Xerox now gets 80% of its revenue from long-term service contracts and recurring payments for supplies. That cut its risk....
1 min read
Jim Bates
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