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
This U.S. stock’s earnings rose sharply in 2010
Stanley Black & Decker Inc., New York symbol SWK, makes power and hand tools and security devices. It took its current form on March 12, 2010. That’s when Stanley Works bought the Black & Decker Corp. for about $4.5 billion in stock. Stanley shareholders own 50.5% of the combined company, and Black & Decker investors own the remaining 49.5%. In 2010, the U.S. stock’s earnings per share rose 35.5%, to $4.12 from $3.04. This excludes one-time merger costs. Sales improved in both the U.S. and internationally, especially in Latin America. Sales in Canada and Australia declined slightly. Adding Black & Decker’s pre-merger sales in early 2010 to sales of the merged company in 2010 results in $9.3 billion total sales for 2010. Stanley Black & Decker expects that figure to rise by 5% to 6% in 2011....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Value Stocks
WikiLeaks affair a plus for this stock market investment
Symantec Corp., Nasdaq symbol SYMC, sells Internet security technology, including anti-virus and Internet content and email filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Symantec’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion a year earlier. The stock market investment gets 52% of its revenue from overseas sales. If you disregard the negative impact of exchange rates, international sales rose 5% during the quarter. The company earned $272 million, down 16.3% from $325 million a year earlier. Symantec spent $265 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 12.5%, to $0.35 from $0.40 a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs to absorb recent acquisitions. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.33....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Energy Stocks
Strong demand pushes up this potash stock’s sales and earnings
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, symbol POT on Toronto, produces potash, phosphate and nitrogen for use in fertilizers. Saskatchewan has the world’s largest deposits of potash. The company also partly owns potash-related companies in Jordan, Israel and Chile. Potash Corp. is one of the 5 agricultural investments we analyze in our free report, Commodity Investments: Fertilizer Stocks and Potash Stocks That Will Profit from Rising Food Demand. In 2010, the potash stock’s revenue rose 64.4% to $6.5 billion from $4.0 billion in 2009 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). The company earned $1.8 billion, or $5.95 a share, up 84.2% from $980.7 million, or $3.23 a share....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Value Stocks
Strong competition weighs on this bargain stock’s earnings
Metro Inc., symbol MRU.A on Toronto, is Canada’s third-largest supermarket, after Loblaw and Sobeys. Metro has about 600 supermarkets and 250 drugstores in Quebec and Ontario under banners including Metro, Metro Plus, GP, Super C and Food Basics. In Quebec, its franchises include Brunet drugstores and Cini-Plus pharmacies. Metro is one of the bargain stocks we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter. In Ontario, the company has now brought all of its Dominion, A & P, Loeb, The Barn and Ultra supermarkets under the “Metro” banner. It also opened 13 new stores and expanded 35 stores in 2010....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Value Stocks
Value stock picks: Strong U.S. sales boost CGI
CGI Group Inc., $19.54, symbol GIB.A on Toronto, is Canada’s largest provider of computer-outsourcing services. The company’s services help its customers automate certain routine functions, such as accounting and buying supplies....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
This stock market pick stands out among consumer firms
Adding a stock market pick from the Consumer sector can add stability to your portfolio. That’s because these companies sell items, like food, that consumers must buy regardless of the direction of the economy. The best consumer stocks have built brands that have strong customer loyalty and produce steady, predictable revenue streams. In a just-published issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a stock market pick that has a number of strong brands, Kraft Foods Inc. (symbol KFT on New York). Kraft is the world’s second-largest food company, after Switzerland-based Nestle. This stock market pick cut its costs during the recession, including selling or discontinuing less-profitable brands, closing plants and cutting jobs. It has used these savings to improve the quality of its existing products and develop new ones....
2 min read
Jim Bates
Growth Stocks
This tech stock’s earnings jumped in the latest quarter
Texas Instruments Inc. (New York symbol TXN) makes chips for a wide variety of electronic devices, including cellphones, DVD players, digital cameras and handheld calculators. The tech stock’s chips are also used in other products, ranging from weapons-guidance systems to kidney-dialysis machines. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, Texas Instruments’ earnings jumped to $942 million, or $0.78 a share. A year earlier, the company earned $655 million, or $0.52 a share. The sale of a product line, and restoring a research and development federal tax credit contributed $0.14 a share to the latest quarterly earnings. The tech stock’s sales rose 17.3% to $3.5 billion from $3.0 billion. The company saw stronger demand for chips from makers of smartphones and communications gear. That offset lower sales to computer and television makers....
1 min read
Jim Bates
How To Invest
Canadian stock picks: Higher freight shipments push up CN’s revenue and earnings
Canadian National Railway Co. (Toronto symbol CNR) operates Canada’s largest freight rail network, and serves 16 U.S. states. CN is one of the Canadian stock picks we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter. In 2010, CN earned $2.1 billion, or $4.48 a share. That’s up 13.5% from $1.8 billion, or $3.92 a share, in 2009. Excluding one-time items in both years, such as an after-tax gain of $131 million on the sale of a southern Ontario rail line, the company earned $1.9 billion, up 28.7% from $1.5 billion in 2009. Earnings per share rose 29.6%, to $4.20 from $3.24, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 12.6% to $8.3 billion from $7.4 billion in 2009. Sharply higher freight volumes were the main reason for the revenue increase. The company also raised its fuel surcharges and shipping rates....
1 min read
Jim Bates
Dividend Stocks
This conservative investing stock has risen sharply
When we’re picking stocks to recommend in our newsletters, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our publication for conservative investing in U.S. stocks, we like to see companies that benefit from steady revenue streams from high-quality assets, long-term contracts or other reliable sources. That’s because this type of revenue helps cut a stock’s risk. It also cuts its exposure to the ups and downs of the economic cycle.

Conservative investing: Shift toward services has helped this former “Stock of the Year”

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3 min read
Jim Bates
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