Scott Clayton

Scott is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for Dividend Advisor, Power Growth Investor and Canadian Wealth Advisor and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Scott began his investment and financial career working with Pat McKeough at The Investment Reporter in the 1980s. Subsequently, he worked at the Financial Post Corporation Service for 10 years. He joined TSI Network in 1998. He is a Bachelor of Economics graduate of York University, and he also has an M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business.

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These two Canadian ETFs track Canada’s best-established indexes and provide low-fee exposure to widely traded blue chip stocks.
Intel Corp., symbol INTC on Nasdaq, is the world’s leading computer-chip maker. For the first quarter of 2011, the company reported record revenue of $12.9 billion. That’s up 25.0% from $10.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Two acquisitions in the 2011 quarter contributed $496 million to revenue. The tech stock’s earnings jumped 33.8%, to $3.3 billion, or $0.59 per share, from $2.5 billion, or $0.43 a share. Intel saw strong demand in all product lines and all markets around the world. Revenue for the tech stock’s PC Client Group (microprocessors and motherboards for notebooks, desktop computers, and wireless connectivity products) rose 17%. The Data Center Group (microprocessors and motherboards for servers, workstations, storage and wired network connectivity products) gained 32%. The Other Intel Architecture Group (components for phones, embedded applications, netbooks and tablets, consumer electronics and handhelds) jumped by 70%....
Toromont Industries Ltd., $30.60, symbol TIH on Toronto, operates two divisions: the equipment group distributes a broad range of Caterpillar and industrial equipment; the compression group builds natural-gas compression units. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Canadian stock pick’s revenue jumped 38.3% to $588.0 million from $425.3 million a year earlier. Enerflex Systems, which Toromont bought for $613 million in January 2010, was the main reason for the increase. Enerflex brought new oil and gas compression customers to Toromont. It also expanded Toromont’s international presence. Earnings rose 13%, to $0.26 a share from $0.23 a share. Order bookings were up 27% in the latest quarter from a year earlier. The company’s total backlog now stands at $1 billion, up 59% from a year ago....
C.R. Bard Inc, symbol BCR on New York, makes medical devices in four main areas: vascular products (28% of sales) such as stents and catheters; oncology products (27%) that detect and treat various types of cancer; urology products (26%) such as drainage and incontinence devices; and surgical tools (16%). Other medical products supply the remaining 3%. We analyze C.R. Bard in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. stock market. In the first quarter of 2011, Bard’s sales rose 7.6%, to $700.3 million from $650.8 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 9.1% to $131.9 million, or $1.49 per share. The stock market pick earned $121.2 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier....
Wyndham Worldwide Corp., symbol WYN on New York, is the third-largest hotel company in the world with 7,190 franchised hotels. It operates under a number of brands, including Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inns & Suites, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn and Ameri-host Inn. We analyze Wyndham in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for stocks that are appropriate for your aggressive portfolio. In addition to hotels, Wyndham manages a number of vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The aggressive portfolio stock now has 97,000 vacation rental properties worldwide....
Genuine Parts Co., symbol GPC on New York, distributes auto parts through more than 5,700 NAPA Auto Parts stores in the U.S. and 690 wholesalers in Canada. The company also distributes industrial parts, office furniture, and electrical equipment. We analyze Genuine Parts in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that helps you find the best stocks in the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Genuine Parts earned $126.5 million. That’s up 25.7% from $100.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 27.0% to $0.80 from $0.63, on fewer shares outstanding....
Linamar Corp., symbol LNR on Toronto, is an international engineering company that mainly makes transmission and driveline systems for carmakers in North America, Europe and Asia. The growth stock’s products also include engines and self-propelled, scissor-type elevating work platforms, which it makes under the Skyjack name, plus consumer products, such as lawn mowers and cargo trailers. Excluding one-time items, such as writedowns and severance costs, Linamar earned $86.1 million, or $1.33 a share, in 2010. That’s a big improvement over the $1.1 million, or $0.02 a share, that Linamar earned in 2009. The 2010 turnaround reflects the recovery of worldwide vehicle sales from the depressed levels of 2009. The growth stock’s sales rose 33.0%, to $2.2 billion from $1.7 billion. Most of the gain was the result of a 37.1% increase in sales at the powertrain/driveline division, which accounted for 93.1% of the growth stock’s total 2010 sales....
Oil now trades at around $110 U.S. a barrel. That’s up over 29% from $85 U.S. a year ago, and 175% higher than its low of $40 U.S. in February 2009. We think oil prices could rise even further if the global economy continues to rebound, as we expect. Even so, we continue to advise against overindulging in Canadian oil stocks. That’s because the Resource sector (including oil) is highly volatile, and no one can accurately predict future oil prices. However, you can profit nicely over long periods by investing a reasonable portion of your portfolio in well-established or well-managed Canadian oil stocks, especially those with high-quality reserves and rising production. These companies are well-positioned to profit during periods of high oil prices, and are able to at least partly offset price declines by producing more oil....
Gold closed at an all-time high of $1,475.00 U.S. in Friday’s trading. It now trades at around $1,468, up 27.4% from a year ago. Gold’s recent gains have partly resulted from investor fears about the sovereign debt of European countries after Portugal requested a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Investors are also worried about political turmoil in Libya and other Middle Eastern countries, as well as the possibility that today’s artificially low interest rates and governments injecting money into their economies will spur a huge rise in inflation. These fears are prompting more investors to buy gold and gold investments, because they believe investing in gold will provide them with additional security....
Adobe Systems Inc., symbol ADBE on Nasdaq, makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use the technology stock’s software to create print publications and web pages. We analyze Adobe in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on stocks in the U.S. market. The company also makes Adobe Flash, which lets web site developers make web pages more interactive by adding animation and video. Computer users can download the technology stock’s Flash Player viewer for free....