ACI WORLDWIDE $29.96 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) makes software that is used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments.

ACI recently bought S1 Corp. for $540 million in cash and stock. This acquisition looks like a good fit: S1 sells transaction software for banks, credit unions, retailers and other processors. It has over 3,000 clients worldwide.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, ACI’s revenue rose 15.6%, to $112.1 million from $97.0 million a year earlier. Earnings rose sharply, to $10.5 million, or $0.31 a share, from $2.3 million, or $0.07 a share. The company holds cash of $170.8 million, or $4.98 a share.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $16.55 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 751.0 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; No dividends paid) makes computer-security software, including the popular Norton antivirus program. It also sells products and services for email filtering, data backup and other business-related uses. In addition, Symantec offers data-archiving software that helps its clients meet increasingly strict regulatory and compliance standards.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Symantec’s earnings rose 33.8%, to $182 million from $136 million a year earlier. Earnings per share jumped 41.2%, to $0.24 from $0.17, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, mainly asset writedowns and restructuring costs, earnings per share would have risen 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34. That matched the consensus earnings estimate.

Sales rose 13.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion. The company gets 52% of its sales from overseas. If you disregard the positive impact of exchange rates, sales would have risen 9% in the latest quarter.

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WESTJET AIRLINES $11.55 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com;
Shares outstanding: 139.4 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) was our “#1 Stock of the Year” for 2010 and 2011.

WestJet’s revenue rose 3.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $775.3 million from $684.1 million a year earlier. Demand for the company’s flights remained strong.

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ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.55 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. The company sells fuel at 72% of its stores.

Couche-Tard’s revenue continues to rise rapidly. Revenue jumped 86.7% between 2006 and 2010, to $19.0 billion from $10.2 billion (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Much of the rise comes from a steady stream of acquisitions. But the company was also able to boost profits with those acquisitions. Earnings per share jumped 106.2% over the same five years, to $2.00 from $0.97. Revenue will likely reach almost $24 billion this year.

Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9% in the three months ended October 9, 2011, to $0.62 from $0.58. Sales rose 24.1% to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from a rise in fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one Inner Circle member asked for an assessment of a company that at times has been one of Canada’s most impressive growth stocks, but has also seen some sharp declines in its shares, as it did in December. Q: Pat: I currently hold a significant portfolio position of Gildan Activewear. At current levels, does Gildan look attractive? Any views? Thanks in advance....

As the post-Christmas shopping season opens, we look at one of the most interesting growth stocks in the retail industry. This stock began by allowing shoppers to buy and sell items from the comfort of their home computers, but it has since aggressively added to the array of online transactions it handles. EBAY INC. (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; www.ebay.com) operates the world’s largest online auction website, with over 99 million users in 39 countries. The company charges users fees to list and sell their goods through its websites....

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $62 (New York symbol TUP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 57.4 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.tupperwarebrands.com) was our Stock of the Year for 2011.

Like IBM, Tupperware continues to see strong demand for its products, particularly in fast-growing countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey. These markets now supply 63% of the company’s sales.

Also like IBM, Tupperware continues to aggressively repurchase its shares. Buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations, and give the remaining shareholders a larger stake in the company.

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EBAY INC. $30 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $39.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) operates the world’s largest online auction website, with over 99 million users in 39 countries. The company charges users fees to list and sell their goods through its websites.

The company also operates several other websites, including StubHub (live event ticket sales), Shopping.com (comparison shopping) and Rent.com (apartment and house rentals).

In all, these websites account for 55% of eBay’s overall revenue. The company gets a further 35% of its revenue by processing online financial transactions, mostly through its PayPal subsidiary.

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YUM! BRANDS INC. $58 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 460.5 million; Market cap: $26.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) continues to expand in China, which now accounts for half of the company’s sales and earnings.

Yum now plans to double its fast-food outlets in China to 9,000 by 2020. The company will focus its expansion on smaller cities, which usually have lower labour and rental costs than larger centres. That should make these new outlets more profitable.

Yum Brands is a buy.

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PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $65 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $182.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) plans to appeal a $305-million fine by French anti-trust regulators, which accused the company of collaborating with rival firms to set the price of laundry detergent between 1997 and 2004.

The company is appealing because it has already agreed to pay $275 million to settle a similar case with the European Commission. To put these figures in context, Procter earned $3.0 billion, or $1.03 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2011.

Procter & Gamble is still a buy.

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