Growth Stocks
Although growth stock picks can be highly volatile, they can make good long-term investments. They may be well-known stars or quiet gems, but they do share one common attribute—they are growing at a higher-than-average rate within their industry, or within the market as a whole, and could keep growing for years or decades.
And keep in mind that we focus on growth stocks, which have a good long-term history and favourable prospects. We downplay momentum stocks that tend to attract many investors simply because they are moving faster than the market averages, but are liable to fall sharply when their momentum fades.
There’s room for growth stock investing in your portfolio, but make sure you follow our TSI Network three-part Successful Investor strategy for your overall portfolio:
- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $39(New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 547.0 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) earned $755 million, or $1.38 a share, in 2015 before unusual items. That’s up 7.5% from $702 million, or $1.28, in 2014. Revenue fell 7.0%, to $10.0 billion from $10.7 billion. However, without the negative impact of currency exchange rates, revenue gained 3%. The company continues to spend about 6% of its revenue on research. That has let it launch several successful new products, including its Sigma Spectrum pump for injecting drugs and fluids into a hospital patient. New products like this should lift Baxter’s revenue in 2016 by 3% to 4%. In addition, cost cuts will help push up earnings to $1.50 a share. The stock trades at 26.0 times that estimate. That’s an acceptable multiple, considering Baxter’s strong reputation and its high research costs. The $0.46 dividend yields 1.2%....
BAXALTA INC. $39(New York symbol BXLT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 679.3 million; Market cap: $26.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxalta.com) plans to merge with Ireland-based Shire (Nasdaq symbol SHPG), which makes drugs for rare and life-threatening diseases. Taken together, the companies are developing new treatments that should boost their combined annual revenue from $14 billion in 2015 to $20 billion by 2020. Plus the new firm will save $500 million a year by eliminating overlapping operations. Also, the merged company will be based in Ireland, so its income tax rate will be 16% to 17%— compared to the 23% Baxalta currently pays. Under the proposal, Baxalta investors would receive $18.00 a share in cash and 0.1482 of a Shire American depositary receipt (ADR) for each share they hold, giving them 34% of the combined company. Based on current prices, Shire’s offer is worth $41.78 per Baxalta share....
C.R. BARD INC. $194(New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 73.7 million; Market cap: $14.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.crbard.com) has acquired Liberator Medical Holdings for $181 million. This firm distributes a variety of medical products such as urological catheters and diabetic supplies, directly to consumers’homes. Under the deal, Bard plans to expand the availability of its own medical devices. That should add $70 million to its annual sales of $3.4 billion, and $0.05 to $0.10 a share to its annual earnings in 2017; Bard will probably earn $9.97 a share in 2016. The stock trades at a reasonable 19.5 times that forecast. C.R. Bard is a buy.
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $96(New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.4 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) is best known for its FICO Scores computer program, which helps lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. It also makes software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’spending patterns. The company is now applying its banking expertise to other areas of cybersecurity. It recently won a patent for a system that monitors corporate networks for suspicious activity or online attacks. It received another patent for a similar program that helps power, gas and water utilities detect unusual consumption patterns. However, the stock trades at a high 29.4 times the $3.26 a share that Fair Isaac will probably earn in its 2016 fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2016....
IDEXX LABORATORIES INC. $72(Nasdaq symbol IDXX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 89.6 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 4.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.idexx.com) makes equipment that veterinarians use to detect diseases in pets. It also makes systems that detect contaminants in livestock and water. Idexx continues to see strong demand for its Catalyst One system, which analyzes an animal’s blood in 15 minutes. That makes veterinarians less reliant on outside labs, and cuts their costs. Idexx earned $2.11 a share in 2015, up 5.5% from $2.00 in 2014 (all per-share amounts adjusted for 2-for-1 split in June 2015). Sales rose 7.8%, to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion....
PFIZER INC. $30(New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.2 billion; Market cap: $186.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) acquired rival drug maker Wyeth in October 2009. Wyeth has now agreed to pay the U.S. Medicaid system $784.6 million to settle a dispute over how it calculated rebates for its Protonix acid reflux drug between 2001 and 2006. Pfizer will have to restate its earnings for 2015 to reflect this charge. However, its earnings before unusual items of $2.20 a share remains unchanged....
MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $93(New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 115.4 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) makes spices, herbs, seasonings and flavours. The company earned $449.5 million in the fiscal year ended November 30, 2015, up 1.8% from $441.6 million in 2014. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 3.3%, to $3.48 from $3.37. Sales rose just 1.3%, to $4.3 billion from $4.2 billion. That’s a 6.4% gain when currency exchange rates are factored out. McCormick aims to save a total of $400 million over the next four years, mainly through job cuts and new, more efficient manufacturing equipment. However, the stock is expensive at 25.2 times the $3.69 a share that the company expects to earn in fiscal 2016....
DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $94(New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 36.1 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dnb.com) is the world’s largest provider of credit reports on individual companies. Established in 1841, its database contains information on 240 million businesses in over 200 countries. Clients use these reports to make lending and purchasing decisions and to limit their credit losses. The company gets 60% of its revenue from credit reports. The remaining 40% comes from other information products, such as software businesses use to manage websites and customer data....
BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $60(www.buckeye.com) operates 9,600 kilometres of pipelines in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. Its network pumps gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. The partnership also owns oil and gas storage terminals. Buckeye continues to benefit from oil producers that opt to store their crude instead of selling it at today’s low prices....
CEDAR FAIR L.P. $57(www.cedarfair.com) has increased its quarterly distribution by 10.0%, to $0.825 a unit from $0.75. The new annual rate of $3.30 yields 5.8%. Buy.