Search

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.

AMEREN CORP. $47(www.ameren.com) provides power and natural gas to 3.3 million clients in Illinois and Missouri. The company’s revenue rose just 0.7% in 2015, to $6.10 billion from $6.05 billion in 2014. That’s mainly because warmer-than-usual weather hurt gas demand....

Energy Fuels Inc. is struggling along with other commodity producers but its cash flow and revenue stream are steady despite market uncertainty

Telus and its wireless network must compete against Shaw Communications and subsidiary Wind Mobile

One of our most asked questions is if we prefer stocks or bonds for most portfolios—and the short answer is stocks.

Apple is focused on developing new products—electric cars to Internet TV—to make up for slowing iPhone sales

Canadian diamond drilling and exploration entails a lot of risk—but the payoffs can be huge

The Direxion iBillionaire Index ETF tries to duplicate the success of billionaire investors, Warren Buffet, Carl Icahn

Retirement income planning tips for when one spouse has lower income.

Blue chip investments are key components of successful investor portfolios

Royal Bank of Canada lifts earnings with sale of home and auto insurance unit, purchase of boutique U.S lender

The best growth tech stocks have lots of hidden value. Here’s how to spot it.

NORTH WEST CO. $30.64 (Toronto symbol NWC; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (604-231-1100; www.northwest.ca; Shares outstanding: 48.5 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 4.1%) sells food and everyday products and services through 225 stores, mainly in northern communities across Canada and Alaska. It also operates stores in remote regions of Hawaii, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West is new to Stock Pickers Digest. Ottawa-based Giant Tiger signed a 30-year deal in 2002 that granted North West the exclusive right to open and operate Giant Tiger stores in Western Canada. Giant Tiger operates 200 general merchandise discount stores. In Canada’s north, North West operates the majority of its stores (122) under the Northern banner, followed by Giant Tiger (33), Quickstop (12) and NorthMart (6)....

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $94.35 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472- 2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 31.4 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) jumped to a new all-time high of $98.96 in early February 2016 after reporting much higher earnings in the latest quarter. In its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended December 31, 2015, revenue for the credit-score provider rose 5.6%, to $200.1 million from $189.6 million a year earlier. Sales at its applications division (60% of total sales) rose 4.0% on higher demand for marketing and fraud-detection software. Sales of credit-scoring programs (28%) jumped 27%; analytics software (12%) fell 21%....

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $31.01 (Toronto symbol TIH; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-667- 5511; www.toromont.com; Shares outstanding: 77.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.3%) distributes a broad range of industrial equipment, including machinery made by Caterpillar Inc. It also makes refrigeration systems through its CIMCO division. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Toromont’s sales rose 1.4%, to $472.0 million from $465.7 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 3.4%, to $0.57 from $0.59. Toromont saw weaker demand from its mining customers. That offset gains in agriculture and construction The company had to cut its prices to compete, and that hurt its profit margins and earnings....

RUSSEL METALS $18.27 (Toronto symbol RUS; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905-819-7777; www.russelmetals.com; Shares outstanding: 61.7 million; Market cap: $987.9 million; Dividend yield: 8.3%) is one of North America’s largest metal distributors, serving 39,000 clients at 53 locations in Canada and 12 in the U.S. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Russel’s revenue fell 33.6%, to $673.0 million from $1.01 billion a year earlier. Sales mainly declined because revenue fell 43% at the company’s energy products division. That unit sells pipes to oil and natural gas drillers. Earnings, excluding one-time items, dropped sharply, to $10.0 million, or $0.16 a share, from $38.0 million, or $0.62. Russel’s earnings fell faster than revenue because steel prices moved down in the latest quarter. That hurts its profit margins and causes it to suffer losses on its inventory....