Search

Junior energy stock Twin Butte energy has kept its cash flow up with hedging strategies, but its high-yielding dividend may be in doubt.

There are two fundamental things you should know about making growth stock picks.

One growth stock investing cliché says “don’t fall in love with your stocks,” but you shouldn’t fall out of love with a stock so soon that you miss a winner.

With rising revenues from its theme parks and hotels, high-yielding dividend stock Cedar Fair offers investors both income and growth.

To deal with a fragmented portfolio, you need to perform a stock portfolio review as if all your holdings were in one big account.

When you’re investing and planning for retirement, make sure you make realistic calculations rather than indulging in wishful thinking

Focused on the Bakken oil development, Crescent Point Energy is a stock we believe has strong growth potential when oil prices recover

Using a dollar cost averaging strategy is one of the best systematic ways to make money in the stock market.

Getting in on the ground floor with new fast growing stocks may seem enticing, but there are many reasons why most new stocks promoted as “can’t-miss” ideas do miss.

In the complex drug industry, Pfizer’s effective growth strategies—such as biosimilar drugs—make it one of our top U.S. dividend stocks.

Solar energy stocks may become a long-term renewable resource worth investing in.

Investing in solar power companies can be profitable for investors who know all the risks.

A history of thriving on acquisitions makes Alimentation Couche-Tard a top growth stock for us and one of the best investments in Canada

Over-the-counter trading is for investors who don’t mind risk and are willing to chance losing their money

Investors can use special ETFs called bear funds to hedge their positions in a market downturn.

EBAY INC. $28 (www.ebay.com) earned $529 million in the third quarter of 2015, down 8.6% from $579 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings fell at a slower pace of 6.5%, to $0.43 from $0.46, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue declined 2.4%, to $2.10 billion from $2.15 billion. That’s partly because Google changed its search methods, which made it harder for potential buyers to find merchandise on eBay’s auction websites. Hold.

DIEBOLD INC. $37 (www.diebold.com) is selling its North American electronic-security business, which includes burglar and fire alarms and video systems for accessing and monitoring buildings. The company will receive $350 million for these operations....

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $77 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $207.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) makes products in five main categories: fabric and home care items, such as Tide laundry detergent (29% of sales, 24% of earnings); baby goods, including Pampers diapers (27%, 26%); beauty products, like Olay cosmetics (24%, 23%); grooming items, including Gillette razors (10%, 16%); and health care products, such as Crest toothpaste (10%, 11%). Wal-Mart supplies 14% of the company’s sales.

Latest sale set to deliver big gains

In the past few years, Procter has sold many of its less profitable brands, including its recent deal to transfer 43 beauty product lines, including Wella, Clairol, Max Factor and CoverGirl, to Coty Inc. (New York symbol COTY).

...

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $59 (Nasdaq symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $59.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.comtarget=”_blank”) earned $798 million in the three months ended September 30, 2015, down 3.4% from $826 million a year earlier. The company spent $790 million on share buybacks during the quarter. As a result, earnings per share were unchanged at $0.76.

Revenue declined 2.1%, to $3.4 billion from $3.5 billion. Sales of analog chips (64% of the total) rose 1.5%. (Analog chips convert inputs like touch and sound into electronic signals computers can understand.) Revenue from embedded processor chips (21%), which perform mathematical calculations, gained 2.0%. But revenue from other chips and calculators (15%) declined by 18.6%.

However, free cash flow (cash flow less capital expenditures) rose 4.2% in the past 12 months, to $3.6 billion. That gives the company plenty of flexibility to keep buying back shares and raising its dividend.

...

FEDEX CORP. $155 (New York symbol FDX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 282.4 million; Market cap: $43.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fedex.com) has received approval from European regulators for its deal to buy Netherlands-based courier TNT Express NV. FedEx expects to complete the purchase by October 31, 2015.

The company will pay $4.8 billion. It held cash of $3.5 billion as of August 31, 2015, so it will borrow the funds it needs. Its long-term debt of $7.2 billion is a low 16% of its market cap, so it has lots of room to borrow more, especially at today’s low interest rates.

FedEx is a buy.

...

C.R. BARD INC. $184 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 73.9 million; Market cap: $13.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.crbard.com) earned $174.7 million in the three months ended September 30, 2015, up 4.7% from $166.9 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 6.0%, to $2.28 from $2.15, on fewer shares outstanding.

Sales gained 4.3%, to $865.7 million from $830.0 million. Without the high U.S. dollar’s negative impact, sales rose 8%.

The company is also buying the 50% of Medicon, a joint venture that distributes Bard’s medical devices in Japan. The company will pay $93 million for this stake. Owning all of Medicon will add $40 million to its annual sales.

...

NORDSTROM INC. $65 (New York symbol JWN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 188.2 million; Market cap: $12.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nordstrom.com) owns and operates 304 stores in the U.S. and Canada that mainly sell upscale clothing and footwear.

The company recently sold its credit card loans to Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto symbol TD) for $2.2 billion. It used the cash to cut $325 million from its $2.8-billion debt and pay a special dividend of $4.85 a share, worth a total of $900 million.

Nordstrom will use the remaining funds to buy back $1 billion worth of its stock by March 1, 2017. That’s in addition to the $591 million remaining on its existing repurchase authorization, which expires on March 1, 2016.

...

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $93 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. FICO Scores dominates this niche market. Fair Isaac also sells software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.

The company spends 12% of its revenue on research, which helps it stay ahead of the competition.

It’s now working to incorporate new data into its software. Right now, for example, FICO Scores doesn’t distinguish between people who carry balances on their credit cards (higher credit risk) and those who’ve never had a credit card but pay their utility and other bills off every month (lower risk). In addition, Fair Isaac plans to add data people publicly share on social media like Facebook. Both moves should make FICO Scores more accurate.

...

SYMANTEC CORP. $21 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 679.2 million; Market cap: $14.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) sells computer-security technology, including antivirus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers.

In 2014, the company said it would split into two publicly traded firms. One would keep the Symantec name and focus on antivirus and security software and services. The other, called Veritas Technologies, makes products for data backup and recovery.

However, the company has now decided to sell Veritas to a group of private investors for $8.0 billion. It expects to close the deal on January 1, 2016.

...

ALCOA INC. $8.99 (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $11.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alcoa.com) plans to split itself into two separate firms.

One will focus on Alcoa’s upstream operations, which include mining bauxite ore and refining it into bulk aluminum products. This business will be the world’s fourth-largest aluminum producer, with $13.2 billion of annual revenue and $2.8 billion of gross earnings.

The other company will focus on engineered aluminum products, such as components for cars and jet engines. This firm has $14.5 billion of annual revenue and $2.2 billion of gross earnings.

...