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DEVON ENERGY CORP. $43.90 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 411.0 million; Market cap: $18.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.2%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 40% gas and 60% oil.

The company narrowed its focus with its July 2014 sale of some of its properties to Linn Energy for $2.3 billion. The deal included holdings in the Rockies, the onshore Gulf Coast and the Mid-Continent region (which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas).

The sale let Devon focus on what it views as low risk/ high-reward properties, especially the oil producing assets it bought in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale formation for $6.0 billion in 2013.

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MITEL NETWORKS $10.54 (Toronto symbol MNW; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk)(613- 592-2122; www.mitel.ca; Shares outstanding: 120.2 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; No dividends paid) recently jumped after activist investor Elliott Management disclosed stakes in Mitel and Polycom Inc. (symbol PLCM on Nasdaq).

Elliott is urging the companies to merge to increase their combined profits in a very competitive market. The firm now holds 6.6% of Polycom and 6.3% of Mitel.

Mitel develops products centred on business telephone systems. Polycom makes business communications systems that combine data, video and voice in one product. It also makes teleconferencing systems.

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ACI WORLDWIDE $22.54 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative)(402-390-7600; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 117.8 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; No dividends paid) makes software for processing transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. The company’s products also help cut fraud.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, ACI’s revenue rose 4.3% to $265.8 million from $254.8 million a year earlier. Earnings jumped to $30.0 million, or $0.26 a share, from $14.0 million, or $0.12. Cost cuts were the main reason for the higher profits.

ACI is benefiting from the introduction of technology for the shift to chip-and-PIN debit and credit cards, which sped up with the EMV (EuroPay, Master- Card and VISA) payment networks’ liability shift, which came into effect in the U.S. on October 1, 2015.

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CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL $665.67 (New York symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (303-595-4000; www.chipotle.com; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $22.0 billion; No dividends paid) has hired Curt Garner as its first chief information officer. The company hopes Garner will improve its mobile presence, including the ability to order and pay through smartphones and tablets.

Mobile apps have already paid off very successfully for fast-food and fast-casual chains like Domino’s, Panera Bread, Starbucks and Taco Bell.

Previously, Garner spent 20 years at Starbucks in various technology roles, including CIO. The coffee chain recently finished rolling out its mobile ordering and payment app at its more than 7,400 U.S. outlets.

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GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. $32.49 (Nasdaq symbol GT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (330-796-2122; www.goodyear.com; Shares outstanding: 269.4 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.9%) is the world’s largest tire maker, with 50 plants in 22 countries.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Goodyear’s revenue fell 10.4%, to $4.17 billion from $4.66 billion a year earlier. The rising U.S. dollar lowered the value of the company’s foreign sales (particularly in Europe and Brazil) by $401 million. Earnings rose 1.8%, to $229.0 million, or $0.84 a share, from $225.0 million, or $0.80 a share.

Goodyear will likely report profits of $3.10 a share this year, and it trades at just 10.5 times that estimate. Earnings should jump 21%, to $3.75, in 2016, and the stock trades at only 8.7 times that forecast.

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Canada’s kimberlites have created Canadian diamond mines that offer investors huge potential, but also huge risk

A history of paying dividends is one of the strongest endorsements a stock can have, but don’t rely on dividend stock investing to always lead to profits.

Dividend stocks are an essential part of a good conservative investing philosophy. But there are certain details you should know about the way dividends are paid out.

Every company that pays a dividend has a “record” date. This prompts two questions we hear often from investors.

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This Canadian REIT is growing fast by acquisition, which adds risk, but all of its properties are in the fastest-growing part of the U.S.

What are stock options, and can they increase your profits?

The more brokers and the media praise popular stocks, the higher investor expectations are raised—and the farther they have to fall.

Our take on Newmarket Gold: with ambitious growth plans and big names on its board, this penny stock offers some speculative appeal

Financial institutions continue to create and market products like index-linked GICs that harvest many fees and commissions, but typically limit your returns.

General Electric’s willingness to adjust keeps it a top blue chip stock, as it cuts its losses in finance and focuses on its strengths.

Investing in high quality stocks rewards you when you have the discipline to keep only the stocks in which you have the most confidence.

BMO S&P/TSX Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF holds floating-rate preferred shares that fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Our view.

Finning International is a value stock that we see rising when commodities rebound, as it rewards investors with a high dividend yield.

Companies that trade on the U.S. over-the-counter market are said to trade as “pink sheet stocks,” a holdover from the days when the quotes for these stocks were printed on pink paper....

Penny stock promoters love to make deals with major, household name companies. They find it far, far easier to sell stock to the public if Goldcorp, BHP Billiton or some other major mining company has agreed to finance exploration of their mining claims, or if Apple or Intel or some other household-name multinational has agreed to evaluate their revolutionary software or “cloud” application....

A growth by acquisition strategy is inherently risky....

With four producing gold mines and a fifth in the works, we view New Gold as a mining stock with appeal for more aggressive investors.

ENCANA CORP. $9.24 (www.encana.com) is selling its Haynesville natural gas properties in northern Louisiana. These assets account for 9% of the company’s production but less than 3% of its cash flow. Selling them will let Encana focus on its more profitable properties (two in Canada and two in the U.S.), which produce large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as propane and butane....

BCE INC. $54 (www.bce.ca) recently started offering tri-band LTE advanced (LTE-A) service, which is 1.9 times faster than its main LTE network, in Halifax, Hamilton, Oakville and Toronto. Faster wireless service should prompt more of its subscribers to upgrade to smartphones, which generate higher profits than regular cellphones....

CAE INC. $14 (www.cae.com) has won several contracts for flight simulators and related equipment from airlines in China, South Korea, Russia and the U.S. In all, these deals are worth $130million, or 6% of the company’s $2.2 billion of annual revenue....

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $22 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding:171.4 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) started up in1933 and is now the world’s largest dealer of tractors, bulldozers and trucks made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). It also sells heavy equipment made by other firms. Finning’s clients are mainly in the mining, forest products and construction industries.

Western Canada (B.C., Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and parts of Nunavut) supplied 53%of Finning’s revenue in 2014, followed by South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia),which contributed 32%, and the U.K. and Ireland(15%).

Big growth in services

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