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Today, we look at two of Canada’s leading Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)....

BLACKBERRY INC. $10 (www.blackberry.com) aims to unlock more of its QNX software’s value; QNX powers communication and entertainment systems in 60 million cars. The application has 50% of this market but faces strong competition from Microsoft and free Linux-based systems....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $51 (www.rbi.com) has joined McDonald’s and KFC in bringing back old mascots. The company’s Burger King chain is now using its big-headed “King” mascot for the first time since 2011....

Profits have soared for Electronic Arts, but the need to keep turning out successful video games makes it a high risk stock in our view.

Two U.S. stocks that tap into “big data” to serve financial firms are good stocks to buy as they trade near their all-time highs.

Two of Canada’s biggest insurance firms have the assets to forge ahead with expansion and still rank among our best low risk investments.

Many brokers ignore Andrew Peller, but this hidden gem’s steady growth earns it our rating as one of the best Canadian dividend stocks.

We continue to like two energy service stocks whose efficient technology helps them profit in spite of current oil prices.

NVIDIA CORP. $20 (www.nvidia.com) plans to focus on designing high-end graphic chips for computer games, cars and cloud computing applications. As a result, it aims to sell its Icera subsidiary, which designs energy-efficient chips for mobile phones....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $43 (www. rbi.com) earned $0.30 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2015, up 25.0% from $0.24 a year earlier. These figures exclude costs related to Burger King Worldwide’s December 2014 acquisition of Tim Hortons....

GENUINE PARTS CO. $88 (New York symbol GPC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.3 million; Market cap: $13.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.genpt.com) gets 53% of its sales and 55% of its earnings by selling replacement auto parts: Genuine operates 1,100 outlets under the NAPA banner, and its distribution business serves 4,900 independent stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The company also distributes industrial parts (31% of sales, 29% of earnings), office products (12%, 11%) and electrical equipment (4%, 5%).

As the economy improved after the 2008/09 recession, the company’s sales rose 36.9% from $11.2 billion in 2010 to $15.3 billion in 2014. Overall earnings jumped 49.6%, from $475.5 million to $711.3 million. Per-share profits gained 53.7%, from $3.00 to $4.61, on fewer shares outstanding.

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CINTAS CORP. $85 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 111.7 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) designs and makes uniforms, then sells them to over 900,000 businesses, mainly in North America. It also offers related products and services, like office cleaning and first aid kits.

Last year, the company sold its document-shredding operations to Toronto-based Shred-it International. In exchange, it received 42% of the combined firm and $180 million in cash. In May 2015, the company received a $113.4-million dividend from Shred-it.

Shred-it recently accepted a $2.3-billion takeover offer from Stericycle (Nasdaq symbol SRCL). As a result, Cintas will get between $550 million and $600 million for its stake. Stericycle expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

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DIAGEO PLC ADRs $115 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 627.8 million; Market cap: $72.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.diageo.com) fell 5% recently on news that U.S. securities regulators were looking into allegations that the company shipped more cases to distributors than they ordered. Liquor producers can record shipments as sales when they ship them to the wholesaler.

The company is co-operating with officials, but the possibility that it may have to restate financial results from prior periods will keep weighing on the stock.

Diageo is a hold.

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WAL-MART STORES INC. $72 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio: Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $230.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) has paid an undisclosed sum for the 49% of Chinese e-commerce website Yihaodian.com it didn’t already own.

To spur the growth of online retail, the Chinese government recently relaxed foreign ownership restrictions on some Internet businesses. Owning all of Yihaodian.com will make it easier for Wal-Mart to co-ordinate inventory with its physical stores. The purchase will also help the company profit as younger Chinese shoppers buy more goods online.

Wal-Mart is a buy.

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STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $108 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.7 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) continues to upgrade its operations following several years of growing through acquisitions, including its largest, the March 2010 purchase of rival toolmaker Black & Decker for $4.5 billion in stock.

The efficiency improvements are freeing up cash for dividends: Stanley recently raised its payout by 5.8%. The new annual rate of $2.20 yields 2.0%.

Stanley is a buy.

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AT&T INC. $35 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.2 billion; Market cap: $182.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) has completed its purchase of DirecTV, which has 20.4 million satellite TV customers in the U.S. and 19.5 million in Latin America. It also owns regional sports networks and other cable channels. AT&T paid $47.1 billion (69% stock and 31% cash).

To win regulatory approval, the company agreed to expand its high-speed fibre-optic Internet service to more areas and upgrade Internet connections to schools and public libraries.

By combining broadcasting and other facilities, AT&T should save $2.5 billion annually by the end of the third year. Adding DirecTV will also help the company negotiate better content deals with sports leagues and TV networks.

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ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $60 (New York symbol LNT; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 113.0 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alliantenergy.com) sells power and natural gas to 1.4 million clients in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

Alliant gets just under half of its power from coalburning plants, so it’s in a better position than Ameren (see left) to comply with new air-quality standards. Even so, it plans to spend $10.0 billion on upgrades over the next eight years. This includes converting coal plants to gas and replacing transmission lines.

Warmer weather has also hurt Alliant’s gas and electricity sales. In the first quarter of 2015, revenue fell 5.8%, to $897.4 million from $952.8 million a year earlier. Earnings declined 10.6%, to $96.6 million, or $0.87 a share, from $108.0 million, or $0.97.

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AMEREN CORP. $40 (New York symbol AEE; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 242.6 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ameren.com) provides power and natural gas to 3.3 million clients in Illinois and Missouri.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, warmer-than-usual winter weather prompted Ameren’s customers to use less power and gas for heating. That cut its revenue by 2.4%, to $1.56 billion from $1.59 billion a year earlier.

However, the company recently refinanced some debt at lower rates. That reduced its interest charges, boosting earnings by 11.3%, to $108 million, or $0.45 a share, from $97 million, or $0.40.

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KRAFT HEINZ CO. $78 (Nasdaq symbol KHC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $93.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: n.a.; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) took its current form on July 2, 2015, through the merger of Kraft Foods Group (old Nasdaq symbol KRFT) and H.J. Heinz.

The new firm is North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and the world’s fifth biggest. It will have $29.1 billion of annual revenue, including eight brands with over $1 billion in yearly sales.

The stock trades at a high 27.5 times the $2.84 a share the new firm should earn in 2015. However, that multiple should improve in the next few years as the company starts to see savings from merging plants and combining distribution networks. The $2.20 dividend yields 2.8%.

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C.R. BARD INC. $195 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 74.2 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.crbard.com) is benefiting from its growth strategy, which involves selling lessprofitable businesses and buying other medical-device makers. A good example is its 2011 purchase of Lutonix, which has developed a drug-coated balloon for treating clogged leg arteries. In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Bard’s earnings rose 7.9%, to $154.3 million from $143.0 million a year earlier.

Per-share profits gained 10.2%, to $2.27 from $2.06. Sales gained 4.0%, to $859.8 million from $827.1 million. Bard gets two-thirds of its sales from customers outside of the U.S. If you exclude the negative impact of currency-exchange rates, its sales rose 8%.

The stock trades at 21.6 times the $9.02 a share Bard will probably earn in 2015. That’s a reasonable multiple for the company, which spends 7% of its revenue on research.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $161 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 985.0 million; Market cap: $158.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) has developed a new computer chip with four times more transistors than current models by using a silicon-germanium base instead of pure silicon. This innovation will greatly speed up computers while using much less power.

The company has sold most of its chipmaking operations over the past few years, so if this technology becomes commercially viable, IBM will license it to other manufacturers. Faster chips would also make the company’s analytics software perform better.

IBM is a buy.

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BAXALTA INC. $31 (New York symbol BXLT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 544.3 million; Market cap: $16.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: n.a.; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxalta.com) makes vaccines and drugs in three main areas: hematology (blood diseases), immunology (immune system) and oncology (cancer).

Before former parent Baxter spun off Baxalta, it bought Germany-based SuppreMol for $225 million. This firm develops drugs for disorders in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue.

Baxter also paid $900 million for the Oncaspar leukemia drug, from Italian pharmaceutical firm Sigma- Tau Finanziaria. Oncaspar has $100 million in annual sales.

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BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $39 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 544.3 million; Market cap: $21.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes a variety of medical devices, such as intravenous pumps and kidney-dialysis equipment. Hospital products supply 60% of its revenue; the remaining 40% comes from renal (kidney disease) equipment.

On July 1, 2015, the company spun off Baxalta, a maker of vaccines and other drugs. Investors received one Baxalta share as a tax-deferred dividend for every Baxter share they held.

Baxter still owns 19.5% of Baxalta; it plans to sell or distribute these shares within five years. As a separate firm, Baxter expects its research costs to fall from 6% of revenue to less than 5.5%.

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GANNETT CO., INC. $13 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 114.9 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: n.a.; Dividend yield: 4.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 92 U.S. markets, including its flagship newspaper, USAToday, as well as 19 papers in the U.K. It also has over 200 magazines and other publications.

As a separate firm, Gannett should earn $1.98 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at just 6.6 times that figure. The $0.64 dividend yields 4.9%.

Gannett is still a buy.

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TEGNA INC. $29 (New York symbol TGNA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 226.9 million; Market cap: $6.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tegna.com) owns 46 TV stations, as well as websites that attract over 39 million unique visitors a month.

Gannett spun off its newspaper-publishing operations on June 29, 2015.

Investors received two shares of the new Gannett for each share they held. The rest of the company became Tegna. Investors only become liable for capital gains taxes when they sell.

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