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MACY’S INC. $65 (www.macysinc.com) is changing some procedures at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores. Previously, the physical stores and online operations bought and marketed their merchandise separately. Now the company is creating a unified purchasing organization that will cut costs, minimize product shortages and speed up online order fulfillment....

STATE STREET CORP. $71 (www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to large institutional investors, such as mutual funds and pension plans. The company’s fee income rises and falls with the value of the securities it manages....

CINTAS CORP. $78 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 117.3 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) provides a range of products and services to over one million businesses, mainly in North America.

The company gets 71% of its revenue by renting uniforms that it makes and cleans. This business also rents a variety of related products, such as mats, towels, mops and cleaning supplies. Cintas gets a further 10% of its revenue by selling uniforms.

In addition, the company sells first aid kits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and emergency-exit lights (11%). It also shreds corporate documents (8%). In April 2014, it merged its shredding operations with Shred-it International. In exchange, Cintas received 42% of the combined company, which uses the Shred-it brand, plus $180 million in cash.

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AMERICAN EXPRESS $82 (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $82.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) earned $1.4 billion in the three months ended December 31, 2014, up 10.6% from $1.3 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 14.9%, to $1.39 from $1.21, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 6.6%, to $9.1 billion from $8.5 billion, as cardholder spending rose 6% and credit card balances grew by 7%.

The company is now cutting 6% of its workforce as part of a plan to improve its overall efficiency. Severance costs cut its earnings by $206 million in the latest quarter. However, the savings will help Amex invest in new growth initiatives, including adapting its networks to process purchases made from smartphones.

American Express is a buy.

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FAIR ISAAC CORP. $79 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.7 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) has paid an undisclosed amount for Tonbeller, a German firm whose software helps banks and insurance companies detect and prevent money laundering and fraud.

The company plans to integrate Tonbeller’s antifraud products with its own software, which can quickly analyze a large number of transactions. That should give Fair Isaac an advantage, as users usually have to buy these programs separately.

Fair Isaac is a hold.

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CHEVRON CORP. $104 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $197.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron .com) has signed a five-year deal to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its 47.3%-owned Gorgon project in Australia to South Korea’s SK Group. Gorgon should start up later this year.

With this deal, Chevron now has contracts covering 75% of Gorgon’s LNG production from 2017 to 2022. That helps cut this project’s risk .

Chevron is a buy.

L BRANDS INC. $85 (New York symbol LB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 292.7 million; Market cap: $24.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.lb.com) has opened its first Victoria’s Secret store in China. The company plans to open five more outlets in that country in the next few weeks.

China restricts clothing imports, so unlike Victoria’s Secret stores in other countries, which mainly sell lingerie, these locations will focus on handbags, cosmetics and fragrances.

L Brands is a hold.

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FORD MOTOR CO. $14 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $53.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.ford.com) sold 2.5 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2014, down 0.5% from 2013.

Truck sales (38% of the 2014 total) fell 0.7% as Ford slowed production of its popular F-150 as it prepared to launch a new version that uses lightweight aluminum body panels. Car sales (32%) declined 3.8%, but SUV sales (30%) gained 3.5%.

The company also raised its dividend by 20.0%. The new annual rate of $0.60 a share yields 4.3%.

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NEWMONT MINING CORP. $24 (New York symbol NEM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 498.8 million; Market cap: $11.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 0.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newmont.com) has started work on its 75%-owned Merian gold project in Suriname; the Suriname government owns the remaining 25%.

The company will spend $600 million to $700 million on Merian. The new mine will supply 7% to 10% of Newmont’s total gold production when it starts up in 2017.

The stock has jumped 36% from its December 2014 low of $17.60. That’s mainly because gold prices have strengthened in response to fears of deflation in Europe. However, the higher U.S. dollar will continue to weigh on gold.

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ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $69 (New York symbol LNT; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 110.9 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alliantenergy.com) sells electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

The company has earmarked $5.2 billion for plant upgrades and replacing older transmission lines and pipelines between 2014 and 2018. These funds include $750 million for a gas-fired plant that should replace some of its older coal facilities (coal accounts for about half of Alliant’s electricity production).

Partly due to these extra costs, Alliant’s earnings fell 2.3%, to $155.2 million, or $1.40 a share, in the third quarter of 2014. A year earlier, it earned $158.9 million, or $1.43. Cooler-than-normal weather also cut its earnings by $0.06 a share in the latest quarter. Revenue fell 2.7%, to $843.1 million from $866.6 million.

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AMEREN CORP. $46 (New York symbol AEE; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 242.6 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ameren.com) provides power and natural gas to 3.3 million customers in Illinois and Missouri.

A cool summer meant customers used less power for air conditioning in the quarter ended September 30, 2014. That cut Ameren’s earnings by 3.6%, to $294 million, or $1.20 a share. A year earlier, it earned $305 million, or $1.25. However, higher power rates increased revenue by 2.0%, to $1.7 billion from $1.6 billion.

Ameren generates 70% of its power by burning coal, so it’s vulnerable to tougher environmental regulations. As a result, the company expects to spend a total of $8.3 billion to modernize its operations between 2014 and 2018.

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WAL-MART STORES INC. $87 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio: Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $278.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart .com) plans to open 11 new supercentres, which sell groceries as well as merchandise, in Canada. That will give the company 394 Canadian stores, including 280 supercentres.

Rival retailer Target recently announced that it would close all 133 of its Canadian outlets, and many people who shopped at these stores will likely switch to Wal-Mart. In addition, the company will probably pick up some of Target’s locations at a discount.

Wal-Mart is a buy.

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MICROSOFT CORP. $41 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.2 billion; Market cap: $336.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. microsoft.com) plans to release Windows 10, the latest version of its popular operating system, later this year.

Unlike previous editions, Microsoft will let users of older versions update for free. Sales to computer makers provide most of the revenue Microsoft gets from Windows, so giving it away to existing users will have little impact on its earnings. This will also help prevent users from switching to competing operating systems.

Microsoft aims to make up the lost sales by selling related services, such as online versions of its Office business programs.

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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $54 (Nasdaq symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.05 billion; Market cap: $56.7 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 4.7; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.com) specializes in analog chips, which convert inputs like touch, sound and pressure into electronic signals computers can understand.

Manufacturers use these chips in a variety of products, including cars, cameras, medical devices and appliances.

The company’s earnings jumped 30.5% in 2014, to $2.8 billion from $2.2 billion in 2013. Texas Instruments spent $2.8 billion on share buybacks during the year. As a result, earnings per share gained 34.6%, to $2.57 from $1.91.

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CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $27 (Nasdaq symbol CSCO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.1 billion; Market cap: $137.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cisco.com) is a leading maker of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks. Its hardware includes routers, local area network (LAN) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches, and dial-up access servers.

In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended October 31, 2014, Cisco’s revenue rose 1.3%, to $12.2 billion from $12.1 billion a year earlier.

Without unusual items, it earned $2.8 billion, down 2.3% from $2.9 billion. Cisco spent $1.0 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 1.9%, to $0.54 from $0.53.

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INTEL CORP. $34 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.9 billion; Market cap: $166.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s leading computer chip maker. Its products power 80% of all personal computers.

The company continues to benefit as businesses upgrade their computers after Microsoft (see box) stopped supporting its old Windows XP operating system. Strong demand for Internet services has also spurred sales of server computers.

As a result, Intel’s 2014 sales rose 6.0%, to $55.9 billion from $52.7 billion in 2013. Earnings jumped 21.7%, to $11.7 billion, or $2.31 a share, from $9.6 billion, or $1.89.

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CONAGRA FOODS INC. $37 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 431.0 million; Market cap: $15.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) bought Ralcorp Holdings, the largest private-label food maker in the U.S., for $4.75 billion in January 2013.

The company has had trouble integrating this business. Ralcorp also faces strong price competition that has hurt its sales and earnings. In response, ConAgra has adjusted the prices of its private-label products. That should help improve Ralcorp’s market share. Efforts to streamline Ralcorp should also help it adjust to rising ingredient costs and improve its profitability by 2016.

ConAgra is a buy.

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FEDEX CORP. $171 (New York symbol FDX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 283.3 million; Market cap: $48.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fedex.com) continues to profit from the rise of online shopping, which has boosted demand for its delivery services.

The company stands to gain from lower oil prices and new fuel-efficient planes. It has also undertaken an aggressive cost-cutting plan, the benefits of which should begin to appear in 2015.

In addition, FedEx’s largely non-unionized workforce helps keep its labour costs down, and the company should see higher revenue now that it’s basing its shipping fees on a parcel’s size rather than its weight.

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VISA INC. $246 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 618.3 million; Market cap: $152.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.5; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) gets most of its revenue from fees it charges card issuers and merchants for using its network. It bases its fees on payment volume and transactions processed, among other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa.

The company continues to profit as more people shop online, and debit cards are quickly replacing cash for smaller transactions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear an appeal of a class-action lawsuit by retailers seeking to lower the fees credit card companies charge. That cuts Visa’s risk.

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NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $37 (New York symbol NWL; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 271.1 million; Market cap: $10.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newellrubbermaid.com) has gained 23% since we made it our Stock of the Year for 2014.

The company makes plastic storage bins, tools, window blinds, pens and many other household goods.

In the past few years, Newell has aggressively cut its costs, including closing plants. That has freed up cash that it can use to acquire businesses with strong long-term prospects.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $25 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 690.2 million; Market cap: $17.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) began operating in 1982. It’s now the world’s largest maker of security software.

Symantec is best known for its Norton anti-virus software, which helps protect computers from viruses and online attacks. It mainly sells Norton to consumers, but it also has agreements to pre-install it on new computers.

In addition to virus protection, Symantec has developed a range of other security programs under the Norton name, including software that guards against identity theft.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from Members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific investments as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle Members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “U.S. Stock Picks” on Thursday. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about several real estate investment trusts (REITs) that focus on industrial properties. Dream Industrial REIT, formerly Dundee Industrial REIT, owns buildings spread fairly evenly across Canada. Pure Industrial REIT also owns buildings across the country, but with almost half of them in Ontario. Both host a number of well-established tenants. Pat looks at the revenues and cash flow generated by these two REITs and their ability to sustain their distributions and high dividend yields. Q: Hi, Pat. I have a significant weighting in real estate investment trusts, including these two industrial REITs: Dream Industrial REIT and Pure Industrial REIT. Can you please comment on industrial REITs in general and these specifically? Thanks....

Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

C.R. BARD INC. (New York symbol BCR; www.crbard.com) makes over 15,000 medical devices in four main areas: oncology products that detect and treat various types of cancer (28% of 2013 sales); vascular products, like stents and catheters (27%); urology goods, such as drainage and incontinence devices (26%); and surgical tools (16%). Other medical products supply the remaining 3%.

The company’s products are typically only used once, so customers must continually buy new ones.

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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment tips and stock market advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “There are three ways you can ensure that you get the maximum profit, and tax benefit, from your tax free savings account.”

The federal government first made the tax free savings account (TFSA) available to investors in January 2009. These accounts let you earn investment income — including interest, dividends and capital gains — tax free. You could contribute $5,000 in 2009 to start your tax free savings account.

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Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. (Toronto symbol TRI; www.thomsonreuters.com) is seeing higher demand for its financial information products for the first time since the 2008 economic crisis. Sales at its legal and tax and accounting businesses are also improving.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Thomson’s overall revenue rose 1.1%, to $3.11 billion from $3.07 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

The financial division’s revenue (54% of the total) fell 0.7%. But banks and other clients are buying more products than they’re cancelling, which should raise this division’s future revenue.

Revenue rose 1.3% at the legal-products division (28%), 11.5% at tax and accounting (10%) and 3.3% at intellectual property and science (8%).

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