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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 advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of stock market advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “The value and quality of the stocks you consider are far more important than what the share price happens to be doing at any given moment.”...

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation 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.

DOREL INDUSTRIES (Toronto symbol DII.B; www.dorel.com) makes a range of items, including ready-to-assemble home and office furniture; juvenile products, such as car seats, strollers, high chairs, toddler beds and cribs; and recreational goods, mainly bicycles.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Dorel’s sales rose 9.2%, to $655.8 million from $600.4 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Sales rose 20.2% at the recreational segment and 3.2% at the juvenile products division. Home furnishing sales fell slightly.

Earnings per share rose 14.6%, to $0.47 from $0.41. Sales of its highly profitable Cannondale and Pacific Cycle premium bikes remain strong. That offset a small loss from Dorel’s 70% stake in Caloi, which it bought for an undisclosed amount last year.

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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Avigilon Corp., (symbol AVO on Toronto; www.avigilon.com), designs, makes and sells high-definition surveillance systems. Users can view the images from this equipment on computers, tablets and smartphones....

TEMPUR SEALY $53.95 (New York symbol TPX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative)(800-878-8889; www.tempursealy.com; Shares outstanding: 60.9 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; No dividends paid) completed its $1.3- billion purchase of rival Sealy in March 2013. This was a major acquisition for Tempur Sealy (formerly Tempur-Pedic), but it has let the company diversify into traditional spring-coil beds.

The purchase is also helping Tempur Sealy offset rising competition in its current business; the company makes and distributes mattresses and neck pillows made of its Tempur material, which conforms to the body to provide support and alleviate pressure points.

Competitors Simmons Bedding and Serta have both successfully launched memory-foam mattresses that directly compete with Tempur Sealy’s products.

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MCCOY GLOBAL $4.75 (Toronto symbol MCB; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-453-8451; www.mccoyglobal.com; Shares outstanding: 27.7 million; Market cap: $131.4 million; Dividend yield: 4.2%) is the new name of McCoy Corp.

The change comes after the company sold its Mobile Solutions heavy-duty truck-trailer unit earlier this year. McCoy made the sale to focus on its fastergrowing and more profitable Energy Products and Services segment, which sells hydraulic gear, including power tongs, for drilling rigs. (Power tongs are large wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in a drill hole.)

In 2013, McCoy opened its first two Energy Products international sales and service centres. One is in Aberdeen, Scotland, and supports customers in the North Sea area. The other is in Singapore and serves the Asia-Pacific region. McCoy recently opened another centre, in Dubai, to supply the Middle East. It plans to open an additional location in Latin America.

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WAJAX CORP. $35.46 (Toronto symbol WJX; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (905-212-3300; www.wajax.ca; Shares outstanding:16.8 million; Market cap: $595.0 million; Dividend yield: 6.8%) sells and services cranes, forklifts and other heavy equipment. It also provides related parts (such as bearings, motors, hoses and fittings) and power systems (including diesel engines and transmissions).

The company’s customers are in the natural resource, construction, manufacturing and transportation industries.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Wajax’s revenue rose 6.2%, to $359.5 million from $338.5 million a year earlier. All of its segments reported higher sales, including mining and forestry.

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TIM HORTONS $92.84 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 132.6 million; Market cap: $12.3 billion; Div. yield: 1.4%) had sales of $909.2 million in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 10.2% from $825.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 2.2%, to $0.74 from $0.75.

The company has accepted a friendly takeover offer from Miami-based Burger King Worldwide (New York symbol BKW). If you exclude unusual items, such as $27.3 million in takeover-related costs, Tim Hortons earned $0.95 a share in the quarter, up 25.0% from $0.76 a year earlier.

Under the deal, Tim Hortons’ shareholders can opt to receive $88.50 a share in cash or 3.0879 Burger King shares worth a total of $113.51 (all amounts in Canadian dollars).

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CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $21.25 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics- .com; Units outstanding: 62.9 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Dividend yield: 5.7%) is one of North America’s largest providers of removal services for resource firms, such as oil refineries and base metal processors, whose operations create sulphur, acid and other by-products. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid.

The company reported that its revenue rose 56.9% in the quarter ended September 30, 2014, to $324.6 million from $206.9 million a year earlier.

That’s largely due to General Chemical Corp., which Chemtrade bought for $900 million U.S. in January 2014. General makes a range of chemicals, including aluminum sulphate, aluminum chlorohydrate and ferric sulphate (all of which are used in water treatment), as well as ingredients for prescription drugs, nutritional supplements and veterinary products.

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COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $12.59 (Toronto symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-531-1300; www.cmgl.ca; Shares outstanding: 78.8 million; Market cap: $990.2 million; Dividend yield: 3.2%) sells software and consulting services that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their wells.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 14.8%, to $19.7 million from $17.2 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 33.3%, to $7.5 million, or $0.09 a share, from $5.6 million or $0.07. The company cut its costs, pushing its earnings higher.

Computer Modelling holds cash of $65.4 million, or $0.83 a share, and has no debt. The stock yields 3.2%.

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DOREL INDUSTRIES $37.53 (Toronto symbol DII.B; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-731-0000; www.dorel.com; Shares outstanding: 32.3 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Dividend yield: 3.6%) reported revenue of $673.0 million in the three months ended September 30, 2014. That’s up 10.8% from $607.3 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

Earnings per share jumped 32.7% in the latest quarter, to $0.73 from $0.55. Sales of its highly profitable Cannondale and Pacific Cycle premium bikes remain strong. As well, Brazilian bike maker Caloi posted its first profit since Dorel’s recent purchase of a 70% stake in the company.

The stock trades at just 10.4 times Dorel’s forecast 2015 earnings of $3.61 a share.

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CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL $658.56 (New York symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (303- 595-4000; www.chipotle.com; Shares outstanding: 31.0 million; Market cap: $20.4 billion; No dividends paid) is a Denverbased Mexican restaurant chain. It charges slightly higher prices than fast food companies, but it offers better quality food, including naturally raised meat, and superior decor and service.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Chipotle’s sales jumped 31.1%, to $1.08 billion from $826.9 million a year earlier. Its restaurants attracted more customers during the quarter, which pushed up same-restaurant sales by 19.8%. Traffic increased even though Chipotle raised its prices.

Chipotle also opened 43 new outlets and now has a total of more than 1,700. In all of 2014, it aims to open 180 to 195 locations. In 2015, it plans to add 190 to 205 more.

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WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $79.11 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 123.7 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.8%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,600 franchised hotels worldwide.

Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. It now has 107,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, the company’s revenue rose 6.1%, to $1.51 billion from $1.43 billion a year earlier. Wyndham gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up its occupancy rate by 2.0%.

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TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $28.65 (Toronto symbol TIH; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-667-5511; www.toromont.com; Shares outstanding: 77.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) reported revenue of $467.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2014. That’s down 6.2% from $498.3 million a year earlier.

Earnings declined 7.9%, to $40.0 million from $43.5 million. Per-share earnings fell 8.8%, to $0.52 from $0.57, on more shares outstanding.

However, the lower results were mostly because the year-earlier quarter included Toromont’s biggest-ever mining order: an $82-million delivery to the Baffinland iron ore project.

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YAMANA GOLD $4.48 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.- yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 880.8 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) owns eight operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina and has a number of other properties in advanced stages of development.

Yamana’s mines include 50% of the Canadian Malartic gold project in Quebec. The company teamed up with Agnico-Eagle Mines in June 2014 to buy Osisko Mining, which owned Canadian Malartic, for $1.5 billion each (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Yamana’s gold equivalent production (including copper and silver, which are significant by-products of the company’s gold mining) rose 27.5%, to 391,277 ounces from 306,935.

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NEW GOLD $4.71 (Toronto symbol NGD; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (888-315-9715; www.newgold- .com; Shares outstanding: 504.0 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; No dividends paid) has four mines: the Mesquite project in the U.S., Cerro San Pedro in Mexico, the Peak mine in Australia and the New Afton mine in B.C.

New Gold also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/ gold project in Chile, 100% of the Blackwater property in B.C. and 100% of Ontario’s Rainy River project.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, New Gold’s cash flow per share rose 60.0%, to $0.16 from $0.10 a year earlier. Gold production fell slightly, to 93,367 ounces from 94,038. But an 8.2% rise in copper output from New Afton and lower overall costs increased New Gold’s cash flow.

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LEON’S FURNITURE $15.20 (Toronto symbol LNF; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (416- 243-7880; www.leons.ca; Shares outstanding: 71.0 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Dividend yield: 2.6%) reported sales of $629.2 million in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up slightly from $628.6 million a year earlier.

Earnings gained 25.4%, to $27.3 million, or $0.38 a share. A year earlier, Leon’s earned $21.8 million, or $0.31 a share.

Growth by acquisition can be risky, especially with a deal as big as The Brick purchase. However, Leon’s is doing a good job of integrating The Brick. It’s also finding savings by combining both companies’ distribution networks and computer systems.

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ACI WORLDWIDE $19.49 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 114.9 million; Market cap: $2.2 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 quarter ended September 30, 2014, ACI’s revenue rose 16.7%, to $249.6 million from $213.9 million a year earlier, mainly due to contributions from acquisitions. Earnings per share rose 5.9%, to $0.18 from $0.17.

The company has purchased a number of other firms recently. In November 2013, it paid $109 million for Official Payments Holdings, which processes about 20 million payments totalling over $9 billion annually. ACI also bought Retail Decisions (ReD) in August 2014 for $205 million. ReD is an e-commerce and fraud-prevention firm whose software serves the payments industry.

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MITEL NETWORKS $11.35 (Toronto symbol MNW; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (613-592-2122; www.mitel.ca; Shares outstanding: 99.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid) has reported its third quarter of results that include Aastra Technologies, a Stock Pickers Digest recommendation that Mitel acquired in a friendly takeover on January 31, 2014.

In the latest quarter, Mitel’s revenue jumped 101.2%, to $272.4 million from $135.0 million a year ago (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Most of the increase came from Aastra.

Without one-time items, earnings gained 134.6%, to $19.0 million from $8.1 million. However, earnings per share rose just 28.6%, to $0.18 from $0.14, as the company issued new shares to pay for Aastra.

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WESTJET AIRLINES $31.05 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1- 877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 127.8 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) has just reached a tentative labour agreement with its 1,200 pilots.

This deal follows a tentative agreement with a group representing its 2,600 flight attendants.

The company has a great hidden asset in its workforce, which continues to refrain from unionizing in favour of cooperating directly with management. Many flyers find that WestJet provides friendlier service than they get from unionized airlines. WestJet also benefits from the fact that most of its employees are also shareholders.

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HECLA MINING COMPANY $2.40 (New York symbol HL; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (208-769- 4100; www.hecla-mining.com; Shares outstanding: 349.5 million; Market cap: $881.7 million) explores for, mines and processes silver and gold in the U.S. and Mexico. Most of its silver output comes from its Greens Creek mine in Alaska and its Lucky Friday project in Idaho. The company’s Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, which it bought for $796 million in June 2013, supplies the majority of its gold production.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Hecla produced 2.9 million ounces of silver, up 26.1% from 2.3 million ounces a year earlier. Gold output rose 15.0%, to 42,501 ounces from 36,966. Cash flow per share climbed to $0.09 from $0.06.

Hecla expects its two silver mines to produce 9.5 million to 10 million ounces in 2014, while Greens Creek will add 55,000 ounces of gold. Casa Berardi should produce 125,000 ounces of gold this year.

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SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $2.62 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704- 6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 297.5 million; Market cap: $779.5 million; Dividend yield: 1.5%) sold off all of its coal interests for $793 million in cash in April 2014.

The company is now focused on nickel production, with operations in Cuba and Canada. As well, it has a 40% interest in the Ambatovy nickel mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. Sherritt also produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan and manages 506 megawatts of power generation capacity in Cuba.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Sherritt’s revenue jumped 55.0%, to $302.7 million from $195.3 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because Ambatovy started up. Cash flow per share rose 25.0%, to $0.15 from $0.12.

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NISSAN MOTOR (ADR) $18.30 (Nasdaq symbol NSANY; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) (310- 771-3111; www.nissan-global.com; Shares outstanding: 2.3 billion; Market cap: $41.2 billion; No dividends paid) has risen over 9% since mid-October, after the Japanese government and the country’s central bank said they would make huge investments in Japanese stocks. They will also expand the money supply by making major government bond purchases.

These moves have pushed the yen down to a seven-year low. This makes exports—like Nissan’s vehicles—much more attractive to foreign buyers.

Just-released figures show the Japanese economy shrank by 1.6% in the latest quarter, erasing any doubt that the stimulus is needed.

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DREAM OFFICE REIT $26.65 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-365-3535; www.dream.ca/office; Units outstanding: 108.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Dividend yield: 8.4%) (formerly Dundee REIT) owns and manages 24.2 million square feet of office and retail space in major cities across Canada. In Western Canada, the REIT has 17% of its total square footage in Calgary and 21% elsewhere. In Eastern Canada, it holds 30% of its square footage in downtown Toronto, 14% in suburban Toronto and 18% elsewhere. Its occupancy rate is 93.0%.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, Dream’s revenue fell 1.3%, to $201.7 million from $204.3 million a year earlier. The trust sold five non-essential properties for $44.9 million in the latest quarter. That offset the expiring leases that it renewed at higher rates.

Cash flow per unit was unchanged at $0.63. Dream pays a monthly distribution of $0.1866 a unit, for an 8.4% yield.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on the Canadian stock market and other 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 “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. Recently we received a question from an Inner Circle member about a Canadian firm that specializes in mortgages. First National Financial is the largest originator of mortgages outside the banks, with almost $80 billion under administration. Pat examines the strategies by which the company sells and securitizes its mortgages in order to free up capital and looks at the effect these strategies have on the company’s short- and long-term profit margins. Q: Dear Pat: What are your thoughts on First National Financial Corp.? Thanks....

Every Thursday we bring you our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the top 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

3M COMPANY (New York symbol MMM; www.3m.com) started up in 1902, when it was called the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company.

It now makes over 55,000 different products, including pressure-sensitive masking and packaging tape, air purifiers, medical device components and reflective highway signs. Top brands include Post-it notes, Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite cleaning products, Scotchguard protection and Thinsulate insulation.

3M’s wide variety of products cuts its reliance on a single industry or customer. Sales from outside the U.S. account for two-thirds of its total.

Because the company’s product base is so broad, its results tend to track the overall global economy. As the world rebounded from the 2008/2009 recession, 3M’s sales jumped 33.5%, from $23.1 billion in 2009 to $30.9 billion in 2013.

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