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ZARGON OIL & GAS $6.03 (Toronto symbol ZAR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 264-9992; www.zargon.ca; Shares outstanding: 30.2 million; Market cap: $183.5 million; Dividend yield: 11.9%) produces natural gas and oil in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Its output is 62% oil and 38% gas.

Zargon continues to sell properties to fund high development spending at its alkaline surfactant polymer (ASP) enhanced oil recovery project at Little Bow, Alberta. ASP is a new process that floods oil wells with a chemical mixture when water is no longer effective. The alkali in the mixture penetrates the rock and frees trapped oil.

This project is costly, and it’s diverting funds from Zargon’s conventional oil drilling. That’s lowering the company’s cash flow— per-share cash flow fell 26.4% in the latest quarter, to $0.39 from $0.53 a year ago.

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BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $5.24 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 191.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid) is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange, also under the BXE symbol.

Bellatrix originally listed its common shares on the NYSE MKT (formerly the American Stock Exchange) on September 20, 2012. Switching to the main New York exchange should raise its profile and increase its liquidity.

The company has also formed a new joint venture with Grafton Asset Management. Under the deal, Grafton will contribute $250 million toward the development of some of Bellatrix’s extensive landholdings in Alberta. Bellatrix will also commit $250 million. To put that in context, Bellatrix’s cash flow was $148.7 million, or $0.84 a share, in the first half of 2014.

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ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $58.52 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.9 million; Market cap: $914.6 million; Yield: 2.0%) raised its quarterly dividend by 7.4%, to $0.29 a share from $0.27, with the October 2014 payment. It now yields 2.0%.

Atlantic closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. It now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt.

The company could use its high cash balance to make acquisitions or expand its remaining operations. It could also make further dividend increases or pay special dividends.

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TRILOGY ENERGY CORP. $20.22 (Toronto symbol TET; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-290-2900; www.trilogyenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 105.1 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) reported production of 36,187 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including gas) in the quarter ended June 30, 2014. That’s down 2.7% from 37,209 barrels a year earlier. Cash flow per share rose 9.6%, to $0.80 from $0.73, as higher oil and gas prices offset the production drop.

The company plans to spend $375 million on exploration this year, down 5.5% from the $397 million it spent in 2013. As well, it’s now focusing on its shale oil prospects at Kaybob, Alberta and spending less on its more mature oil pools in the same area.

That shift could push Trilogy’s average daily output to over 42,000 barrels late next year, but it will continue to weigh on the company’s production growth in the meantime.

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CIMAREX ENERGY $106.95 (New York symbol XEC; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (303-295-3995; www.cimarex.com; Shares outstanding: 87.0 million; Market cap: $9.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.6%) produces and explores for natural gas and oil. Gas makes up 48% of the company’s output.

Cimarex’s properties are mostly in the Wolfcamp shale area of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and the Cana-Woodford shale area in western Oklahoma.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, the company’s production averaged 838.7 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day (including oil). That’s up 22.1% from 686.8 million cubic feet a year earlier.

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DEVON ENERGY CORP. $55.14 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 409.1 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 48% gas and 52% oil.

In 2011, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop.

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

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MCCOY GLOBAL $5.00 (Toronto symbol MCB; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780- 453-8451; www.mccoyglobal.com; Shares outstanding: 27.7 million; Market cap: $142.7 million; Dividend yield: 4.0%) has now sold its Inotec Coatings and Hydraulics business for $9.3 million. Inotec makes coatings for oil and gas drilling tools and mining equipment. It also repairs and maintains hydraulic cylinders.

This deal follows McCoy’s sale of its mobile solutions unit earlier this year and completes the company’s shift toward its faster growing and more profitable energy products and services segment.

This business sells hydraulic gear, including power tongs, for drilling rigs. (Power tongs are large wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in the drill hole.)

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ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $62.19 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 498.7 million; Market cap: $30.4 billion; No dividends paid) reported a 12.5% earnings decline in the quarter ended August 29, 2014, to $0.28 a share from $0.32 a year earlier. Revenue rose 1.0%, to $1.0 billion from $995.1 million.

The company continues to shift away from selling software as a one-time purchase and toward a subscription model. That hurts Adobe’s short-term sales and profits, but it should bring more predictable revenue streams as users continue to switch over.

The stock now trades at 30.8 times the $2.02 a share that Adobe will likely earn in 2015. That’s a high p/e ratio for a company that mainly serves customers in cyclical businesses like publishing.

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FAIR ISAAC CORP. $54.86 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 32.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling programs that help credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.

In its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2014, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share rose 9.1%, to $0.60 from $0.55 a year ago.

Revenue gained 7.5%, to $197.6 million from $183.8 million. The company saw stronger sales at its main applications division (66% of the total) on increased licensing revenue from software that detects bank fraud. That offset a decline in sales of creditscoring software and customized programs for analyzing large amounts of a business’s data.

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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $39.39 (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 119.5 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada.

Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $114.6 million, or $1.16 a share, in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2014. That’s up 1.5% from $142.4 million, or $1.15 a share, a year earlier.

Overall revenue gained 2.4%, to $885.9 million from $865.1 million. Revenue from contracts that pay recurring fees rose 7% and accounted for two-thirds of the total. The remaining third comes from one-time events, such as notifications of special shareholder meetings and distributing information when mutual funds change managers.

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IAMGOLD $2.80 (Toronto symbol IMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-464-9999; www.iamgold.com; Shares outstanding: 376.7 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) is selling its Niobec niobium mine in Quebec’s Saguenay- Lac-Saint-Jean region. When used as an additive, niobium makes steel stronger, more heat-resistant and easier to weld.

The company will receive $500 million U.S. when the sale closes later this year. It will get another $30 million U.S. when an adjacent deposit of rare earth elements goes into production.

Following the sale, the company will hold cash and gold bullion worth over $800 million U.S. That puts IAMGold in a strong position to pay down its long-term debt of $641 million U.S.

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AMERIGO RESOURCES $0.37 (Toronto symbol ARG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.amerigoresources.com; Shares outstanding: 173.7 million; Market cap: $66.0 million; No dividends paid) processes copper and molybdenum from waste rock at Chile’s El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine. This includes rock from the mine’s current production and tailings from the nearby Colihues deposit. This contract runs at least through 2037.

Amerigo gets 94% of its revenue by processing copper. The remaining 6% comes from molybdenum.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Amerigo’s copper output fell 2.2%, to 9.34 million pounds from 9.55 million a year earlier. Molybdenum production declined 13.5%, to 152,340 pounds from 176,845.

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AURICO GOLD $4.36 (Toronto symbol AUQ; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.auricogold.com; Shares outstanding: 248.5 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.4%) operates the El Chanate gold mine in Mexico. The company also started up its Young-Davidson gold project in northern Ontario last year. It’s now at full production.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, AuRico’s production jumped 47.2%, to 56,198 ounces from 38,186 ounces a year earlier. That increased its revenue by 31.0%, to $75.5 million from $57.7 million.

Cash flow per share declined to $0.05 from $0.08. The company’s costs rose as it moved from open pit to underground mining at Young-Davidson, but they should fall as AuRico completes the mine’s new infrastructure.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $22.15 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-517- 8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 690.3 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) plans to break itself into two publicly traded companies.

One will keep the Symantec name and focus on antivirus and security software and services. The other will consist of its information management (IM) operations, which include data backup and recovery software.

Symantec aims to hand out shares in the IM business by the end of 2015.

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DOREL INDUSTRIES $32.77 (Toronto symbol DII.B; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-731-0000; www.dorel.com; Shares outstanding: 32.3 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%) 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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AEROPOSTALE INC. $3.07 (New York symbol ARO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (646-485-5410; www.aeropostale.com; Shares outstanding: 79.1 million; Market cap: $228.6 million; No dividends paid) is a mall-based retailer of casual clothing and accessories.

The company now has 923 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico that mainly target 14- to 17-yearold women and men. Its 147 P.S. from Aeropostale stores in the U.S. are aimed at seven- to 12-year-old children.

In the three months ended August 2, 2014, Aeropostale’s sales fell 12.7%, to $396.2 million from $454.0 million a year earlier. Same-store sales declined 13%, compared to a 15% decline a year ago.

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LEON’S FURNITURE LTD. $14.00 (Toronto symbol LNF; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (416-243-7880; www.leons.ca; Shares outstanding: 71.0 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 2.9%) has steadily opened new stores, growing from 27 in 2003 to 79 today.

But the company more than quadrupled in size overnight with its March 2013 purchase of its main rival, The Brick, for $700 million. The Brick has 222 locations across Canada. The chains continue to operate separately.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, the company’s sales fell 1.3%, to $474.5 million from $480.6 million a year earlier. The year-ago quarter included the first full three months of sales from The Brick. On a samestore basis, sales declined 1.3%.

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Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. CONAGRA FOODS INC. (New York symbol CAG; www.conagrafoods.com) makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Reddiwip whipped cream. Consumers account for 70% of ConAgra’s sales. Businesses, like restaurants and other food makers, provide the remaining 30%. Sales rose 9.8%, from $12.1 billion in 2010 to $13.3 billion in 2012 (fiscal years end May 31). In January 2013, ConAgra paid $4.75 billion for Ralcorp Holdings, the largest maker of private label food in the U.S. The purchase lifted ConAgra’s sales to $15.5 billion in 2013 and to $17.7 billion in 2014. Private label foods now supply 26% of ConAgra’s total sales....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on a wide range of investing topics. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “When you focus on investment quality and favour growth stocks over momentum stocks, you multiply your chances of success with aggressive stocks.”...

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. THOMSON REUTERS CORP. (Toronto symbol TRI; www.thomsonreuters.com) sells information products in four areas: financial (55% of revenue, 37% of earnings); legal (27%, 41%); tax (10%, 12%); and intellectual property and science (8%, 10%). The Americas supply 60% of its revenue, followed by Europe (29%) and Asia (11%)....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific stock market advice, 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. This week we had a question from an Inner Circle member about a company that helps Americans get paid. Paychex derives the greater part of its revenue from payroll services, but it also helps clients with health insurance programs and pension plans. Pat looks at the company’s business, including the escalation of its cloud computing and online services, and considers its prospects as it works to maintain and build on a strong customer base. Q: Hi Pat: What do you think of Paychex? Thanks for your help....

Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Or, as with this stock, from coverage in our advisory on more aggressive investing, Stock Pickers Digest

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY (New York symbol CHK; www.chkenergy.com) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 72% gas and 28% oil.

Chesapeake’s shares have nearly doubled since mid-2012, when activist investor Carl Icahn bought a stake in the firm. Icahn, who has a history of pushing companies to make changes that raise shareholder value, subsequently replaced four of Chesapeake’s eight board members with his nominees. The company also pushed out controversial co-founder, CEO and chairman Aubrey K. McClendon....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re an aggressive or a conservative investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice and stock investing tips. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “It’s easy to assume that frequently-quoted investment rules are based on successful experience, but they can often prove to be misleading and harmful.”...

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $80 (www.cn.ca) is now 13% owned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Ottawa limits any single shareholder from owning more that 15% of CN, so Mr. Gates has little room to increase his stake....

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $55 (www.loblaw.ca) is testing a smaller version of its discount No Frills supermarkets. These stores, which operate under the Box banner, are cheaper to build than full-sized outlets and can fit in smaller strip malls, which lowers their rental costs....