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LEON’S FURNITURE LTD. (Toronto symbol LNF; www.leons.ca) has steadily opened new stores, growing from 27 in 2003 to 78 today. But the company more than quadrupled in size overnight with its March 28, 2013, purchase of its main rival, The Brick, for $700 million. The Brick has 228 outlets across Canada. Leon’s and The Brick will continue to operate as separate chains. As a result of the acquisition, Leon’s sales jumped to $426.0 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014, from $162.5 million a year earlier. Earnings fell sharply, to $818,000, or $0.01 a share, from $5.4 million, or $0.08....

BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $72 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $115.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. bhpbilliton.com) is the world’s largest mining company, with major operations in Australia, South Africa, the U.S. and the U.K.

BHP’s main products include iron ore (31% of revenue; 43% of earnings), oil and potash (20%; 32%), copper (18%; 16%), coal (17%; 6%), and aluminum, manganese and nickel (14%; 3%). BHP cuts its risk by focusing on projects with high-quality, long-lasting reserves.

Oil and gas expansion spurred results

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VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $52 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 4.1 billion; Market cap: $213.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) recently completed its $130-billion purchase of the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it didn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group.

The company now owns 100% of Verizon Wireless, which sells wireless services to 104.6 million subscribers in the U.S. Wireless now supplies 68% of Verizon’s revenue. The remaining 32% comes from its 20.4 million regular phone customers and 16.2 million high-speed Internet and digital TV subscribers. Thanks mainly to the Verizon Wireless purchase, the company’s earnings per share jumped 24.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to $0.91 from $0.73 a year earlier. Revenue gained 5.7%, to $31.5 billion from $29.8 billion.

The company should earn $3.54 a share in 2014, and the stock trades at 14.7 times that forecast. The $2.12 dividend yields 4.1%.

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CONAGRA FOODS INC. $31 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 422.5 million; Market cap: $13.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) has paid $93 million for Chinese potato producer TaiMei Potato Industry Ltd.

This is ConAgra’s first potato-processing facility in China. The purchase will help the company increase sales of its Lamb Weston frozen potato products in China and other parts of Asia.

ConAgra is a buy.

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EBAY INC. $53 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $63.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) has signed a deal with Russia Post that will speed up delivery of foreign goods Russian buyers purchase on eBay’s websites.

As well, eBay will soon launch a website in Russia that will let domestic merchants sell more of their goods online.

Expanding in Russia adds risk, particularly as the U.S. and Europe plan to impose new economic sanctions against the country in response to its annexation of Crimea. However, Russia only accounts for a small fraction of eBay’s revenue and earnings.

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STATE STREET CORP. $72 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 425.0 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; 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. Thanks to improving stock markets and new contracts, earnings rose 5.6% in the quarter ended June 30, 2014, to $603 million from $571 million a year earlier.

State Street spent $410 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. As a result, earnings per share gained 12.1%, to $1.39 from $1.24. Revenue rose 3.7%, to $2.7 billion from $2.6 billion.

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MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. $65 (New York symbol MSI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 255.3 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.motorolasolutions.com) took its current form on January 4, 2011, when the old Motorola Inc. spun off its struggling cellphone business, Motorola Mobility, as a separate firm. The remaining operations became Motorola Solutions after the breakup.

The company makes specialized communications equipment, such as radios for police and fire vehicles. Government clients account for about 70% of its revenue.

Motorola Solutions recently agreed to sell its enterprise division, which provides the remaining 30% of its revenue. This business makes bar-code scanners and interactive kiosks for corporate clients.

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CINTAS CORP. $63 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 117.0 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) earned $374.4 million in its 2014 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2014, up 18.7% from $315.4 million in 2013. Per-share earnings rose 21.0%, to $3.05 from $2.52, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude a gain on the sale of Cintas’s document-shredding business, it would have earned $2.79 a share in fiscal 2014.

Revenue rose 5.5%, to $4.6 billion from $4.3 billion, as the improving economy spurred demand for Cintas’s uniform-rental and office-cleaning services.

The company will probably earn $3.06 to $3.15 a share in fiscal 2015. The stock trades at a high, but still reasonable, 20.3 times the midpoint of that range.

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NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $32 (New York symbol NWL; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 276.7 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newellrubbermaid.com) is buying Ignite Holdings, a private company that makes reusable water bottles and thermal mugs under the Contigo and Avex brands.

Newell will pay $308 million when it completes the purchase later this year. That’s equal to 57.6% of the $534.9 million, or $1.83 a share, that Newell earned in 2013. The new operations will add $125 million to its annual sales of $5.7 billion.

The company feels its expertise will cut Ignite’s manufacturing costs. Newell can also use its extensive global distribution networks to increase Ignite’s sales.

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PEPSICO INC. $89 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $133.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) continues to face pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz to spin off or sell its beverage business, which has suffered as health-conscious consumers cut their soft drink consumption. Peltz owns about 1% of the company’s shares.

The beverage operations supply 48% of PepsiCo’s sales. The remaining 52% comes from its snack food operations, which include Frito-Lay potato chips and Quaker Oats cereals.

The company has rejected the proposal because it feels making both soft drinks and snacks gives it manufacturing, distribution and marketing advantages. Instead, it aims to boost its profits with a new five-year plan that includes automating more of its bottling plants and closing less-efficient facilities. PepsiCo will use the resulting savings to buy back $5 billion worth of its shares in 2014.

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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $41 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 120.7 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) began trading on April 2, 2007, after former parent Automatic Data Processing handed out Broadridge stock to its own investors as a special dividend.

The company serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. It processes 85% of all proxy votes in the U.S.

Broadridge earned $55.1 million in its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended March 31, 2014. That’s up 11.3% from $49.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 12.8%, to $0.44 from $0.39.

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TERADATA CORP. $43 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 157.7 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) was a wholly owned subsidiary of NCR Corp. until it was spun off on October 1, 2007. Teradata is up 65% since then.

The company’s technology captures and stores large amounts of a business’s data, including its sales and inventory. Teradata then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits and trends, which helps its clients improve their decision-making.

In the three months ended March 31, 2014, the company’s earnings rose 19.2%, to $87 million from $73 million a year earlier. Teradata spent $86 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 25.6%, to $0.54 from $0.43. Revenue rose 7.0%, to $628 million from $587 million.

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AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $57 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 333.0 million; Market cap: $19.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent.com) was a unit of Hewlett- Packard until 1999, when Hewlett spun it off as a separate firm. Agilent now plans to break itself into two publicly traded companies in November 2014.

One firm will keep the Agilent name and focus on testing equipment for medical-research labs. This business supplies 60% of Agilent’s revenue and will pay a dividend comparable to the current 0.9% yield.

The second company, called Keysight Technologies, will make testing systems for improving electronics, such as cellphones and computer equipment. Keysight will not pay a dividend, at least initially.

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BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $76 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 542.6 million; Market cap: $41.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) recently announced that it will split into two separate companies.

One firm will focus on medical devices, such as intravenous pumps and kidney dialysis equipment. This business currently provides 60% of Baxter’s revenue. The other company will make biopharmaceuticals, including vaccines and hemophilia drugs.

In mid-2015, Baxter will hand out shares in the biopharmaceutical firm to its investors as a tax-deferred dividend.

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HILLSHIRE BRANDS CO. $63 (New York symbol HSH; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 123.4 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.hillshirebrands.com) took its current form on June 28, 2012, when the old Sara Lee Corp. split into two separate companies: Hillshire and European coffee maker D.E. Master Blenders.

D.E. Master accepted a $16.50-a-share takeover offer in June 2013, for a 55% gain since the Sara Lee breakup.

Hillshire makes a variety of packaged meat products. Its main brands include Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages and Hillshire Farm deli meats. Other foods include Sara Lee frozen desserts and Chef Pierre pies.

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KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC. $57 (Nasdaq symbol KRFT; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 595.3 million; Market cap: $33.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftfoodsgroup.com) makes a variety of grocery products, including Kraft macaroni and cheese, Maxwell House coffee, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Jell-O desserts and Miracle Whip salad dressing.

Following the split from Mondelez, Kraft began consolidating plants and eliminating less-profitable products. The company expects to spend $625 million by the time it completes the plan in late 2014.

In the three months ended June 28, 2014, Kraft’s earnings fell 41.9%, to $482 million, or $0.80 a share. A year earlier, it earned $829 million, or $1.38 a share. If you disregard unusual items, earnings per share increased 7.9%, to $0.82 from $0.76.

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MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $37 (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $62.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) took its current form on October 1, 2012, when the old Kraft Foods Inc. broke itself into two publicly traded companies: Mondelez International and Kraft Foods Group.

Mondelez makes cookies and biscuits (Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz), chocolate bars (Cadbury, Toblerone) and gum and candy (Trident, Chiclets and Halls cough drops). It also makes coffee and other beverages, as well as grocery and cheese products for overseas markets.

The company has agreed to merge its packaged coffee business with European coffee maker D.E. Master Blenders. Under this deal, Mondelez will contribute its coffee brands, including Jacobs, Gevalia and Tassimo, to a new firm called Jacobs Douwe Egberts. In return, it will get $5 billion in cash and 49% of the new company when the deal closes later this year.

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WINDSTREAM HOLDINGS INC. $11 (Nasdaq symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 602.7 million; Market cap: $6.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 9.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.windstream.com) gets 73% of its revenue from high-speed Internet and business telecommunications. It also sells regular phone services, mainly in rural parts of the U.S.

The stock jumped 20% after the company announced that it would transfer its fibre-optic and copper networks, along with some land and buildings, to a new real estate investment trust (REIT). The company will then lease these assets from the REIT.

Windstream plans to hand out units in the new REIT to its own shareholders in the first quarter of 2015.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $194 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $194.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) started up in 1911 making machines that processed U.S. census data, as well as other industrial equipment such as time clocks and scales.

The company now gets 55% of its revenue by designing computer systems and managing them for business and government clients. It typically does this under long-term contracts, which cuts its risk.

In the past few years, IBM has aggressively expanded its software business. It’s particularly interested in analytics software, which helps clients gather and analyze a wide variety of data. Software now supplies 27% of IBM’s revenue.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on specific stocks 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 one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week we had a question from an Inner Circle member about an offshore drilling company that has grown quickly in less than 10 years in business. Pat looks at the advantages Seadrill derives from its modern, high-quality drilling rigs as well as the pressure building new rigs puts on the company’s balance sheet. He also examines a recent deal Seadrill made with Russian oil producer Rosneft and the complications that may arise from European Union economic sanctions against Russia. Q: Hi Pat: What are your thoughts on Seadrill? Thanks....

North American and European consumers continue to shift away from cash and toward credit and debit cards. As a result, banks on those two continents are buying fewer automated teller machines. But ATM demand remains high in developing nations, where many stores only accept cash. ATM makers NCR and Diebold are also diversifying into related products and offering more software and support services. We cover both of these stocks in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. NCR CORP. (New York symbol NCR; www.ncr.com) gets 52% of its revenue from ATMs. It also makes cash registers and self-serve checkouts (32% of revenue) and kiosks for theatres and arenas (10%). Maintenance services supply the other 6%. Overseas markets account for 60% of NCR’s revenue....

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 advice on specific investment topics. 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: “Ethical or socially responsible investing can be a misleading concept. Often it’s an oversimplified reaction to a complex situation, having little impact on the companies targeted while limiting perfectly good investment opportunities.” From time to time, we are asked about ethical investing (or “socially responsible investing”). I’d say it works as a marketing angle for a handful of small investment companies, and it may make you feel better about your investments. But it won’t do much to improve your investment results, or cut down on what you see as unethical corporate behaviour....

COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP (Toronto symbol CMG; www.cmgroup.com) sells software and consulting services that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their wells. It has customers in over 50 countries and offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Caracas, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. The company is a leader in complex heavy oil and oil sands simulations. In the quarter ended March 31, 2014, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $20.0 million from $19.3 million a year earlier. Software licence sales (89% of total revenue) rose slightly, but consulting and professional services (11%) jumped 39.1%, thanks to new projects and a large consulting agreement. Earnings gained 6.7%, to $7.7 million from $7.25 million. Per-share earnings jumped 18.8%, to $0.095 from $0.08, on fewer shares outstanding....

Bombardier recently had to suspend test flights of its CSeries passenger plane because of a problem with its Pratt & Whitney engines, which are 20% more fuel-efficient than current models. This was the first major issue with this new engine in over three years of testing. The delay will probably add to the CSeries’ development costs, but Bombardier still expects to begin deliveries in the second half of 2015. BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A and BBD.B; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. It is also the world’s leading passenger railcar manufacturer....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on specific stocks 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 one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about one of the energy stocks involved in developing alternate sources of fuel. Clean Energy Fuels serves customers who operate commercial vehicles powered by natural gas. T. Boone Pickens, a leading proponent of alternative energy to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, is a major shareholder in the company. Pat examines Clean Energy’s business and assesses its prospects as various alternatives to the internal combustion engine continue to compete for government support and consumer confidence. A: Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (symbol CLNE on Nasdaq; www.cleanenergyfuels.com), is a North American seller of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Its customers operate natural-gas-powered vehicles in the refuse, transit, ports, shuttle, taxi, regional trucking, airport and municipal fleet markets....