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CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $98 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 397.4 million; Market cap: $38.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cibc.com) is Canada’s fifth-largest bank, with $397.1 billion of assets.

CIBC prefers to focus on domestic banking instead of expanding internationally; Canada accounts for around 85% of its revenue.

The bank recently teamed up with Tim Hortons (see page 76) to launch a new loyalty credit card called the Double Double Visa. This card lets users earn points toward coffee and food at Tim Hortons.

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BANK OF MONTREAL $81 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 645.2 million; Market cap: $52.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) is Canada’s fourth-largest bank, with $582.0 billion of assets.

In the quarter ended April 30, 2014, the bank’s earnings rose 12.1%, to $1.1 billion from $966 million a year ago. Per-share earnings rose 13.2%, to $1.63 from $1.44, on fewer shares outstanding.

Earnings from Canadian retail banking (42% of the total) rose 14.2%, as low interest rates spurred demand for mortgages and business loans. The U.S. retail banking division (14%) reported a 5.0% profit decline due to fewer gains on mortgage loan sales.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $73 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $87.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest bank in Canada, with $791.8 billion of assets.

The bank continues to expand overseas. It recently agreed to pay $300 million for 51% of the credit card operations of Cencosud S.A., Chile’s largest retailer. The deal will make the bank Chile’s third-largest credit card issuer.

In the quarter ended April 30, 2014, Bank of Nova Scotia’s earnings rose 13.9%, to $1.8 billion, or $1.39 a share. A year earlier, it earned $1.6 billion, or $1.22 a share. Revenue gained 9.8%, to $5.7 billion from $5.2 billion.

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ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $79 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $110.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s second-largest bank, with $895.9 billion of assets.

Royal recently completed the sale of its moneylosing Jamaican operations, which included 13 branches. The bank will record a one-time loss of $97 million on the deal, up from its earlier estimate of a $60-million loss.

Meanwhile, Royal earned $2.2 billion in the quarter ended April 30, 2014, up 15.3% from $1.9 billion a year ago. Per-share earnings rose 17.6%, to $1.47 from $1.25, on fewer shares outstanding.

Overall revenue gained 7.2%, to $8.3 billion from $7.7 billion. Revenue at Royal’s retail banking division (which supplied 40% of the total) gained 5.1%, thanks to stronger loan demand in Canada. The lower Canadian dollar also improved the results of its U.S. and Caribbean operations.

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TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $56 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $99.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with $896.5 billion of assets.

On January 1, 2014, the bank became the primary credit card issuer for the hugely popular Aeroplan travel reward program run by Aimia Inc. (Toronto symbol AIM). As part of the deal, TD acquired half of the existing Aeroplan accounts from the previous issuer, CIBC (see page 75). It paid $162.5 million upfront and will pay $37.5 million annually over the next three years.

Thanks to this purchase, as well as steady loan demand in Canada and the U.S., TD’s earnings rose 13.5% in the quarter ended April 30, 2014, to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings gained 14.7%, to $1.09 from $0.95, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 12.5%, to $7.4 billion from $6.6 billion.

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DUNDEE CORP. $17 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 53.5 million; Market cap: $909.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dundeecorp.com) owns businesses in the wealth management, real estate, natural resource and agriculture industries.

Dundee is more risky than most of the stocks we recommend. Many brokers avoid it due to its complex holding company structure, so it has little following among institutional investors. Irregular earnings from real estate and resource operations also add to its risk, and the lack of a dividend hurts its appeal.

However, like most holding companies, Dundee typically trades at a discount to the market value of the assets it held. Occasionally, it would unlock some of this value, as it did in 2011 when it sold its Dynamic mutual fund operations. In 2013, it spun off its commercial real estate subsidiary —DREAM Unlimited (Toronto symbol DRM)—as a separate company.

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IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $57 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $48.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources. Imperial is a 69.6%- owned subsidiary of U.S.-based ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM).

About 80% of Imperial’s oil production comes from its oil sands operations in Alberta, including its 25% stake in the Syncrude project.

It also has conventional oil and natural gas operations in Western Canada and owns interests in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada. Based on its current daily output, Imperial’s 3.6 billion barrels of proven reserves should last 35 years.

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DragonWave Inc. (symbol DWI on Toronto; www.dragonwaveinc.com) makes equipment that wirelessly transmits broadband voice, video and other data. That lets customers send and receive data in places that fibre optic networks haven’t yet reached. The company’s clients are mainly high-speed Internet and wireless providers. It also sells to organizations that operate their own networks, such as universities, hospitals, cities and businesses. DragonWave prefers to focus on product design and support; it outsources most of its manufacturing to other firms....

The Successful Investor organization was something of a pioneer, in print and online, in the Canadian investment advisory newsletter publishing industry. I launched the company in 1994 with one goal in mind: to give Canadian investors a source of investment advice (and, ultimately, portfolio management) that would differ from the alternatives in one key measure. Our Successful Investor service is free of the conflicts of interest that warp other sources of investment advice. I expected a big market for this kind of service. After all, our best business prospects have always been informed investors who understand that conflicts of interest can taint investment advice and make it costly and dangerous to investors....

Thinking of buying Aecon Group Inc. stocks. Get answers why or why not.

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 successful investing. 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: “With short selling, you have to balance the slim chance of making money fast against the greater probability that you will lose money—possibly a lot of it.” There are plenty of references in the financial media to “shorts”—those seeking to profit from stocks that fall in price. But this strategy comes with considerable risk....

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.

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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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