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HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol HCG; www.homecapital.com) gets around 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Its clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories, and self-employed people....

TEMPUR SEALY $47.64 (New York symbol TPX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (800-878-8889; www.tempursealy.com; Shares outstanding: 60.7 million; Market cap: $2.9 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 a range of memory-foam mattresses that directly compete with Tempur Sealy’s products.

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WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $70.50 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 128.1 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,440 franchised hotels worldwide.

Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has over 106,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the hotel and resort operator’s revenue rose 9.2%, to $1.20 billion from $1.09 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 the company’s occupancy rate by 1.9%.

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TIM HORTONS $61.19 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 138.2 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) continues to successfully launch new products that take advantage of consumer trends. The latest is its Tims Crispy Chicken Sandwich.

This sandwich sells for $4.99 and is made fresh with breaded, seasoned white meat, lettuce, tomato and light mayonnaise on a soft, bakery-style bun.

The new sandwich will also help the company compete with McDonald’s, which has targeted Tims by improving its coffee offerings.

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AMAZON.COM $316.08 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 459.3 million; Market cap: $145.4 billion; No dividends paid) has just unveiled Fire TV, a $99 Internet video-streaming box that plugs into a high-definition TV set. It will compete against similar devices, like Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast.

The device, which is about the size of a CD case, runs Google’s Android operating system and offers Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, Pandora, ESPN and other streaming channels.

Fire TV can also be used for gaming. Customers can play popular games, such as Minecraft, as well as thousands more titles to be released soon. Many games will be free, while paid games from Amazon will cost an average of $1.85. Amazon will offer a compatible game controller for $39.99.

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WESTJET $25.59 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 129.4 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) carried 4.8 million passengers in March 2014, up 7.0% from 4.5 million a year earlier.

The company’s load factor fell to 84.0% from 86.1% in March 2013. (Load factor is the percentage of available seats that are occupied by paying passengers.) However, the decline was low considering that WestJet increased its capacity by 6.6% to meet higher demand.

Demand for its flights remains high, and the launch of its new Canadian regional airline, WestJet Encore, has gone well.

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ACI WORLDWIDE $57.16 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 38.5 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. Its products also help cut fraud.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2013, ACI’s revenue rose 26.4%, to $283.2 million from $224.1 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to the contribution from Online Resources Corp., which ACI bought for $126.6 million early last year. Earnings per share rose 3.2%, to $1.30 from $1.26.

ACI has made a number of recent acquisitions: in February 2012, it bought S1 Corp. for $540 million. S1 sells transaction software for banks, credit unions, retailers and other payment processors. It also recently bought Official Payments Holdings for $109 million. Official Payments processes about 20 million payments totalling over $9 billion annually.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $20.76 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 691.6 million; Market cap: $14.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.9%) sells computer-security technology, including anti-virus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. It also offers data-archiving software.

In Symantec’s fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended December 27, 2013, its earnings per share rose 13.3%, to $0.51 from $0.45 a year earlier. The gains were mainly due to savings from a new restructuring plan that includes laying off 30% to 40% of its managers and simplifying its product lines.

Revenue fell 4.8%, to $1.7 billion from $1.8 billion. That’s mainly because the company is retraining its sales staff as part of its restructuring, and that disrupted their closing of new deals. Slow computer sales have also hurt demand for anti-virus software.

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ADOBE SYSTEMS $62.11 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 497.7 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; No dividends paid) earned $0.30 a share in the three months ended February 28, 2014. That’s down 14.3% from $0.35 a year earlier. Revenue fell 0.8%, to $1.00 billion from $1.01 billion.

Results fell mainly because Adobe is now selling its Creative Cloud package of photo-editing and desktop-publishing programs as a subscription, instead of a one-time purchase. That hurts its short-term growth, but the switch should provide more predictable revenue streams. Subscriptions now supply over half of Adobe’s revenue.

The stock now trades at 56.5 times the $1.10 a share that Adobe will likely earn in 2014. That’s a high p/e ratio for any company, but especially one that mainly serves customers in cyclical businesses like publishing.

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AMERIGO RESOURCES $0.47 (Toronto symbol ARG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.amerigoresources.com; Shares outstanding: 172.5 million; Market cap: $82.8 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.

A landslide in one of Amerigo’s production areas has hurt its copper and molybdenum production. In the quarter ended December 31, 2013, copper output fell 9.7%, to 12.25 million pounds from 13.56 million a year earlier. Molybdenum production declined 37.6%, to 181,464 pounds from 290,775. However, these operations are now recovering, and production growth is returning to normal.

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AURICO GOLD $4.64 (Toronto symbol AUQ; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.auricogold.com; Shares outstanding: 248.0 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Dividend yield: 3.5%) operates the El Chanate gold mine in Mexico, which produced 71,864 ounces in 2013.

The company’s Young-Davidson gold mine in Northern Ontario reached full production in 2013, with total output of 120,738 ounces. The project’s output should rise to over 152,000 ounces this year.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the company’s revenue fell 19.5%, to $50.8 million from $63.1 million a year earlier. Cash flow declined to $0.07 from $0.11. Higher gold production was more than offset by lower prices.

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THE CHURCHILL CORP. $11.43 (Toronto symbol CUQ; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-454-3667; www.churchillcorporation.com; Shares outstanding: 24.9 million; Market cap: $284.4 million; Dividend yield: 4.2%) has added to its record backlog after two of its divisions won $250 million worth of contracts.

The company’s Stuart Olson Dominion Construction subsidiary secured $135 million in new projects, including the Mount Royal University Library in Calgary. And its Commercial Systems segment added another $115 million of new deals.

To put these contracts in perspective, Churchill’s total backlog stood at a record $2.12 billion at the end of December 2013, up 25.2% from $1.69 billion a year previous.

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CARFINCO FINANCIAL GROUP $9.46 (Toronto symbol CFN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-486-4356; www.carfinco.com; Shares outstanding: 26.5 million; Market cap: $252.3 million; Dividend yield: 5.1%) provides car loans to consumers who can’t meet the criteria of banks and other traditional lenders.

In September 2013, Carfinco expanded into the U.S. through its $9.5-million purchase of Persian Acceptance Corp., an automotive lender that also caters to less-affluent borrowers. The acquisition boosted Carfinco’s loans outstanding by about 22%.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the company’s revenue rose 29.6%, to $24.9 million from $19.2 million a year earlier. Carfinco loaned $46.0 million in the quarter, up 14.8% from $40.1 million.

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INTACT FINANCIAL CORP. $69.42 (Toronto symbol IFC; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-341-1464; www.intactfc.com; Shares outstanding: 131.5 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.8%) is Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance, based on premiums. Its brands include Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink, belairdirect and Grey Power.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Intact’s revenue rose slightly, to $1.70 billion from $1.69 billion a year earlier. The company earned $143 million, or $1.05 a share, down sharply from $194 million, or $1.42.

However, the latest results include a pre-tax loss of $55 million related to December ice storms in Ontario and Quebec.

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BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $9.96 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 171.0 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; No dividends paid) has announced an expanded joint venture agreement with Grafton Energy Co. I Ltd. The deal should speed up the development of Bellatrix’s Cardium shale oil deposits in west-central Alberta.

Under the new deal, Grafton increased the amount it is paying Bellatrix to $250 million from $200 million.

In return, Grafton gets 54% of the production from a three-year, $244-million drilling program. It will get this share of the wells’ output until it earns back its $250 million, plus an 8% return on its original investment. It will then hold a 33% interest in each well.

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CIMAREX ENERGY $118.11 (New York symbol XEC; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (303-295-3995; www.cimarex.com; Shares outstanding: 87.0 million; Market cap: $10.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.5%) produces and explores for oil and gas. Gas makes up 50% of its output.

Cimarex’s properties are in the Mid-Continent region of the U.S., which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas (49% of production); the Permian Basin of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico (47%); and the Texas Gulf Coast (4%).

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Cimarex’s production averaged 704.9 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day (including oil). That’s up 4.2% from 676.7 million cubic feet a year earlier.

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DEVON ENERGY CORP. $68.68 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235-3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 407.4 million; Market cap: $27.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 57% gas and 43% 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 aimed to focus on its North American projects, which include conventional production, Texas shale oil and Alberta oil sands.

Devon recently narrowed its focus even further by selling some of its Canadian properties to Canadian Natural Resources (symbol CNQ on Toronto) for $2.8 billion.

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AIMIA INC. $17.56 (Toronto symbol AIM; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-205-7315; www.aimia.com; Shares outstanding: 173.0 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Dividend yield: 3.9%) owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s largest loyalty program, with over 4.6 million members who collect Aeroplan miles from participating companies. Members can exchange miles for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms and merchandise.

Aimia also owns Nectar, the U.K.’s biggest loyalty program. In addition, it has interests in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia, as well as Club Premier, the leading loyalty program in Mexico.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Aimia’s revenue rose 1.4%, to $687.6 million from $678.2 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share fell 5.8%, to $0.49 from $0.52. The earnings decline was due to an increase in the company’s cost per mile, mostly because its expenses rose as it expanded its operations.

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DIEBOLD INC. (New York symbol DBD; www.diebold.com) is a leading maker of automated teller machines (ATMs). It also makes safes, vaults and building-security systems. The company gets 52% of its revenue from overseas....

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. $64 (www.molsoncoors.com) reported that its earnings rose 2.3% in 2013, to $727.1 million from $710.5 million in 2012 (all amounts expect share price in U.S. dollars). Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 1.0%, to $3.95 from $3.91....

TIM HORTONS INC. $62 (Toronto symbol THI; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 138.2 million; Market cap: $8.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.timhortons.com) operates 3,588 coffee-and-donut stores in Canada, 859 in the U.S. and 38 in the Persian Gulf. Franchisees operate 99.6% of these outlets.

The company’s sales jumped 33.0%, from $1.7 billion in 2009 to $2.3 billion in 2013. That’s largely because it opened 573 new locations in Canada (up 19.0%) and 296 in the U.S. (up 52.6%). New menu items, like soups and panini sandwiches, also spurred sales.


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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $46 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 282.4 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) continues to expand its Joe Fresh business, which makes casual clothing and accessories. Loblaw mainly sells these goods in over 300 of its supermarkets and through 22 stand-alone stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The company plans to take advantage of the brand’s popularity by opening 140 more Joe Fresh stores in 23 countries outside of North America in the next four years. Loblaw will team up with local partners to build and operate these stores, which limits the risk of expanding in unfamiliar markets.

Loblaw is a buy....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $174 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 175.7 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.0; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) has started charging oil producers a special surcharge for each older DOT-111 tanker car they use on its rail network.

CP hopes the charge will encourage these customers to upgrade to models with thicker hulls. That would make it less likely that oil will spill and catch fire in the event of a crash.

The company is also considering selling $2 billion worth of surplus real estate. These funds would help CP pay for its plan to buy back 3% of its shares over the next year.
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ANDREW PELLER LTD. $14 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $200.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) reported that its sales rose 2.6% in its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2013, to $81.9 million from $79.8 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to strong demand for the company’s premium wines during the Christmas shopping season.

Earnings fell 9.2%, to $6.0 million, or $0.43 a share. A year earlier, Peller earned $6.6 million, or $0.47 a share. The company is paying more for wine and juice on international markets. The costs of a restructuring plan, which includes outsourcing distribution functions and cutting marketing expenses, also hurt its profits. If you exclude all unusual items, earnings fell 4.4%.

Andrew Peller is a buy....

SAPUTO INC. $56 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 194.8 million; Market cap: $10.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) now owns 87.92% of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, an Australian producer of milk, cheese, butter and other dairy products. Saputo recently launched a takeover offer for 100% of this company, but Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings decided to hang on to its 10% stake.

Meanwhile, Warrnambool reported that its earnings jumped 102.0% in the first half of its current fiscal year from the same period a year earlier. That’s mainly because China is importing more dairy products to meet rising domestic demand.

Saputo trades at a somewhat high 18.8 times the $2.98 a share it will probably earn in the year ending March 31, 2014.
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