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PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $79 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $213.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) recently raised its quarterly dividend by 7.0%, to $0.6015 a share from $0.562....

FORD MOTOR CO. $16 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $62.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.ford.com) continues to expand in China. It sold 75,331 vehicles in that country in April 2013, up 37% from April 2012. That’s mainly due to strong demand for its new Focus sub-compact car and several of its sport utility models.

The company plans to launch 15 new vehicles in China by 2015. It also aims to double its production capacity in China, to 1.2 million vehicles, by 2015.

Ford is a buy.
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ALCOA INC. $8.58 (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alcoa.com) is looking at more ways to cut costs, as aluminum prices have dropped 33% from their 2011 peak.

In response to the lower prices, the company has already closed about 13% of its smelting capacity. It is now thinking about lowering its production by a further 11%. This should help it reach its goal of cutting its operating costs by around 10% by 2015.

Alcoa is a buy.
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GANNETT CO. INC. $22 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 229.6 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) earned $86.0 million in the first quarter of 2013. That’s up 6.5% from $80.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 8.8%, to $0.37 from $0.34, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue climbed 1.6%, to $1.24 billion from $1.22 billion.

The company continues to benefit from its move to charge users for access to its newspapers’ websites: revenue from its Internet operations (which supply 15% of the total) rose 3.9%. It now has 50,000 digital subscribers and feels this will rise to 300,000 by 2014. However, weaker demand for print advertising cut revenue at Gannett’s newspaper division (69% of revenue) by 0.3%. Revenue from its 23 TV stations (16%) rose 8.7% due to higher retransmission fees from cable and satellite TV operators.

Gannett is a buy.
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BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $66 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $178.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) plans to spend $18 billion developing new mines in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, down 18.2% from $22 billion in fiscal 2013. That’s because slowing economic growth in China has hurt prices for commodities like iron ore, copper and coal.

This spending should continue to fall in future years, because many of the projects that BHP is developing will start up in 2015.

BHP Billiton is a buy....

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND CO. $33 (New York symbol ADM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 658.8 million; Market cap: $21.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.adm.com) will pay $3.5 billion for the 80.2% of GrainCorp, a leading Australian grain-storage and shipping company, that it does not already own. Controlling all of GrainCorp will help Archer Daniels profit as Australia ships more grain and other crops to Asia. The deal should close by the end of 2013.

Meanwhile, Archer Daniels earned $269 million, or $0.41 a share, in the three months ended March 31, 2013. That’s down 32.6% from $399 million, or $0.60 a share, a year earlier. If you exclude writedowns and other unusual items, per-share earnings fell 38.5%, to $0.48 from $0.78.

Last year’s drought in the U.S. increased the prices that Archer Daniels’ food-processing operations paid for soybeans and other crops. That was the main reason for the lower earnings. However, revenue rose 2.7%, to $21.7 billion from $21.2 billion, as falling ethanol inventories helped increase prices.
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MONSANTO CO. $105 (New York symbol MON, Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 533.8 million; Market cap: $56.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.monsanto.com) recently won a major patent-infringement lawsuit. The dispute arose after a farmer in Indiana, who grew soybeans using Monsanto’s herbicide-resistant seeds, used the resulting seeds for future crops instead of buying more.

Monsanto gets over 70% of its revenue by selling genetically modified seeds, so allowing farmers to replant these seeds would have significantly hurt the company’s prospects. The remaining 30% comes from pest- and weed-control products.

Meanwhile, Monsanto earned $1.5 billion, or $2.74 a share, in the three months ended February 28, 2013. That’s up 22.5% from $1.2 billion, or $2.24 a share, a year earlier. If you disregard unusual items, mainly costs to clean up contamination at a chemical plant in West Virginia, earnings per share would have risen 19.7%, to $2.73 from $2.28. Sales rose 15.2%, to $5.5 billion from $4.7 billion. That’s mainly due to strong sales of its corn seeds in Brazil.
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CANON INC. ADRs $36 (New York symbol CAJ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $43.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. canon.com) recently raised its revenue and earnings forecasts for 2013. However, that’s entirely due to the Bank of Japan’s recent moves to devalue the yen. The lower currency makes Canon’s printers, cameras and other products cheaper in other countries.

As well, more people are using their smartphone’s built-in camera to take pictures. That’s hurting sales of Canon’s low-priced compact cameras.

Canon is still a hold....

C.R. BARD INC. $104 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.5 million; Market cap: $8.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.crbard.com) makes vascular products, such as stents and catheters; oncology products that detect and treat various types of cancer; urology products, such as drainage and incontinence devices; and surgical tools. Overseas markets supply a third of the company’s sales.

Bard recently agreed to pay $50.5 million to settle allegations that from 1998 to 2006 the company offered hospitals free equipment and other benefits if they used its cancer-treatment products.

If you exclude these costs, Bard’s earnings fell 13.5% in the first quarter of 2013, to $120.7 million from $139.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 10.6%, to $1.44 from $1.61, on fewer shares outstanding. However, sales rose 1.4%, to $740.3 million from $730.0 million. Bard spent 8.0% of its sales on research in the quarter, up from 6.6% a year earlier.
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BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $71 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 542.0 million; Market cap: $38.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes medical products, such as intravenous pumps and kidney dialysis equipment. It also produces vaccines and drugs.

The company has agreed to pay $4.0 billion for Gambro AB, a privately held Swedish company that makes dialysis products. It should complete the purchase in the next few weeks. If you exclude acquisition- related costs and other unusual items, Baxter would have earned $581 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2013. That’s up 2.1% from $569 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, pershare earnings rose 4.0%, to $1.05 from $1.01. Sales rose 1.8%, to $3.45 billion from $3.39 billion.

The company spent $246 million (or 7.1% of its sales) on research in the latest quarter. That’s down 8.6% from $269 million (or 7.9% of sales) a year earlier. Baxter recently teamed up with another firm to develop certain products, which lowered its research costs.
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NVIDIA CORP. $14 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 577.9 million; Market cap: $8.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nvidia .com) continues to benefit from strong demand for its new graphic chips, which make computer games run more smoothly.

In the quarter ended April 28, 2013, Nvidia’s sales rose 3.2%, to $954.7 million from $924.9 million a year earlier. The higher sales pushed up earnings by 12.5%, to $0.18 a share from $0.16. The company continues to spend a high 34% of its revenue on research, but its sales of chips for mobile devices have slowed while buyers wait for it to launch new models later this year. The company also faces growing competition from larger chipmakers.

Nvidia is a hold....

TERADATA CORP. $55 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 163.4 million; Market cap: $9.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) makes computers and software that capture and store large amounts of a business’s data, including its sales and inventory. It then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits and trends, which helps its clients make better decisions. Teradata was a wholly owned subsidiary of NCR Corp. until October 1, 2007.

The slow economy is prompting businesses to cut spending on computer systems. That’s why Teradata’s revenue fell 4.2% in the first quarter of 2013, to $587 million from $613 million a year earlier. Earnings declined 29.1%, to $73 million, or $0.43 a share, from $103 million, or $0.60. Teradata spent 8.5% of its revenue on research in the latest quarter.

The company gets roughly half of its revenue from outside the U.S., and unfavourable foreign currency rates will probably hold back its sales this year. The stock trades at 19.7 times the $2.79 a share that Teradata will probably earn in 2013.
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AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $46 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 345.0 million; Market cap: $15.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent.com) makes testing systems that help electronics firms improve their products. It also manufactures testing gear for medical research labs. Agilent was a unit of Hewlett-Packard until 1999, when Hewlett spun it off as a separate firm.

Agilent earned $269 million in its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2013. That’s down 2.2% from $275 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 1.3%, to $0.77 from $0.78.

Revenue was flat at $1.7 billion. Mobile phone makers bought less testing equipment. However, medical equipment sales benefited from last year’s $2.2- billion purchase of Dako, a Denmark-based firm whose products detect cancer.
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INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $82 (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.5 million; Market cap: $6.7 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) produces compounds that improve the taste of food and make consumer products smell better.

The company continues to expand in fast-growing markets like China, India and Turkey. Strong sales in these countries increased IFF’s overall sales by 2.4% in the quarter ended March 31, 2013, to $727.8 million from $710.6 million a year earlier. If you disregard unfavourable exchange rates and products that IFF has discontinued, sales would have risen 4%. The higher sales pushed up per-share earnings by 19.0%, to $1.19 from $1.00.

IFF is a buy.

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FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORP. $4.25 (Nasdaq symbol FTR; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 997.8 million; Market cap: $4.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 9.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.frontier.com) sells phone, Internet and video services to 3.1 million customers in 27 states.

The company continues to attract high-speed Internet users, but demand for traditional phone services is falling. That cut its overall revenue by 4.9% in the quarter ended March 31, 2013, to $1.2 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier. Earnings fell 7.0% to $48.8 million from $52.5 million. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share were unchanged at $0.05.

Frontier continues to do a good job of integrating local phone systems it purchased from Verizon in 2010. It feels this will save it $100 million in 2013. That should help it pay down its debt of $8.4 billion, which is a high 2.0 times its market cap.
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WINDSTREAM CORP. $8.25 (Nasdaq symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 592.8 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 12.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.windstream.com) provides telephone and other communication services to 4.2 million clients, mainly in rural areas in the U.S.

In November 2011, Windstream bought PAETEC Holding Corp., which sells telecommunication services to businesses in 46 states. The company issued $842 million in stock to PAETEC shareholders and assumed $1.6 billion of PAETEC’s debt.

The deal raised Windstream’s long-term debt to $8.1 billion, or a high 1.7 times its market cap. It also added more business and high-speed Internet clients. These users now supply 71% of Windstream’s sales.
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GOOGLE INC. $868 (Nasdaq symbol GOOG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 331.8 million; Market cap: $288.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 5.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.google.com) now sells Internet and TV services through its own fibreoptic networks in Kansas City, Missouri, Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah. Download speeds on these systems are up to 100 times faster than other broadband networks. Google will probably bring this service to more cities in the next few years.

The company is also working on new ways to expand Internet access in developing regions like Africa and Asia. It aims to team up with local telecom firms to build new high-speed wireless networks, possibly by using satellites or stationary balloons to transmit signals over long distances.

In addition, Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary is developing new low-cost mobile phones and tablet computers for emerging markets.
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VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $50 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.9 billion; Market cap: $145.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) gets 66% of its revenue from its 98.9 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. It also has 22.2 million phone and Internet customers.

Wireless buyout would be expensive

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AT&T INC. $36 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.4 billion; Market cap: $194.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) is the largest wireless service provider in the U.S., with 107.3 million subscribers. This business supplies 53% of AT&T’s revenue and 74% of its earnings.

The wireline division, which sells phone services, television packages and high-speed Internet access to 37.4 million customers, accounts for most of AT&T’s remaining revenue and earnings.

Due to the recession and weaker demand for regular phone services, AT&T’s revenue fell slightly from $123.4 billion in 2008 to $122.5 billion in 2009. However, revenue turned around and climbed to $127.4 billion in 2012.
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Most U.S. markets have risen lately, while Canada’s resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange has lagged. But as always, both remain subject to unexpected downturns. One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but their low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

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 investment advice, including specific 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....

Slowing industrial activity in North America and China has pushed down oil demand. At the same time, rising shale oil production from North Dakota’s Bakken region has increased inventories. Both of these factors have weighed on prices. However, low prices are a mixed blessing for integrated oil companies like Suncor Energy. They earn less profit by producing crude, but their refineries also pay less for the oil they use....

More Americans own pets than ever before, and the trend looks set to keep rising. That should continue to increase the earnings of leading companies in the business. Today we examine whether PetSmart can continue the success it has enjoyed in recent years....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on stock market investing and other questions on investment and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. 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 about the prospects for one of Canada’s leading natural gas processors and distributors. AltaGas profits from a number of fixed long-term contracts, but it is also growing by acquisition and diversifying into new sources of energy. Pat looks at the company’s ability to manage this added risk going forward....

MCCOY CORP. (Toronto symbol MCB; www.mccoyglobal.com) operates through two divisions: Mobile Solutions and Energy Products and Services....