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WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $59.05 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 140.3 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,340 franchised hotels worldwide.

In addition to hotels, Wyndham manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has 100,000 vacation rental properties worldwide.

In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Wyndham’s revenue rose 9.4%, to $1.09 billion from $1.0 billion a year earlier. The company gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up Wyndham’s occupancy rate by 2.6%.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $22.62 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408- 517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 689.2 million; Market cap: $15.6 billion; No dividends paid) has reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The company has also launched a restructuring plan that should make it more profitable.

In its fiscal 2013 third quarter, which ended December 28, 2012, Symantec’s earnings per share rose 7.1%, to $0.45 from $0.42. That easily beat the consensus estimate of $0.38 a share.

Symantec’s restructuring plan mainly involves streamlining its product lines and marketing operations. The company will also pay a quarterly dividend starting in the quarter ending June 30, 2013. The annual rate, probably $0.52 a share, would yield 2.3% based on today’s price.

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CALIAN TECHNOLOGIES $20.80 (Toronto symbol CTY; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (613- 599-8600; www.calian.com; Shares outstanding: 7.6 million; Market cap: $158.1 million; Dividend yield: 5.4%) operates in two areas: the business and technology services division (which supplies 70% of Calian’s revenue) provides engineers, health care workers and other skilled professionals to clients on a contract basis. The systems engineering division (30% of revenue) sells hardware and software for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communication systems.

In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Calian’s revenue rose 1.9%, to $57.9 million from $56.8 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 5.3%, to $3.4 million, or $0.45 a share, from $3.6 million, or $0.47 a share.

The Business and Technology Services division continues to benefit from steady orders from various Canadian federal government departments, including the Department of National Defence. However, these clients placed fewer orders in the latest quarter, which pushed down the division’s revenue by 1%. That hurt Calian’s profit margins, which lowered its earnings.

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TIM HORTONS $49.70 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons- .com; Shares outstanding: 153.4 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) operates 3,365 coffee-and-donut shops in Canada, 755 in the U.S. and 18 in the Middle East.

The company’s new menu items, such as lattes and panini sandwiches, continue to sell well. In addition, Tim Hortons now offers free Wi-Fi Internet access at its Canadian outlets. That’s helping it compete with bigger fast-food chains like McDonald’s, which is aggressively promoting its coffee in Canada.

These factors pushed up Tim Hortons’ sales by 10.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2012, to $802.0 million from $726.9 million a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 2.3% at its U.S. outlets and 1.9% in Canada.

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CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $20.57 (New York symbol CHK; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (405-848-8000; www.chkenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 664.7 million; Market cap: $13.7 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) reports that its controversial co-founder, CEO and chairman, Aubrey K. McClendon, has agreed to retire.

McClendon is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for taking out $1.1 billion of loans from EIG Global Energy Partners that may have put him in a conflict of interest.

The potential for further conflicts of interest could have slowed the company’s restructuring and eroded investor confidence.

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BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $5.17 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266- 8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 107.9 million; Market cap: $557.8 million; No dividends paid) produces oil and natural gas in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Gas makes up about 66% of its output; the remaining 34% is oil.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Bellatrix’s production rose 31.0%, to 15,503 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) from 11,837 barrels.

Cash flow per share rose 13.6%, to $0.25 from $0.22. Bellatrix’s selling price for gas fell 37.3%, to $2.45 U.S. per thousand cubic feet from $3.91 U.S. a year ago. However, the big production increase offset that decline. The company’s long-term debt is $154.9 million, or a low 28% of its market cap.

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BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $7.52 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Units outstanding: 141.6 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid) develops, produces and explores for oil and natural gas, mainly in the Peace River Arch area near the Alberta/B.C. border. About 75% of Birchcliff’s production is natural gas. The remaining 25% is oil.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Birchcliff’s production rose 21.4%, to 21,426 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) from 17,648 barrels a year earlier. Even so, cash flow per share fell 25.9%, to $0.20 from $0.27. The production increase was offset by a 37.0% decline in gas prices.

The company’s exploration efforts continue to be successful, and its production keeps rising as it starts up the resulting new wells. In addition, Birchcliff has completed Phase III of its gas-plant expansion in Pouce Coupe, Alberta.

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ACI WORLDWIDE $48.38 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402- 334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 39.4 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; No dividends paid) is buying Online Resources for $126.6 million. The move will help ACI further expand into online banking and bill payments.

Online Resources processes more than 245 million bill payments a year. It will also add 1,000 banks, credit unions, billers, credit card issuers and other credit and payment service providers to ACI’s customer base.

ACI’s outlook is positive. However, the stock is up 35% in the past year and now trades at a high 31.0 times the company’s forecast 2013 earnings of $1.56 a share.

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Alimentation Couche-Tard $53.33, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, was our #1 pick for 2012 in Stock Pickers Digest at $30.55. Its shares are now up 74.6%.

WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011. It was a year late getting started, but it’s now up 58.1% since then.

Even with that jump, we think WestJet has big gains ahead. In an industry that thrives on passenger satisfaction and trust, the company’s non-unionized workforce is a huge plus.

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AIMIA INC. $15.93 (Toronto symbol AIM; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-205-7315; www.aimia.com; Shares outstanding: 172.3 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%) owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s largest loyalty program, and Nectar, the U.K.’s biggest loyalty program. In addition, Aimia has interests in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia, as well as Club Premier, the leading loyalty program in Mexico.

In the nine months ended September 30, 2012, Aimia’s revenue rose 1.0%, to $1.63 billion from $1.61 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share rose 33.8%, to $1.03 from $0.77. The company’s cost per mile awarded dropped significantly, partly because it is making better use of its computer systems. Redemptions also fell.

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WESTJET AIRLINES $22.29 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 132.3 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Divd. yield: 1.8%) serves 81 destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Its fleet of 100 modern Boeing 737s are 30% more fuel efficient than older jets. WestJet plans to take delivery of 35 more 737s through 2018.

In the three months ended December 31, 2012, the company’s revenue rose 10.1%, to $860.6 million from $781.5 million a year earlier. Demand for its flights remains high. Earnings per share rose 76.9%, to $0.46 from $0.26. WestJet has also raised its quarterly dividend by 25%, to $0.10 from $0.08. The shares now yield 1.9%.

WestJet continues to add ticketing and baggage-transfer alliances with other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Delta Airlines and American Airlines. This lets it reach new markets while limiting its risk. WestJet has also invested heavily in a state-of-the-art computer reservation system.

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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 stock advice and other tips on successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away....

Most stock markets have risen lately. But as always, they remain subject to unexpected downturns. Even so, we feel the long-term outlook is for higher stock prices. 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....

Investors often ask us why we don’t give price targets for the stocks we recommend. After all, stock price targets appear regularly in brokerage and media reports....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions about investing in stocks and other investment topics 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 us about an industrial stock that is making its name in several fields, but especially in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for the oil and gas industry. As the company’s sales and earnings keep rising, Pat examines the prospects for this stock that has been trading for less than a year. ...

If you stick to dividend-paying stocks, you’ll avoid most of the market’s greatest disasters. That’s because a history of dividends says a good deal about a company’s long-term soundness and stability. Investors generally look to more conservative stocks, like banks and utilities, for income, and to more aggressive stocks for capital gains. Yet there are a number of aggressive stocks that also pay a regular dividend. Some even have dividend yields that are as high—or even higher—than yields on more established companies....

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, including the best approach to investing in real estate. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $50 (www.snclavalin.com) continues to win new oil and gas engineering contracts. Recent deals include an agreement to design pipelines and pumping stations in Iraq for an unspecified amount. In addition, Colombia’s Ecopetrol oil firm has hired SNC to help improve its oil pipeline systems....

TELUS $64.54 (Toronto symbol T.A; Sharesoutstanding: 324.9 million; Market cap: $21.0billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average;Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.telus.com) hasreceived approval from the B.C. Supreme Courtto convert its 151 million non-voting class Ashares into regular common shares (which haveone vote each) on a one-for-one basis.Shareholders have already approved the plan.

The plan will dilute common shareholders’voting power. However, it will let the commonshares trade on the New York Stock Exchange;right now, only the non-voting shares trade onNew York. That should make the commonshares more liquid.

The company will probably complete theconversion in January 2013. Until then, thenon-voting shares will likely trade at a slightdiscount to the common shares, even thoughthey receive identical dividends.
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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $73.04 (New Yorksymbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track theMSCI U.S. Prime Market Growth Index, a broadlydiversified index that mainly consists of shares oflarge U.S. companies. Its MER is just 0.10%.

The $27.0-billion fund’s top holdings are Apple,IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris International,Oracle, Wal-Mart, Schlumberger, Qualcomm andHome Depot.

Vanguard Growth ETF’s breakdown by industryis as follows: Information Technology (29.1%),Consumer Discretionary (20.1%), Consumer Staples(12.9%), Industrials (11.6%), Health Care (10.9%),Financials (5.9%), Energy (5.7%), Materials (3.1%),Telecommunication Services (0.6%) and Utilities(0.1%).
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VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS ETF$45.47 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers)aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index,which is made up of common stocks of companieslocated in developing countries around the world.The fund has an MER of just 0.20%.

Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdingsinclude Samsung Electronics Co. (South Korea),China Mobile (China: wireless), Petroleo BrasileiroSA (Brazil: oil and gas), Taiwan Semiconductor(Taiwan: computer chips), Vale SA (Brazil: mining),America Movil SAB de CV (Latin America: wireless),Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China ConstructionBank, Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil:banking), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China,CNOOC Ltd. (China: oil and gas) and China LifeInsurance.

The $71.4-billion fund’s breakdown by country isas follows: China (17.8%), South Korea (15.3%),Brazil (12.5%), Taiwan (10.6%), South Africa(7.6%), India (6.6%), Russia (6.0%), Mexico (4.9%),Malaysia (3.5%), Indonesia (2.7%), Thailand (2.2%),Chile (1.8%), Turkey (1.7%), Poland (1.4%) andOther (5.4%).
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IMPERIAL OIL $42.44 (Toronto symbol IMO;Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap:$36.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average;Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.imperialoil.ca) hasagreed to pay $1.55 billion to buy 50% of CelticExploration (Toronto symbol CLT). Thecompany will purchase this stake from its parentcompany, ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbolXOM), after Exxon completes its recent deal tobuy 100% of Celtic.

Celtic owns large, undeveloped shale gasdeposits along the B.C.-Alberta border. Thesefields hold a total of 128 million barrels of oilequivalent. Of that total, 76% is natural gas and24% is natural gas liquids, such as butane. Atthe end of 2011, Imperial’s proved reservestotalled 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Imperial Oil is a buy.

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CENOVUS ENERGY $33.67 (Toronto symbolCVE; Shares outstanding: 754.9 million; Market cap:$25.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average;Dividend yield: 2.6%; www.cenovus.com) operatesthree heavy oil projects in Alberta and one inSaskatchewan. It gets about half of its output fromthe oil sands. Conventional oil and natural gas wellssupply the other half.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbolCOP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creekand Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta.Cenovus ships the heavy bitumen from these assets torefineries in Illinois and Texas that are also 50%owned by ConocoPhillips.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2012, Cenovus’scash flow per share rose 40.0%, to $1.47 from$1.05 a year earlier. The company continues toexpand its projects, and that pushed up its oil outputby 28.4%, to 171,350 barrels per day. It aims toboost production to 500,000 barrels a day by 2021.
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ENCANA CORP. $19.34 (Toronto symbol ECA;Shares outstanding: 735.4 million; Market cap: $14.2billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividendyield: 4.1%; www.encana.com) is one of NorthAmerica’s largest natural gas producers. Its provenreserves should last over 14 years.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012,Encana’s cash flow per share fell 22.5%, to $1.24from $1.60 a year earlier (all amounts except shareprice and market cap in U.S. dollars).

Natural gas accounts for 95% of Encana’s production.In response to falling gas prices, the companylowered its output during the quarter; this was themain reason for the lower cash flow.
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GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF $13.59(New York symbol COPX; buy or sell through brokers;www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive GlobalCopper Miners Index, which includes between20 and 40 international companies that mine,refine or explore for copper. Germany-basedStructured Solutions AG created this index.

Canadian companies make up 43.3% of thefund’s holdings. It also includes companiesbased in Australia (7.9%), Poland (6.5%), Peru(5.6%) and the U.S. (5.4%). Global X CopperMiners ETF’s MER is 0.65%.

Its top 10 holdings are Inmet Mining at 6.9%;KGHM Polska Miedz, 5.6%; Grupo Mexico,5.2%; Xstrata, 5.0%; Antofagasta plc, 5.0%;Southern Copper Corporation, 4.8%; Kazakhmys,4.8%; Jiangxi Copper Company, 4.8%;Hudbay Minerals, 4.8%; and Vendanta Resources,4.7%.
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