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COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $15.32 (Toronto symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 531-1300; www.cmgroup.com; Shares outstanding: 37.8 million; Market cap: $579.1 million; Dividend yield: 2.9%) reports that its revenue fell 10.1% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $12.0 million from $13.3 million a year earlier.

Licence revenue rose to $10.9 million from $10.8 million, but that was offset by a 57.0% drop in consulting and professional-services revenue, to $1.1 million from $2.5 million. The company consulted on a few large, one-time projects a year ago. Earnings per share fell 7.7%, to $0.12 from $0.13.

Already a leader in complex heavy-oil and oil-sands simulations, Computer Modelling should profit as oil and gas producers continue to develop other unconventional sources, such as shale gas.

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MAJOR DRILLING $15.32 (Toronto symbol MDI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (www.majordrilling.com; 1-866-264-3986; Shares outstanding: 74.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.0%) is a large contract drilling firm that mainly serves the mining industry.

In the three months ended October 31, 2011, Major’s revenue rose 67.3%, to $213.9 million from $127.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share jumped 168.8%, to $0.43 from $0.16.

During the quarter, many of Major’s customers increased their drilling activity to take advantage of record gold prices and high base metal prices. Gold mining firms supply 48% of Major’s revenue, followed by base-metal and uranium miners (35%) and energy, coal and groundwater test drillers (17%).

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PASON SYSTEMS $11.74 (Toronto symbol PSI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-301-3400; www.pason.com; Shares outstanding: 82.3 million; Market cap: $966.2 million; Dividend yield: 3.4%) rents equipment for monitoring and managing oil and gas rigs. It also sells communication systems, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations. Pason serves oil and gas producers and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Argentina.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Pason’s revenue rose 29.2%, to $88.7 million from $68.7 million a year earlier. Many of the company’s clients increased their drilling, especially for shale gas and oil.

Earnings jumped 140.0%, to $28.5 million, or $0.35 a share, from $11.9 million, or $0.15 a share. The increased drilling pushed up Pason’s earnings. Strong demand also let the company raise its prices.

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AMERIGO RESOURCES $0.50 (Toronto symbol ARG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.amerigoresources.com; Shares outstanding: 172.3 million; Market cap: $86.2 million; No divd.) processes copper and molybdenum from the waste rock from Chile’s El Teniente, the world’s largest copper mine.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Amerigo’s cash flow was $0.03 a share, down from $0.06 a year earlier. However, that was the result of a strike that is now over.

Amerigo has just declared its semi-annual dividend of $0.02 a share. That gives the stock a high 8.0% yield. The dividend appears safe, but a prolonged period of low copper prices could lower the cash the company has available for dividend payments.

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NEW GOLD $10.11 (Toronto symbol NGD; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (888-315-9715; www.newgold.com; Shares outstanding: 456.5 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; No dividends paid) has three operating mines: the Mesquite mine in the U.S., the Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico and the Peak mine in Australia. It also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/gold project in Chile (Goldcorp owns the other 70%) and 100% of the New Afton gold/copper/silver project in B.C.

El Morro contains an estimated 4.7 million ounces of gold and 3.7 billion pounds of copper. New Afton holds 2.7 million ounces of gold, 2.5 billion pounds of copper and 8.3 million ounces of silver.

In June 2010, New Gold bought Richfield Ventures (symbol RVC on Toronto) for $550 million of New Gold shares (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

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YAMANA GOLD $14.52 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 746.2 million; Market cap: $10.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) owns seven operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina, and has three other properties in advanced stages of development.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Yamana’s revenue rose 22.3%, to $555.2 million from $454.0 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Cash flow per share rose 57.1%, to $0.44 from $0.28.

The company raised its production by 4.4% during the quarter, to 279,274 ounces of gold from 267,409 a year earlier. As well, record-high gold prices pushed up Yamana’s selling price for gold by 37.4%.

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MART RESOURCES $0.76 (Toronto symbol MMT; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-270-1841; www.martresources.com; Shares outstanding: 340.3 million; Market cap: $258.6 million; No dividends paid) trades at a low multiple to cash flow. That reflects investor concern about unstable Nigeria.

Right now, Mart is producing oil from its 50%-held Umusadege field in southern Nigeria.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Mart’s revenue jumped 237.2%, to $46.8 million from $13.9 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share rose sharply, to $0.125 from $0.028. Mart’s production rose 126.5%, to 446,981 barrels, and oil prices rose.

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ENERFLEX LTD., $12.12 (Toronto symbol EFX; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (403-387-6377; www.enerflex.com; Shares outstanding: 77.2 million; Market cap: 935.7 million; Dividend yield: 2.0%) rents and sells equipment and services for natural gas production, including compression and processing plants, refrigeration equipment and power generators. In July 2011, Toromont completed its spinoff of Enerflex. Shareholders received shares of Enerflex and the new Toromont.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Enerflex’s revenue rose 4.2%, to $282.3 million from $270.9 million a year earlier. The company gets about 28% of its revenue from stable, recurring sales of parts and services. Without one-time items, earnings per share jumped to $0.22 from $0.06, thanks to the higher revenue and improved profit margins. Enerflex’s long-term debt of $132.9 million is a low 14.2% of its market cap

Enerflex’s order backlog continues to grow. It added $314.6 million of orders in the latest quarter, to bring its total backlog to $833.2 million on September 30, 2011, up 62.9% from $511.4 million a year earlier. Enerflex benefited from rising shale gas production in the southern U.S., including the Eagle Ford and Marcellus shale areas.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. A question this week touched on the well-established trend of overseas outsourcing. Specifically, an Inner Circle member asked about a leading specialist in the field with rising sales and profits and a large store of cash. ...

Today, we discuss three fairly common errors we remind our readers of from time to time. Almost all investors make one or more of these mistakes sooner or later.

TRANSCANADA CORP. (Toronto symbol TRP; www.transcanada.com) has agreed to reroute its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline around an environmentally sensitive aquifer in Nebraska’s Sandhills region. The state government will work closely with TransCanada to find an acceptable route. That should speed up the environmental approval process for this Canadian stock’s biggest pipeline project....

Almost every investing strategy takes into account well-known signs of risk, such as falling profits, dividend cuts, police or security commission investigations, and so on. But wise investors will also stay alert for more subtle signs of coming problems. Here are 3 hints that could serve as a warning that a company may soon be facing big trouble.

1. Strong reactions to outside criticism: When outsiders criticize a company’s accounting and the criticism is unjustified, most corporate insiders simply ignore it. But if insiders have something to hide, they may protest far too loudly — that is, threaten to sue critics of their accounting practices, in hopes of shutting them up.
   It’s sound investing strategy to avoid companies that attract accounting criticism, but all the more so when insiders react with outrage and threaten lawsuits. You probably won’t miss much profit by staying out, but you’ll avoid some of the market’s worst disasters.
2. Too much focus on corporate prestige: When companies pay to name buildings after themselves (including gigantic sports venues), or build excessively costly head offices, it may mean they are pursuing prestige at the expense of profit.

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SeaDrill Ltd. is a leading offshore drilling company. Norway-based SeaDrill has a fleet of 60 drilling rigs that can operate in shallow to very deep water.

The volatile markets of the past few years have offered up many tempting stocks at bargain prices. But it’s important to remember that not all bargain stocks are created equal. Investment success depends more on the quality of your investments than on the price you pay for them. That’s why you have to be very selective about which undervalued stocks you buy....

All good investing advice includes 3 attitudes that are essential for long-term success. The best way to avoid investment mistakes is to adopt

U.S. Thanksgiving Day features the famous Macy’s parade in New York. It also marks the beginning of the Christmas season, the most important sales period for the big department stores. We assess how Macy’s investment in a major merchandising plan may affect its stock market investment prospects for the holiday season and beyond. MACY’S INC. (New York symbol M; www.macysinc.com) operates 810 Macy’s and 41 Bloomingdale’s department stores in 45 states....

You might call it fair-weather investing. Many investors prefer to buy stocks only when economic and financial conditions seem good, if not ideal. When there’s news of rising oil prices or interest rates, for instance, they are inclined to stay out of the market, or get out if they’re already in. Yet when they think conditions are ripe, these “fair-weather” investors can be surprisingly casual about what they buy. They readily accept recommendations from brokers, or they buy stocks that are touted by public-relations firms. They give promoters and insiders the benefit of the doubt....

This week, there was a question about the world’s largest maker of generic drugs. While an aging population is good for drug stocks, there are still a number of thorny issues to consider

As part of our investment advice, we regularly look at common mistakes made by many investors—so that you know how to avoid them. Today we discuss three errors that can arise from what look like seductive investment ideas.

1. An unrealistic investment strategy: Some investors, especially newcomers, believe they can buy a few hot stocks (or options or futures), and double or triple their money in a few years. After that, they plan to settle into a low-risk investing style that may only return an average 10% to 12% yearly. But if you could make 200% or 300% in a few years, why would you quit? If you could do it once, you should be able to do even better as you gain experience.
   Of course, if you don’t think you can keep it up indefinitely, you should also ask yourself whether you can really pull it off the first time. Our investment advice is that you should take the approach that will work for you more-or-less indefinitely. You’ll want to be sure it suits your circumstances and temperament, that it won’t take up too much of your time, and that it doesn’t require luck or extraordinary circumstances for success.

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2 tips that will help you leave a more profitable estate to your heirs. From time to time, we hear from investors asking us how they might

The fast food industry is notoriously competitive. It can give rise to some powerful growth stocks—but it is not always easy for companies to keep growing. Today we examine the world’s largest pizza takeout chain to see whether it can sustain the success it has had in 2011. DOMINO’S PIZZA $32.21 (New York symbol DPZ; www.dominos.com) is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. The company operates 9,541 stores in the U.S. and over 70 other countries. Franchisees run most of these outlets....

On Friday, in response to a question from a member of my Inner Circle, I talked about Cisco Systems and the challenges technology stocks face in a highly competitive industry. (View the article: Technology stocks: Cisco Systems strives to maintain its leadership in cutting-edge technology.) Today I’d like to follow up by discussing the risks and rewards investors can expect with tech stocks in general. Fast-changing technology offers huge opportunities in these stocks. However, fast change can also bring danger....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. An intriguing question this week concerned one of the world’s best-known technology stocks. Cisco Systems offers leading-edge products in a highly competitive industry. Pat examined just how it plans to maintain its position in the face of rapid change and overseas competition....

Dividends rarely get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. That’s because a dividend paying stock’s yearly 2% or 3% or 5% yield barely seems worth mentioning alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. But dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. A stock that pays a dividend of $1 this year will probably do the same next year. It may even raise it to $1.05....

How to cut your risk with ‘thin-trading’ stocks. Many speculative or aggressive stocks are inactive or “thin” traders. These stocks may trade