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RUGGEDCOM INC. $25.31 (Toronto symbol RCM; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-264-0006; www.ruggedcom.com; Shares outstanding: 12.6 million; Market cap: $318.9 million; No dividends paid) is still the target of a hostile takeover bid from U.S. cable and networking equipment manufacturer Belden Inc. RuggedCom makes computer-networking equipment that is used in harsh environments.

Belden recently reaffirmed its offer of $22 in cash for each RuggedCom share. RuggedCom feels that Belden’s offer is too low, and has advised shareholders to reject the bid. The company is looking for other buyers.

RuggedCom is now trading at $25.31 a share, or 15.0% above Belden’s bid. This indicates that investors are anticipating a higher offer from Belden or another bidder.

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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $23.65 (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 126.7 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) is now working with the Singapore Exchange to build a new service aimed at improving the accuracy, efficiency and transparency of Singapore’s shareholder communication and proxy processes. This system will replace the manual system that is now in use.

The new service will use Broadridge’s shareholder-communications software, but it will be tailored to the specific requirements of the Singapore market and domestic and international investors. The Singapore Exchange will market the service to its listed issuers.

No financial terms were disclosed, but the deal reinforces Broadridge’s leading position in the field of investor communications.

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DUNDEE REIT $34.01 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 66.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Dividend yield: 6.4%) is buying Whiterock REIT (Toronto symbol WRK.UN) for $580 million in cash and units. The purchase will make Dundee Canada’s fourth-largest REIT by market cap, up from sixth.

Whiterock owns 88 office, industrial and retail properties in eight Canadian provinces and two U.S. states. These properties contain over 10.8 million square fee of leasable area. Dundee already owns and manages 18.9 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space.

Dundee’s growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk, but it is steadily diversifying its holdings outside western Canada by purchasing more properties in eastern Canada. Whiterock has 57% of its assets in Ontario, 14% in Quebec and 6% in the Atlantic provinces.

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EUROPEAN GOLDFIELDS $11.95 (Toronto symbol EGU; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (44 (20) 7408 9534; www.egoldfields.com; Shares outstanding: 183.8 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; No dividends paid) is now the subject of a friendly takeover bid from Eldorado Gold (symbol ELD on Toronto). The offer is for 0.85 of an Eldorado share and $0.0001 in cash for each European Goldfields share. European Goldfields’ board of directors has approved the takeover.

European Goldfields’ Skouries and Olympias gold projects in Greece and its Certej project in Romania would be good fits for Eldorado, which has mines in Greece and Turkey.

Eldorado Gold is now trading at $14.20, which makes the cash and share portions of its offer worth a combined $12.07 per European Goldfields share. European Goldfields is trading just below that price, which indicates that many investors are not expecting a higher offer. However, European Goldfields says it received proposals from a number of potential buyers earlier this year, so a rival bid could still emerge.

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YAMANA GOLD $15.71 (Toronto symbol YRI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 746.2 million; Market cap: $11.7 billion; Dividend yield: 1.2%) raised its production by 5% in 2011, to 1.1 million gold-equivalent ounces (including silver and copper) from 2010.

The company now expects to produce 1.2 million to 1.3 million ounces in 2012, up 13% from 2011. Most of the increase will come from Yamana’s Mercedes mine in Mexico, which started up in November 2011.

As the company starts up more new mines, its production will continue to increase: in 2013, production should rise 43% from 2011 levels, to between 1.5 million and 1.7 million ounces. In 2014, that figure should climb to around 1.75 million ounces.

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ENDEAVOUR SILVER $10.39 (Toronto symbol EDR: TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-877-685-9775; www.edrsilver.com; Shares outstanding: 87.6million; Market cap: $910.2 million; No dividends paid) operates the Guanacevi and Guanajuato silver/gold mines in Mexico.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Endeavour’s revenue rose 93.0%, to $38.8 million from $20.1 million a year earlier (all amounts except share prices in U.S. dollars). Cash flow per share more than doubled, to $0.24 from $0.11. Rising production and sharply higher gold and silver prices were the main reasons for the gains.

The company is nearly finished expanding the Guanajuato mine. That will push up its silver production by 12.1%, to 3.7 million ounces from 3.3 million ounces in 2010.

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IAMGOLD $16.38 (Toronto symbol IMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-464-9999; www.iamgold.com; Shares outstanding: 376.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Dividend yield: 1.2%) sold its Mupane mine in Botswana for $34.2 million in September 2011 (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Earlier in 2011, IAMGold sold its 18.9% stake in the Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana to South African mining giant Gold Fields Ltd. for $667 million in cash.

The sales left IAMGold with 38% of the Sadiola mine and 40% of the Yatela mine, both located in Mali; 90% of its new Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso; 100% of the Doyon mine in Quebec; and 100% of the Rosebel mine in Suriname, South America.

In addition, IAMGold also has a 1% royalty interest in the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. It also owns the Niobec niobium mine in Quebec. Niobium is a rare metal that when used as an additive makes steel stronger, more heat resistant and easier to weld.

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DOREL INDUSTRIES $24.97 (Toronto symbol DII.B; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-731-0000; www.dorel.com;Shares outstanding: 32.6 million; Market cap: $814.0 million; Dividend yield: 2.4%) has bought Poltrade, a Polish juvenile products distributor and retailer, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 1991, Poltrade is growing quickly and will likely report sales of 7.5 million euros ($9.8 million Canadian) this year. The company has the largest share of the Polish child car seat market.

Poltrade has distributed a number of Dorel’s products in Poland since 1996. In addition to its distribution business, Poltrade operates three retail outlets.

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FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $28.40 (Toronto symbol FSV; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 30.5 million; Market cap: $866.2 million; No dividends paid) serves the following areas of the real estate market: commercial real estate, residential property management, and property improvement. FirstService has more than 20,000 employees worldwide.

FirstService’s revenue rose 10.4% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $585.4 million from $530.5 million a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings per share were unchanged at $0.61. Cash flow rose 22.6%, to $1.03 a share from $0.84.

Revenue increased at two of FirstService’s three divisions: commercial real estate (up 14%) and residential property management (up 15%).

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REITMANS (CANADA) LTD. $14.25 (Toronto symbol RET.A; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-384-1140; www.reitmans.com; Shares outstanding: 66.3 million; Market cap: $944.8 million; Dividend yield: 5.6%) owns 975 women’s clothing stores across Canada.

The chain consists of 366 Reitmans, 158 Penningtons, 158 Smart Set, 123 Addition Elle, 77 Thyme Maternity, 68 RW & Co. and 25 Cassis stores. Reitmans is in the process of closing the Cassis stores and converting them to its other chains.

In the three months ended October 29, 2011, Reitmans’ earnings fell 49.0%, to $10.6 million, or $0.16 a share, from $20.7 million, or $0.31 a share, a year earlier. The company’s sales were down 3.2%, to $254.1 million from $262.5 million. Same-store sales declined 5.8%.

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CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $21.45 (New York symbol CHK; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (405-848-8000; www.chkenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 753.0 million; Market cap: $16.2 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) is forming a second joint venture with major French oil firm Total S.A.

In early 2010, Chesapeake sold a share of its Barnett Shale acreage in Texas to Total for $2.25 billion. Shale oil and shale gas are trapped in rock formations. To extract them, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the oil or gas.

Under this new deal, Total will buy a 25% stake in roughly 619,000 exploration acres in the Utica Shale area of Ohio. Total will pay Chesapeake $610 million for its share of the acreage, plus $1.42 billion in development costs. Chesapeake expects to receive the full amount by the end of 2014.

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CAMECO CORP. $22.90 (Toronto symbol CCO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (306-956-6200; www.cameco.com; Shares outstanding: 390.0 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Dividend yield 0.7%) is the world’s largest uranium producer. It supplies over 18% of global production, and has large, high-grade reserves, low-cost operations, significant market share and a number of uranium mines.

Cameco also holds a 31.6% stake in Ontario’s Bruce Power partnership, which operates four of the eight reactors at the Bruce plant, North America’s largest nuclear power complex.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Cameco’s revenue rose 25.8%, to $527 million from $419 million a year earlier. It sold more uranium in the latest quarter, and its selling prices also rose. Earnings per share jumped 30.0%, to $0.26 from $0.20.

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SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $6.36 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704-6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 296.4 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.4%) is a diversified natural-resource company that produces nickel, cobalt, thermal coal, oil and gas. It also manages 376 megawatts of power-generation capacity in Cuba.

Sherritt is a major nickel producer, with operations in Cuba and Canada. It is also close to finishing a mine at its 40%-owned Ambatovy project on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. As well, Sherritt produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan. It is also Canada’s largest thermal coal producer.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Sherritt’s earnings jumped 102.2%, to $45.5 million, or $0.15 a share. A year earlier, it earned $22.5 million, or $0.07 a share. Revenue rose 13.0%, to $466.4 million from $412.7 million. Higher coal and oil prices were the main reasons for the improved results.

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AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $15.82 (Toronto symbol AAH; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905-760-4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 14.1 million; Market cap: $223.1 million; Dividend yield: 5.1%) sells products and systems that let businesses access communication networks, including the Internet.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Aastra’s sales fell 2.6%, to $156.6 million from $160.7 million a year earlier. Higher sales in Germany were offset by lower sales in Spain and North America.

The company earned $0.12 a share, up sharply from $0.01 a share, mainly on lower research costs and foreign-exchange losses. Aastra holds cash of $118.5 million, or a high $8.34 a share, and has no long-term debt.

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ACI WORLDWIDE $29.96 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) makes software that is used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments.

ACI recently bought S1 Corp. for $540 million in cash and stock. This acquisition looks like a good fit: S1 sells transaction software for banks, credit unions, retailers and other processors. It has over 3,000 clients worldwide.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, ACI’s revenue rose 15.6%, to $112.1 million from $97.0 million a year earlier. Earnings rose sharply, to $10.5 million, or $0.31 a share, from $2.3 million, or $0.07 a share. The company holds cash of $170.8 million, or $4.98 a share.

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SYMANTEC CORP. $16.55 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 751.0 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; No dividends paid) makes computer-security software, including the popular Norton antivirus program. It also sells products and services for email filtering, data backup and other business-related uses. In addition, Symantec offers data-archiving software that helps its clients meet increasingly strict regulatory and compliance standards.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Symantec’s earnings rose 33.8%, to $182 million from $136 million a year earlier. Earnings per share jumped 41.2%, to $0.24 from $0.17, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, mainly asset writedowns and restructuring costs, earnings per share would have risen 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34. That matched the consensus earnings estimate.

Sales rose 13.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion. The company gets 52% of its sales from overseas. If you disregard the positive impact of exchange rates, sales would have risen 9% in the latest quarter.

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WESTJET AIRLINES $11.55 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com;
Shares outstanding: 139.4 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) was our “#1 Stock of the Year” for 2010 and 2011.

WestJet’s revenue rose 3.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $775.3 million from $684.1 million a year earlier. Demand for the company’s flights remained strong.

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ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.55 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. The company sells fuel at 72% of its stores.

Couche-Tard’s revenue continues to rise rapidly. Revenue jumped 86.7% between 2006 and 2010, to $19.0 billion from $10.2 billion (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Much of the rise comes from a steady stream of acquisitions. But the company was also able to boost profits with those acquisitions. Earnings per share jumped 106.2% over the same five years, to $2.00 from $0.97. Revenue will likely reach almost $24 billion this year.

Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9% in the three months ended October 9, 2011, to $0.62 from $0.58. Sales rose 24.1% to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from a rise in fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing 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. This week, one Inner Circle member asked for an assessment of a company that at times has been one of Canada’s most impressive growth stocks, but has also seen some sharp declines in its shares, as it did in December. Q: Pat: I currently hold a significant portfolio position of Gildan Activewear. At current levels, does Gildan look attractive? Any views? Thanks in advance....

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing 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. REITs continue to be popular among investors seeking income. Recently, an Inner Circle member asked about a REIT that specializes in big-box outdoor malls and features North America’s most famous big-box chain as its most important tenant. ...

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