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McCormick & Co., Inc., New York symbol MKC, makes spices, herbs, seasonings, specialty foods and flavours, and markets them to the food industry. McCormick is one of the companies we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in U.S. stocks. In its second quarter, which ended May 31, 2011, McCormick’s earnings rose 11.2%, to $73.6 million from $66.2 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 12.2%, to $0.55 from $0.49, on fewer shares outstanding....

You may think oil is set to rise sharply, due to fast growth in India and China. Or you may think prices could be set to fall, because high oil prices could prompt users to switch to cheaper natural gas. The truth is, no one knows the future direction of oil prices. That’s why, instead of trying to predict the future direction of oil prices, we continue to recommend that you stick with well-established oil stocks with high-quality reserves and rising production. In addition, you should limit your investments in oil stocks to a portion of your portfolio’s Resource holdings.

Oil stocks: Imperial is looking to the oil sands for long-term growth

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SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $126.09 (New York Exchange symbol DIA; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The fund’s top holdings are IBM, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp., 3M, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s Corp., Coca-Cola Co., Caterpillar Inc., United Technologies and Boeing Co. The fund’s expenses are about 0.18% of its assets. SPDR Dow Jones ETF is a buy....

H&R Block, symbol HRB on New York, is the world’s largest provider of income-tax-preparation services. The company is one of the investments we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for U.S.A. stock market investing. In its 2011 fiscal year, which ended April 30, 2011, H&R Block’s U.S. offices prepared 14.8 million tax returns, up 3.6% from fiscal 2010. The number of returns processed over the Internet jumped 28.7%....

In fact, when we’re conducting stock research we reject many potential new recommendations out of hand. After all, it’s relatively easy to

POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $58.18 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares.com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds the stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index. That index is made up of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap. The Nasdaq 100 Index contains firms from a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Oracle Corp., Comcast Corp. and Amgen Inc....

ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND $31.84 (New York symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is like a market-cap-based index fund, but its managers try to improve performance by tinkering with the index-fund formula. They do this through their Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The fund has an MER of 0.50%. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 6.0%; TD Bank, 5.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.7%; Potash Corp., 3.6%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.4%; Barrick Gold, 3.4%; Goldcorp, 2.9%; Bank of Montreal, 2.6%; CN Railway, 2.6%; CIBC, 2.4%; Manulife Financial, 2.3%; TransCanada Corp., 2.3%; and Teck Resources, 2.2%. If you want to own a Canadian index fund, you should buy the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund. You’ll pay about a third of the management fees....

SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $78.27 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) is an exchange-traded fund that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index. This index is made up of all of the publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, it holds 153 stocks. The $759-million fund’s top holdings are: China Construction Bank, 6.9%; China Mobile, 6.2%; Baidu Inc., 5.2%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 5.1%; CNOOC, 4.7%; PetroChina, 3.9%; Bank of China, 3.7%; China Life Insurance, 3.5% and Tencent Holdings, 2.8%. SPDR S&P China ETF was launched on March 19, 2007. It has a 0.59% MER, and yields 0.8%....

GUGGENHEIM CHINA SMALL CAP ETF $28.48 (New York Exchange symbol HAO; buy or sell through brokers; www.guggenheimfunds.com) aims to track the AlphaShares China Small Cap Index. This index is made up of all investable Chinese stocks with market caps between $200 million and $1.5 billion. The $296.7-million fund’s top holdings are China Shanshui Cement Group, 1.9%; Mindray Medical, 1.5%; BBMG Corp., 1.4%; Tsingtao Brewery, 1.4%; Great Wall Motor, 1.4%; Soho China, 1.4%; Zhaojin Mining Industry, 1.3%; Semiconductor Manufacturing International, 1.3%; Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co., 1.2%; and China Everbright, 1.2%. As China’s economy matures, and consumers feel more protected by the expanding social-safety net, domestic spending should rise. The ongoing Arab revolution could also spur China’s leaders to boost spending on social programs and services to ease the growing gap between the rich and poor. This fund is well positioned to benefit from these trends....

IMPERIAL OIL $45.38 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 854.2 million; Market cap: $38.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated-oil company that gets most of its production from its oil-sands projects in Alberta. Imperial also has conventional oil and natural-gas operations in western Canada, and holds interests in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada. The company’s other operations include four refineries and roughly 1,900 Esso gas stations In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Imperial’s cash flow rose 33.1%, to $873 million, or $1.03 a share. A year earlier, cash flow was $656 million, or $0.77 a share. The rise came mainly from higher production, higher oil prices and improved profits at Imperial’s refineries. Revenue rose 11.4%, to $6.9 billion from $6.2 billion. The company’s production is set to rise in the long term, thanks to its new oil-sands projects, including the $10.9-billion Kearl project, which is more than 50% complete. Imperial owns 71% of Kearl. ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM) owns the remaining 29%. Exxon also holds a 69.6% interest in Imperial....

Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund, symbol CHE.UN on Toronto, is one of North America’s largest suppliers of sulphuric acid, sulphur, liquid sulphur oxide and sodium hydrosulphite. It also supplies sodium chlorate, phosphorous pentasulphide and zinc oxide. In addition to selling chemicals, Chemtrade processes spent acid. We analyze Chemtrade in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the income trust’s cash flow per share jumped 55.6%, to $0.84 from $0.54. Revenue rose 33.8%, to $169.6 million from $126.8 million. This was mostly due to a recovering economy and higher prices for sulphuric acid....

CriticalControl Solutions Corp., symbol CCZ on Toronto, sells services and software that help business better manage, access and store their information. CriticalControl gets about 60% of its revenue from clients in the oil and gas industry, followed by government (20%), health care (10%) and finance and retail (10%). CriticalControl is one of the stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that helps you make great stock picks for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, CriticalControl’s revenue fell 6.2%, to $12.2 million from $13.0 million a year earlier. Revenue at the Service Bureau Operations division rose 10%, while revenue at the Canadian Energy Services division was flat. Revenue at the U.S. Energy Services division fell 28.0%....

On TSI Network, we’ve periodically looked at common stock market strategy errors most investors make, and given you our advice on how to avoid them. Here are 3 more profit-killing mistakes to look out for. Most investors make them from time to time. Stock market strategy error #1: Trying to time the market. Our view is that nobody guesses right every time about the direction of the stock market. Some of the most prominent people in the investment world owe their prominence to a series of correct guesses that could end at any time.

That’s why market timing plays a small role, if any, in our stock market strategy. Instead, we focus on investment quality and portfolio management. We diversify across most, if not all, of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities), we aim to uncover investment quality at a modest price, and we downplay or shun the overhyped investments that you’ll find in the glare of the broker/media limelight.

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Major Drilling, symbol MDI on Toronto, is a large contract-drilling firm that mainly serves the mining industry. Major Drilling is one of the stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that contains stock investing tips for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing. In the three months ended April 30, 2011, the company’s revenue jumped 41.0%, to $137.3 million from $97.4 million a year earlier. The gain came despite floods in North Dakota and Queensland, Australia, and severe winter weather in Canada. Earnings per share jumped 225.0%, to $0.13 from $0.04. During the quarter, the company expanded its workforce to 4,000 from 3,400. It also bought 25 new rigs and retired 21 as part of a modernization program. It added 15 of its new rigs to its Resource Drilling (Mozambique) operations, which it acquired on March 24, 2011....

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 specific advice on how to spot the top stock picks. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “How you can profit from our TSI Network ratings: Part 2” In last week’s Investor Toolkit, we analyzed 4 of the 9 factors we use to assign one of our TSI Network ratings (Highest Quality, Above Average, Average, Extra Risk, Speculative and Start-up) to every stock we recommend in our newsletters, including our flagship publication, The Successful Investor. Click here to read that article....

Reitmans (Canada) Ltd., symbol RET.A on Toronto, owns 965 women’s clothing stores across Canada. These include 363 Reitmans, 160 Penningtons, 157 Smart Set, 122 Addition Elle, 73 Thyme Maternity, 67 RW & Co. and 23 Cassis stores. Reitmans continues to actively monitor its regional markets, and open and close stores as necessary. Reitmans is one of the Canadian stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing. In the three months ended April 30, 2011, the Canadian stock’s earnings fell 98.3%, to $624,000 from $37.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 95.7%, to $0.01 from $0.23. Sales were down 7.0%, to $219.3 million from $235.7 million. Same-store sales declined 8.7%....

Demand for wireless services is rising sharply in North America. That’s partly because device makers continue to release new cellphones and other wireless devices, like the Kobo e-book reader and Apple iPad. As well, more customers are switching from traditional phones (or land lines) to wireless services. Smartphones, in particular, have become increasingly popular. Today’s top-selling smartphones are Apple’s iPhone, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, and devices that run Internet search provider Google’s Android operating system....

Delphi Energy, symbol DEE on Toronto, explores for oil and gas in Alberta and B.C. Natural gas makes up 74% of its daily output; the remaining 26% is oil. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the natural gas stock’s production rose 8.0%, to an average of 8,259 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) per day from 7,647 barrels a year earlier. Delphi’s cash flow rose 2.0%, to $15.1 million from $14.8 million. Higher production and oil prices were the main reason for the gain. The company’s operating costs also fell. Delphi sold 3.2 million shares to raise $9.0 million in the quarter. Due to more shares outstanding, cash flow per share fell 13.3%, to $0.13 a share from $0.15....

We’re happy to see that more investors are commenting on the articles we post on TSI Network. The site’s comments feature lets investors share their thoughts on our investment advice, and read other visitors’ opinions. Your comments also help us choose the best topics to write about in our TSI Network Daily Updates. Adding your comments couldn’t be easier: just scroll to the bottom of the article you’d like to comment on and type in your thoughts (you’ll have to log in first). Even if you don’t comment yourself, you’ll be surprised at the investment advice you can pick up just by reading comments posted by other investors just like you....

Tim Hortons (symbol THI on Toronto) has long been seen as an iconic Canadian company. Co-founded by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton, the company opened its first outlet in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964. At the time, the shop offered only two menu items: coffee and donuts. The company added a variety of new menu items over the following years, such as the Timbit (a bite-sized donut ball) and new muffins and cakes. In 1999, Tims added iced cappuccinos to its menu....

Adobe Systems Inc., Nasdaq symbol ADBE, makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use the tech stock’s software to create print publications and web pages. The company also makes Adobe Flash, which lets web site developers make web pages more interactive by adding animation and video. The company reports that its earnings jumped 54.4% in its 2011 second quarter, which ended June 3, 3011, to $229.4 million from $148.6 million a year earlier. The tech stock’s earnings per share rose 60.7%, to $0.45 from $0.28, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude one-time items, such as restructuring charges and investment losses, the tech stock’s earnings per share would have risen 25.0%, to $0.55 from $0.44. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.51 a share....

We see investment clubs as a good way to learn stock trading, and gather investment information. Investment clubs can offer social and educational benefits. For example, they may be a good place to learn stock trading if you are a beginning investor and think you would feel more comfortable learning about investments with others. Some clubs let you invest as little as, say, $50 a month. Investment clubs do have hidden risks that can hurt your profits. That’s because investment clubs make decisions by committee, where responsibility for mistakes is diffused. When committees make mistakes, they sometimes make big ones....

FedEx Corp., New York symbol FDX, delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 countries and territories. FedEx is one of the stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that offers stock market recommendations for the U.S. markets. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2011, FedEx’s revenue rose 13.2%, to $39.3 billion from $34.7 billion in 2010. The company earned $1.45 billion, or $4.57 a share, up 22.6% from $1.2 billion, or $3.76 a share. If you exclude unusual items, FedEx earned $4.90 a share in 2011. That matched the consensus estimate....

How you can make winning stock picks with our TSINetwork ratings We display our ratings next to every stock we recommend in our newsletters

Leon’s Furniture Ltd., symbol LNF on Toronto, has built its chain of over 69 furniture stores in Canada on its four main strengths: a huge selection of furniture, appliances and electronics; a lowest-price guarantee; strong after-sales service; and aggressive TV, radio and print advertising. We analyze Leon’s in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that recommends stocks that may be appropriate for your aggressive portfolio. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Leon’s sales fell 6.0 %, to $191.6 million from $203.8 million a year earlier. Weaker consumer spending and a drop in new-housing starts held back sales. The aggressive portfolio stock’s earnings fell 14.0%, to $9.8 million, or $0.14 a share, from $11.4 million, or $0.16 a share. The slower sales were the main reason for the earnings decline. The company also spent more on advertising....