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QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. $45 (New York symbol KWR; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 11.5 million; Market cap: $517.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.quakerchem.com) makes lubricants and chemicals that keep mechanical parts from corroding. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Quaker’s earnings rose 12.5%, to $10.9 million from $9.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 8.3%, to $0.91 from $0.84, on more shares outstanding. Sales rose 24.6%, to $159.9 million from $128.3 million. The company needs oil to make its products, so it has raised its selling prices to offset rising oil costs. This was the main reason for the higher sales. Sales volumes also rose 16%, partly due to an acquisition. Even so, higher raw material costs cut Quaker’s gross margin (gross profits as a percentage of sales) to 33.0% from 36.9%....

Texas Instruments Inc. (symbol TXN on New York) makes chips for a wide variety of electronic devices, including cell phones, DVD players, digital cameras and handheld calculators. The company’s chips are also used in other products ranging from weapons-guidance systems to kidney-dialysis machines. We analyze Texas Instruments in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in stocks in the U.S. market. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, earnings rose 1.2% to $666 million or $0.55 a share. A year earlier the company earned $658 million or $0.52 a share. The Japanese earthquake cut production at two of its factories. Earnings per share were reduced by about $0.02 because of costs associated with the earthquake. One factory is expected to resume full production shortly, and the other in July....

If you subscribe to Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that recommends U.S.A. stock market picks, you’ll want to take a very close look at the current issue. In it, we reveal the names of 6 stocks you should sell right away—and avoid the potential for big losses. This is crucial investment advice you simply can’t afford to miss. (Note: if you are a current Wall Street Stock Forecaster subscriber or Inner Circle member, click here to view the latest issue, which contains these 6 sell recommendations. Be sure to log in first.)...

TENNANT CORP. $41 (New York symbol TNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 19.1 million; Market cap: $783.1 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tennantco.com) makes industrial floor-cleaning equipment, including scrubbers, sweepers and polishers. It also makes cleaning equipment for garages, stadiums, parking lots and city streets. Tennant’s clients are mainly businesses and municipal governments. Tennant continues to see strong demand for its “ec-H2O” floor-scrubbing machine, which uses electricity to make tap water act like a detergent. That eliminates the need for soaps and cleaning agents, and lowers the machine’s operating costs. Strong demand for the ec-H2O is the main reason why Tennant earned $5.9 million, or $0.30 a share, in the three months ended March 31, 2011. That’s up 43.4% from $4.1 million, or $0.21 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 15.0%, to $172.6 million from $150.1 million....

BRIGGS & STRATTON CORP. $23 (New York symbol BGG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 50.3 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.briggsandstratton.com) is the world’s largest lawnmower engine maker. This business accounts for 62% of Briggs’sales. It gets the remaining 38% of its sales by making other home and garden equipment, such as generators, pressure washers and snow blowers. The weak U.S. economy has weighed on Briggs’ sales. In response, the company recently closed a plant in Wisconsin. Due to $4.6 million in restructuring and refinancing charges, Briggs lost $1.3 million, or $0.03 a share, in its second quarter, which ended December 26, 2010. A year earlier, it earned $3.0 million, or $0.06 a share. Sales rose 14.6%, to $450.3 million from $393.0 million. The company sold more engines to European and Asian manufacturers. It also sold more snow blowers, lawn mowers and pressure washers....

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $63 (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.3 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) makes over 34,000 unique compounds that improve the taste of foods and the smell of a wide variety of consumer products. It has 31 plants in 14 countries. Major clients include Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Kraft, Unilever and General Mills. In 2010, the company’s Fragrances business accounted for 54% of its sales, and 49% of its earnings. These products are found in such items soaps, detergents and air fresheners. The remaining 46% of IFF’s sales and 51% of its earnings came from its Flavors division. These products are used in soft drinks, candies, baked goods and alcoholic drinks....

Apple Inc., symbol AAPL on Nasdaq, makes computers and a variety of other electronic devices. Portable devices, such as the iPod music player, the iPhone smartphone and the iPad tablet computer, dominate Apple’s overall sales. Users of these products also buy music, movie and video-game downloads at the tech stock’s iTunes online store. In its second quarter, which ended March 26, 2011, Apple’s earnings rose 94.8%, to $6.0 billion, or $6.40 a share. That easily beat the consensus estimate of $5.38 a share. The company earned $3.1 billion, or $3.33 a share, a year earlier. The tech stock’s sales jumped 82.7%, to $24.7 billion from $13.5 billion. Sales outside the U.S. accounted for 59% of the total. During the quarter, the company sold 18.6 million iPhone smartphones (up 113.1%) and 3.8 million Mac computers (up 27.8%). Sales of the tech stocks iPod music players fell 17.2%, to 9.0 million units. However, that’s because many iPod users are upgrading to the iPhone, which also plays music and videos....

In the April 21, 2011, Successful Investor Email/Telephone Hotline, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on grocery retailer Metro Inc. (symbol MRU.A on Toronto).

Inside this growth stock’s evolution from an aggressive to a conservative pick

Metro is a good example of a stock that has graduated from Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investors, to The Successful Investor, which focuses on more conservative selections....

Yum! Brands Inc., symbol YUM on New York, operates nearly 38,000 fast-food restaurants in over 110 countries. Its main banners include KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Yum has announced it will sell its Long John Silver’s (seafood) and its A&W (burgers) chains. You can get our full analysis, including our clear stock advice, on Yum in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 19, 2011, Yum’s sales rose 3.4%, to $2.43 billion from $2.35 billion a year earlier. Overall sales rose 28% in China, where same-store sales rose 13%. Yum also opened 92 new restaurants there. The international division, which excludes China, opened 131 new restaurants....

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 investment advice, including how to use financial ratios. 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 we use financial ratios to spot bargain stocks.” If you want to shop for bargain stocks, it’s best to focus on shares of high-quality companies that have a history of sales and earnings, plus a strong hold on a growing clientele....

International Business Machines Corp., symbol IBM on New York, reported higher-than-expected earnings in the latest quarter. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the large cap stock’s earnings rose 10.1%, to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 17.3%, to $2.31 from $1.97, on fewer shares outstanding. Excluding one-time items, such as costs related to acquisitions, IBM earned $2.41 a share. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $2.29. Revenue rose 7.7%, to $24.6 billion from $22.9 billion a year earlier. That was higher than the consensus revenue estimate of $24.0 billion. Revenue from Brazil, Russia, India and China (which together account for 21% of IBM’s overall revenue), jumped 26%. The company is also seeing strong demand for its new System Z mainframe computer....

Canadians can still get rich as employees—ask any Canadian bank president. However, high-paying jobs are hard to find. Most corporate structures are pyramid-shaped, with a few high-paying positions at the top and many lower-paying jobs down below. Your best chance of getting rich is by investing money in your own business. But this is risky, because many new businesses wind up failing. As many as 80% go bankrupt or simply shut down in their first five years, according to surveys. Many owners of failed enterprises lose their life savings by investing money in their businesses, if not their homes and marriages.

3 reasons why new businesses fail

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Genuine Parts Co., symbol GPC on New York, distributes auto parts through more than 5,700 NAPA Auto Parts stores in the U.S. and 690 wholesalers in Canada. The company also distributes industrial parts, office furniture, and electrical equipment. We analyze Genuine Parts in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that helps you find the best stocks in the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Genuine Parts earned $126.5 million. That’s up 25.7% from $100.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 27.0% to $0.80 from $0.63, on fewer shares outstanding....

We hardly ever recommend buying new issues when they are first sold to the public, and often stay away from them for months, if not years, afterward. That’s because new issues often come to market when it’s a good time for the company and/or its insiders to sell, but that’s not necessarily a good time for you to buy. Spinoffs are in many ways the opposite of new issues. Companies often do spinoffs when they feel it isn’t a good time to sell. Instead, they choose to hand out shares of the new firm to their shareholders. That often results in buying opportunities in undervalued stocks. (In a just-published issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. markets, we update our buy/sell/hold advice on a spinoff whose shares have soared 79% for us since September 2010. See below for further details on this potentially undervalued stock’s outlook.)...

Intuitive Surgical, symbol ISRG on Nasdaq, makes the “da Vinci,” a computerized surgical system. Intuitive trades at a high price per share, but you can buy as few as you wish through any broker. You can get our stock advice on Intuitive and other aggressive picks in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. Guided by a miniature camera connected to a 3-D monitor, surgeons use the da Vinci to operate by remotely manipulating tiny robotic arms. This is safer and far less invasive than regular surgery. It reduces the patient’s recovery time, post-operative discomfort, scarring and infection risk....

Today, many investors might not immediately recognize the name of master investor John Templeton. In the final quarter of the last century, however, Templeton was as famous and highly regarded as Warren Buffett is today.

Templeton ignored negative predictions and focused his investing strategy on value

Templeton got his start as an investor during the 1930s Depression. At the time, he felt investors were way more pessimistic than the facts warranted. Instead of dwelling on negative predictions, Templeton focused his investing strategy on the low p/e ratios, high dividend yields and other value indicators he saw in the market. In 1939, Templeton famously ordered his broker to buy 100 shares of every New York Stock Exchange stock that traded for less than $1....

TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $15 (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.0 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.transcontinental.com) is the largest commercial printer in Canada and Mexico, and the fourth-largest in North America. It also publishes newspapers and magazines. Transcontinental also has over 250 web sites. These web sites will become more important to its growth in the next few years, as advertisers spend more on the Internet than print products. In the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended January 31, 2011, Transcontinental earned $29.9 million, or $0.37 a share. That’s up 10.3% from $27.1 million, or $0.34 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude writedowns and other non-recurring items. Revenue rose 3.6%, to $530.1 million from $511.6 million....

Supervalu Inc., New York symbol SVU operates 2,394 company-owned and franchised supermarkets. The Wall Street stock’s major banners include Save-A-Lot, Albertsons and Jewel-Osco. Supervalu gets 77% of its revenue from its retail stores. It gets the remaining 23% by supplying food to 1,900 independent grocery stores. The company continues to focus on its core business of food retailing, and has stopped selling other items, such as automotive goods and perfumes, in its stores. In its fiscal 2011 ended February 26, 2011, the Wall Street stock’s sales fell 7.5%, to $37.5 billion from $40.6 billion in fiscal 2010. Same-store sales fell 6.0%. The company closed underperforming stores, and was forced to cut its prices due to stronger competition from discount retailers, including Wal-Mart, which is selling more groceries in its stores....

If you subscribe to Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that recommends stocks for your aggressive portfolio, you’ll want to take a very close look at the current issue. In it, we reveal the names of 12 stocks you should sell right away—and avoid the potential for big losses. (Note: if you are a current Stock Pickers Digest subscriber or Inner Circle member, click here to view the latest issue, which contains these 12 sell recommendations. Be sure to log in first.) If you’re a long-time subscriber to one or more of our newsletters, you likely know that we downplay market-timing and stock-price predictions in the advice we give you. Instead, we focus on investment quality. This includes the stocks for your aggressive portfolio that we recommend in Stock Pickers Digest....

TORSTAR CORP. $15 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 79.1 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.torstar.com) publishes The Toronto Star, which is Canada’s largest daily newspaper by circulation. The company also publishes three other daily newspapers and over 100 weeklies, mainly in southern Ontario. Newspapers account for about 70% of Torstar’s revenue, and 60% of its earnings. The company’s other main business is wholly owned Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., the world’s leading publisher of romance novels. Torstar recently received $291.6 million from the sale of its 20% stake in CTVglobemedia to BCE Inc. (Toronto symbol BCE). This business owns CTV Television and other broadcasting businesses....

Alcoa Inc., symbol AA on New York, is one of the world’s largest aluminum producers. The U.S. stock’s customers are mainly in the aerospace, automotive, construction and beverage industries. Alcoa operates in 31 countries. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the U.S. stock’s sales rose 21.9 %, to $6.0 billion from $4.9 billion a year earlier. Even so, the latest sales fell short of the consensus estimate of $6.1 billion. Alcoa earned $309 million, or $0.27 a share. If you exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate firms Alcoa recently bought, it would have earned $0.28 a share. On that basis, the U.S. stock’s latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.27 a share. A year earlier, Alcoa lost $194 million, or $0.19 a share....

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 investment advice. 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 to invest in the stock market with less risk” Many people come up with unrealistic answers to the question of how much risk is right for them. For instance, when they’re young and just starting out, many investors decide to move away from a conservative investment strategy and speculate. They expect to build a small portfolio into a big one in a hurry, then shift their money into boring, but more dependable investments. Key points to remember:...

Reitmans (Canada) Ltd., symbol RET.A on Toronto, owns 968 women’s clothing stores across Canada. We analyze Reitmans in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing in today’s stock market. These include 364 Reitmans, 161 Penningtons, 158 Smart Set, 121 Addition Elle, 75 Thyme Maternity, 67 RW & Co. and 22 Cassis stores. Reitmans continues to actively monitor its regional markets, and open and close stores as necessary....

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) resemble income trusts, but with a key difference: REITs invest in income-producing real estate, such as office buildings and hotels. High-quality real estate investment trusts can make attractive, lower-risk additions to your portfolio. Even so, we continue to advise against overindulging in REITs. But if you’re thinking of investing in some of Canada’s top REITs, here are 2 reasons why now is a great time to do so:...

TRANSCANADA CORP. $39 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 699.5 million; Market cap: $27.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) operates a 60,000-kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to eastern Canada and the U.S. TransCanada also owns, or has interests in, over 10,900 megawatts of power generation. That includes Bruce Power LP, a nuclear facility in Ontario, and the Ravenswood facility, which serves New York City. TransCanada has spent about $10 billion of the $20 billion it has set aside for new growth projects. It will spend the remaining $10 billion over the next two years. Its biggest project is the Keystone pipeline, which it is building in three phases. Keystone’s first phase is now pumping crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Illinois. The second phase will extend to Oklahoma, and should be ready in 2011. The third phase, called Keystone XL, will pump oil to refineries in Texas. U.S. environmentalists and politicians have criticized this project. Even so, TransCanada aims to finish Keystone XL by the end of 2013....