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As stock markets have pulled back from their recent highs, you may have wondered about using stop-loss orders to protect your profits. However, before you try this approach, you should keep in mind that stop-loss orders have a number of risks that can cost you money. Read on and we’ll take you inside this investing strategy, and point out some of the dangers that stop-loss orders can expose you to. We also give you some simple, easy-to-implement stock trading advice that offers a far better way of protecting—and growing—your profits....

American Express Co., New York symbol AXP, gets most of its revenue from the fees it charges merchants when consumers use its credit and charge cards. It also provides travel-agency services. American Express is one of the blue chip stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. stock markets. The company continues to set aside less money to cover bad loans as more of its cardholders pay their bills on time....

One of the key issues we examine in this new stock market investing report is how to decide whether you should invest through a full service stock broker

ACI Worldwide, symbol ACIW on Nasdaq, makes software used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments.

We analyze ACI in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that recommends investments for the aggressive part of your stock portfolio.

In March 2011, ACI bought ICD Corp....

The main benefit of annuities is that they offer stable, predictable income. That may make them suitable for part of your assets, depending on your age and investment experience.

Aastra Technologies, symbol AAH on Toronto, develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centred around business telephone systems, and includes products that integrate land lines and mobile phones. Aastra is one of the companies we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that recommends stocks that may be appropriate for your aggressive portfolio. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Aastra’s sales rose 2.2%, to $174.1 million from $170.3 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because the euro and Swiss franc rose against the Canadian dollar (the company gets three-quarters of its sales from Europe.)...

Hidden value is one of the key factors we look for when we’re looking for winning stock picks to recommend in our investment advisories, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. markets. By hidden value, we mean valuable assets that are not getting the attention they deserve from investors. Here’s how that can translate into making winning stock picks: When a company’s assets are wholly or partially hidden, the stock trades for less than it’s really worth, so you get to buy at a bargain price....

I hope you are enjoying and profiting from our free TSI Network daily updates. Our dailies aim to educate you on the best practices in investing. They cover a range of investment topics—from how to make the best value stock picks to gold investing and capital gains tax—and explain conservative investment strategies you can use to grow your wealth with less risk. ...

Genuine Parts Co., New York symbol GPC, distributes auto parts to over 4,800 independent stores in North America. The company also operates about 1,000 auto parts stores under the NAPA banner. Auto parts account for roughly 50% of its sales, and 52% of its earnings. The company also distributes industrial parts (33% of sales, 32% of earnings), office furniture (13%, 12%), and electrical equipment (4%, 3%). Genuine Parts’ exposure to a variety of businesses helps protect it from slowdowns in certain industries. Genuine is one of the companies we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter, our newsletter for U.S.A stock market investing. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Genuine Parts earned $151.8 million. That’s up 22.0% from $124.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 23.1%, to $0.96 from $0.78. That easily beat the consensus forecast of $0.89 a share. Sales rose 11.9%, to $3.2 billion from $2.8 billion. All of the company’s divisions reported higher sales, led by the electrical division, with a 28% rise....

When you learn more about stock market investment, you’ll realize there are two main ways a company can distribute its profits to shareholders. It can buy back its own shares, or it can pay dividends. Both dividends and buybacks pay off for investors. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. A company boosts its per-share profit by buying back its shares back, because profits get divided among fewer shares.
2. Boosting per-share profits can also push up share prices. Plus, buybacks let you defer taxes on those capital gains. That’s because you only pay capital-gains taxes when you sell. What’s more, you’ll pay tax at half the rate on capital gains than you would on ordinary income. And you can offset capital gains with capital losses.
3. Dividends have tax advantages. You’ll pay tax on dividends in the year you get them, if you hold the shares outside your RRSP. However, dividends on Canadian companies receive favourable tax treatment in Canada, thanks to the dividend tax credit.

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Yum! Brands Inc., New York symbol YUM, operates 38,000 fast-food restaurants in over 110 countries. Its main banners include KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Yum is also a leader in investing in China. It was the first fast-food company to enter the country, in 1987. We analyze Yum in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. markets. In the three months ended June 11, 2011, Yum’s revenue rose 9.4%, to $2.8 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings rose 10.5%, to $316 million, or $0.65 a share, from $286 million, or $0.59 a share. Excluding unusual items, mostly gains and losses on sales of restaurants to franchisees, earnings per share would have risen 13.8%, to $0.66 from $0.58. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.61 a share....

The federal government’s tax on income-trust distributions has now been in effect for a little more than six months, since January 1, 2011. However, Ottawa feels the income-trust business structure is still appropriate for real estate investment trusts (REITs), so it has exempted REITs from the new tax. That’s great news for Canadian income seekers. What’s more, as we predicted in our Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter, most REITs have moved up in the past year—including our recommendations. That’s because REITs’ high yields have attracted a lot of investor attention as trusts converted to corporations, or cut their distributions in response to the new tax....

Bellatrix Exploration, symbol BXE on Toronto, produces oil and natural gas in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Gas makes up about 62% of its output; the remaining 38% is oil. Bellatrix is one of the natural gas stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, the natural gas stock’s production fell 2.9%, to 11,783 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) from 12,141 barrels. However, the decline was mostly due to wet weather conditions....

Apple Inc., symbol AAPL on Nasdaq, makes computers and a wide range of electronic devices, including the iPhone and iPad tablet computer.

Apple is one of the tech stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in U.S....

Demand for medical devices and supplies will undoubtedly continue to grow as the population ages. Companies in this fast-changing field make a wide range of products, from wheelchairs to syringes and surgical instruments. Some medical-equipment firms are large and well-established, like Baxter International (symbol BAX on New York), one of the stocks we cover in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Baxter gets most of its sales from its Medical Products division, which makes intravenous pumps, syringes and kidney-dialysis equipment. Overall, the company has over $12.8 billion U.S. in annual sales. It also has a long history of paying dividends....

International Business Machines Corp., symbol IBM on New York, is the world’s biggest computer company. In the past few years, IBM has shifted its focus from making computers to designing computer systems and managing them on behalf of clients. We analyze IBM in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that gives you stock trading information and advice on U.S. companies. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, IBM earned $3.7 billion. That’s up 8.2% from $3.4 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 14.9%, to $3.00 from $2.61, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, mainly costs to integrate acquisitions, IBM’s earnings per share rose 17.9%, to $3.09 from $2.62. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $3.03 a share....

Investors sometimes ask us whether they should buy stocks “on margin.” That is, whether they should borrow money from their broker to buy securities.

(When you become a member of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle, you get to ask me and my team of investment experts anything about your investments—from portfolio management strategies to questions about individual stocks....

Alimentation Couche-Tard, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,500 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. Couche-Tard sells fuel at over 68% of its stores. We analyze Couche-Tard in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that gives you Canadian stock tips for the part of your aggressive investing. In the three months ended April 24, 2011, earnings excluding one-time items rose 19.0%, to $64.0 million, or $0.35 a share. A year earlier, Couche-Tard earned $53.8 million, or $0.30 a share (all figures except share prices in U.S. dollars). The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.30 a share....

J.C. Penney Co. Inc., symbol JCP on New York, operates more than 1,100 department stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It also sells its goods over the Internet.

J.C....

We’ve long relied on these 3 Canadian investing tips when picking stocks to recommend in our investment services and newsletters, including our flagship publication, The Successful Investor. We think they can help you earn higher Canadian investing profits, too.

• Canadian investing tip #1: Patience is crucial: Resist the ever-present urge to buy and sell. A sound portfolio, built through careful research, needs surprisingly few changes over the years. Trading less frequently is a good thing, because it gives you fewer occasions to make costly mistakes.
• Canadian investing tip #2: Stay away from automated stock-picking systems: Some investors use automated stock-picking systems to help them make investment decisions. These systems are typically marketed with impressive-looking performance records designed to make investors think they have strong track records.
  However, those records are typically derived by “back-testing” the program against past data. In other words, the promoters go back through old trading records and see what would have worked in the past....

AlarmForce Industries, symbol AF on Toronto, reported record quarterly revenue of $10.1 million in the three months ended April 30, 2011. That’s up 10.3% from $9.2 million a year earlier.

AlarmForce is one of the stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that helps you make hot stock picks for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing.

Earnings fell 9.2%, to $949,000, or $0.08 a share, from $1.0 million, or $0.09 a share....

When a company splits its shares, it is simply cutting itself up into a different number of pieces, without changing its fundamental value.

La-Z-Boy (symbol LZB on New York) makes upholstered reclining chairs and sofas. It also imports wooden furniture, such as tables and entertainment centres. The company sells its products through both large department stores and 304 La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery stores....

One of the things that investors of all ages fear is that their retirement investing won’t generate enough income once they’ve stopped working. Addressing this concern is often a high priority for many clients of our Successful Investor Wealth Management service. The best overall retirement investing plan is to start saving as early in your working career as possible, and to invest a steady or rising amount of money in the stock market every year. Following this plan, you automatically profit from dollar-cost averaging. You’ll automatically buy more shares when prices are low, and fewer shares when prices are high....

ConAgra Foods Inc., symbol CAG on New York, makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s Tomato Sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. The company’s consumer foods segment accounts for 63% of its sales, while the remaining 37% from its commercial foods business. ConAgra is one of the companies we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that helps you spot the top stock picks in the U.S. markets. Sales in the fiscal year ended May 29, 2011 rose 2.4%, to $12.3 billion from $12.0 billion in 2010. Revenue for the consumer food segment increased by 0.8%, as lower volumes offset higher selling prices for cooking oil, frozen foods and snacks. Sales of commercial foods rose 5.5%, mainly because the company increased prices for its flour in response to rising wheat costs....