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Alliant Energy Corp., symbol LNT on New York, sells electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. Alliant is one of the stock trading picks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Alliant’s earnings rose 45.5%, to $73.5 million, or $0.68 a share. It earned $50.5 million, or $0.45 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude one-time items, such as a writedown of a proposed wind farm development. Favourable rulings by government regulators on pricing, recovery of fuel expenses and tax credits were the main reason behind the higher earnings....

You’ll often hear that investors spend more time choosing the options on a new car than they do picking investments. That’s undoubtedly true of some.

The Churchill Corp., symbol CUQ on Toronto, sells construction, general-contracting, maintenance, insulation, fireproofing, electrical and power-line construction services. Its clients are in the resource, industrial, utility and power-generation industries. Churchill has customers throughout western Canada. We analyze Churchill in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for investing in stocks that are more aggressive. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Churchill’s revenue rose 67.0%, to $304.7 million from $182.5 million a year earlier. The rise was mainly due to Seacliff Construction, which Churchill bought for $380 million in May 2010. Seacliff sells general contracting, electrical-contracting and earth-moving services. Like Churchill, Seacliff mostly operates in western Canada....

Today’s popular investment themes include green energy stocks, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, and emerging markets, such as China and India.

RuggedCom Inc., symbol RCM on Toronto, makes computer networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. The stock pick’s products include ethernet switches, network routers, wireless devices and software. RuggedCom’s products are designed to reliably operate under high levels of electromagnetic interference. They can also cope with wide variations in temperature and humidity, as well as vibration and exposure to dust. They also work while exposed to such things as corrosive gases and water. The stock pick’s revenue jumped 38.0% in the three months ended March 31, 2011, to $26.7 million from $20.6 million a year earlier. Sales to clients in the electric-power market jumped 65%, and now account for 71% of the stock pick’s total sales....

When you subscribe to The Successful Investor, our flagship publication, you get access to three high-quality portfolios we’ve built to help you find the best investments for long-term profits. We update all three regularly, and keep them under constant review. (In the latest issue of The Successful Investor, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on Linamar Corp., symbol LNR on Toronto, a stock we include in our Portfolio for Aggressive Growth. Read on for further details.) ...

Agilent Technologies Inc., symbol A on New York, makes testing systems that improve electronic products, such as cellphones and networking equipment. In May 2010, Agilent bought Varian Inc. for $1.5 billion. Varian makes a wide range of medical and drug-testing equipment, such as mass spectrometers that detect and measure substances in the blood and other samples. Medical-equipment demand is less cyclical than testing products, so this move cuts the tech stock’s risk. Thanks to Varian, Agilent earned $200.0 million, or $0.56 a share, in the three months ended April 30, 2011. That’s up 85.2% from $108.0 million, or $0.31 a share, a year earlier. These figures include restructuring costs and expenses related to integrating Varian. The tech stock’s revenue jumped 31.9%, to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion. The company spends around 10% of its revenue on research and development....

High-quality foreign stocks are a great way to diversify your portfolio. Moreover, many fast-growing markets, like China and India, have positive outlooks. That’s because their people are generally younger than North Americans, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class. Even so, investing in India and other overseas markets remains riskier than investing in North America. That’s because many emerging countries have language barriers, weak investor-protection laws, less commitment to openness, fairness and so on. ...

Trilogy Energy Corp., symbol TET on Toronto, owns oil and gas properties in the Kaybob and Grande Prairie areas of central Alberta. About 78% of Trilogy’s production is natural gas. The remaining 22% is oil. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Trilogy produced an average of 25,362 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas). That was up 9.9% from 23,079 barrels a day a year earlier. However, the natural gas stock’s cash flow per share fell 13.3%, to $0.39 from $0.45 a year earlier, mostly due to lower gas prices. Still, the company continues to bring new wells into production. Its daily production should jump to an average of 30,000 barrels for 2011....

With today’s low interest rates, investors are paying more attention to dividend yields (a company’s total annual dividends paid per share divided by the current stock price). The best Canadian dividend stocks are responding by doing their best to maintain, or even increase, their payouts. That’s great news for Canadian investors. That’s because dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. More important, a dividend is a sign of investment quality. After all, dividends are impossible to fake — either the company has the cash to pay dividends or it doesn’t. What’s more, dividends can now contribute up to a third of your long-term investment return, without even considering the benefits of the dividend tax credit....

Calian Technologies, symbol CTY on Toronto, operates in two areas: the business and technology services division, which accounts for 74% of Calian’s revenue, provides engineers, health-care workers and other skilled professionals to clients on a contract basis. The small cap stock’s systems-engineering division contributes the remaining 26% of revenue, and sells hardware and software that is used for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communications systems. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the small cap stock’s revenue rose 11.9%, to $59.4 million from $53.1 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 6.5%, to $3.3 million from $3.1 million. Earnings per share rose 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40, on more shares outstanding. Calian earned higher profit margins on the business and technology service division’s contracts. That pushed up the company’s overall earnings. The strong Canadian dollar held back the systems-engineering division’s earnings....

Silver has fallen sharply from its all-time high of $48.70 U.S. an ounce, where it closed on April 28, 2011. Silver now trades at $36.80 U.S. an ounce. That’s up 106.2% from $17.87 U.S. an ounce a year ago. Silver could well regain its high and move up even further over the longer term, although it will likely remain volatile. Higher prices would arise from investor fears that inflation or global political and economic uncertainty will weaken key currencies, such as the U.S. dollar. ...

Campbell Soup Co., symbol CPB on New York, is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Prego canned pasta and sauces, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. In the three months ended May 1, 2011, the large cap stock’s earnings rose 11.3%, to $187 million from $168 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 16.3%, to $0.57 from $0.49, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus earnings estimate of $0.52 a share. If you exclude one-time charges in the year-earlier period related to a restructuring and changes in the new U.S. health-care law, earnings per share would have risen 5.6%. Revenue rose just 0.6%, to $1.81 billion from $1.80 billion. Sales at the large cap stock’s U.S. Soups, Sauces and Beverages division (43% of total revenue) fell 8%. That’s mainly because the company raised its prices to offset higher ingredient costs. This business is also facing stronger competition from other ready-to-eat foods, such as frozen pizza....

You pay commissions each time you buy or sell stock options. Commissions eat up a large part of any stock option investing profits you make

Aeropostale Inc., symbol ARO on New York, is a mall-based retailer of casual clothing and accessories. The company has 974 Aeropostale stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. It mainly sells its clothing to 14-to-17-year-olds. Aeropostale’s 57 “P.S. from Aeropostale” stores in the U.S. are aimed at seven-to-12-year-old elementary-school children. We analyze Aeropostale in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive stock trading. In the three months ended April 30, 2011, Aeropostale’s sales rose 1.2%, to $469.2 million from $463.6 million. Same-store sales declined 7%, compared with an increase of 8% a year earlier. Sales from the company’s e-commerce business jumped 18.5%, to $28.2 million from $23.8 million....

When you own a stock that’s being taken over, our investment advice is that it generally pays to hang on and wait for the deal to go through, then submit your shares to whoever’s making the takeover bid. Selling early will cost you money in the long run. Weeks before a takeover is announced, speculators usually buy the stock on rumours, and drive up its price. (Mind you, speculators also drive up prices of stocks that are falsely rumoured to be takeover candidates.) ...

DUNDEE REIT, symbol D.UN on Toronto, owns and manages 14.7 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space, including 88 office buildings and 49 industrial properties. The real estate investment trust’s occupancy rate is 96.1%. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Dundee’s revenue rose 57.4%, to $91.0 million from $57.8 million a year earlier. Most of the rise came from properties the trust recently purchased. The best way to look at a real estate investment trust’s operating performance is to look at its cash flow, and Dundee’s cash flow rose 72.9% in the latest quarter, to $28.8 million from $16.6 million. Cash flow per unit rose just 1.9%, to $0.55 from $0.54, due to more units outstanding. (The trust issued new units to pay for the acquired properties.)...

ISHARES DEX UNIVERSE BOND INDEX FUND $29.98 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index. The 473 bonds in the portfolio have an average term to maturity of 9.02 years. The fund’s MER is 0.32%. The bonds in the index are 68.8% government and 31.2% corporate. The fund yields 3.8%, compared to the Short Term Bond Fund’s 3.2%. Its yield to maturity is 3.02%, 1.00% above the Short Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of holding long-term bonds....

The German government recently announced that it plans to shut down all of its nuclear reactors by 2022. Germany’s decision is the result of anti-nuclear sentiment in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which damaged the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Right now, nuclear reactors supply about a quarter of Germany’s electric power. It’s doubtful that the country can replace that with wind and solar. What’s more likely is that Germany will have to increase its already large imports of electricity from France, where nuclear already accounts for about 80% of electricity generation....

ISHARES DEX SHORT TERM BOND INDEX FUND $28.98 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index. This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 252 bonds with an average term to maturity of 2.73 years. The bonds in the index are 67.4% government and 32.6% corporate. The fund’s MER is 0.26%. iShares DEX Short Term Bond Index Fund yields 3.2%. However, this high yield is due to the fact that some of the fund’s bonds pay above-market interest rates. But as a result, they trade above their face value. When these bonds mature, holders will only get the bonds’ face value, which means the portfolio will incur predictable capital losses. These losses will offset some of the appeal of the above-market yields....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $34.01 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.mts.ca) gets 53% of its revenue from its MTS division, which mainly sells traditional and wireless telephone services to consumers in Manitoba. The remaining 47% comes from its Allstream division, which sells communication services to businesses across Canada. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Manitoba Telecom’s revenue fell slightly, to $439.3 million from $442 million a year earlier. The MTS division’s revenue rose 3%. Allstream’s revenue fell 4.5%, mostly because it is closing less-profitable businesses. Earnings per share jumped 59.5%, to $0.67 from $0.42. The gains came from cost-saving measures, including layoffs. More important, its restructured Allstream division is showing improved results....

ABB LTD. ADRs, New York symbol ABB, manufactures transformers, transmission switches and other equipment for distributing electricity. It also makes automation systems and robotics that increase the productivity of manufacturing plants. Switzerland-based ABB has clients in a variety of industries. The company is one of the world stock market investments we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter The company earned $655 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011, up 41.2% from $464 million a year earlier. Earnings per ADR gained 45.0%, to $0.29 from $0.20, on fewer ADRs outstanding. (Each American Depositary Receipt represents one ABB common share.) Revenue rose 21.2% to $8.4 billion from $6.9 billion. Rising industrial development and higher commodity prices are prompting the company’s clients to increase their capacity and make their plants more efficient. These factors are pushing up demand for ABB’s products. Orders for new equipment rose 25% during the quarter. The company’s order backlog is now a record $29.3 billion....

We’ve long recommended that all Canadian investors own shares of two or more of the big-five Canadian banks. That’s mainly because of the banks’ importance to Canada’s economy. However, each of the big five banks have different objectives, so they’re not all suitable for every investor. ...

Breakwater Resources, symbol BWR on Toronto, mainly produces zinc. The Canadian mining stocks operations include the Myra Falls mine in B.C., the Mochito mine in Honduras and the Toqui mine in Chile. Work is on schedule to restart the Langlois Mine in Quebec in the first quarter of 2012. We analyze Breakwater in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Breakwater earned $30.8 million, or $0.39 a share. Of this, $19.0 million, or $0.24 a share, was from an income-tax recovery. In the first quarter of 2010, the company earned $24.9 million, or $0.36 a share....

H&R BLOCK INC. $16 (New York symbol HRB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 305.3 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.hrblock.com) is the world’s largest provider of income-tax-preparation services. H&R Block’s U.S. offices prepared 20.8 million tax returns between November 1, 2010 and April 18, 2011. That’s up 6.1% from 19.6 million for the same period a year earlier. Most of this growth came from a 26.8% jump in returns processed over the Internet. However, the average fee per return fell 3.3%. The stock has gained over 40% since the start of 2011, but it has fallen lately due to H&R Block’s involvement with subprime mortgages. Even though it shut down its Option One mortgage business in December 2007, holders of bonds backed by Option One’s mortgages now aim to force H&R Block to buy back these securities. The cost would likely be much higher than the company’s $4.9-billion market cap. Still, it will likely take years to settle these claims....