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WESTERN UNION CO. $21 (New York symbol WU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 632.3 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.westernunion.com) provides money-transfer and foreign-exchange services in over 200 countries. The company earned $210.2 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011, up 1.1% from $207.9 million a year earlier. Western Union spent $525.2 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 6.7%, to $0.32 from $0.30. Excluding costs related to the company’s restructuring, which mainly consisted of layoffs, it earned $0.35 in the latest quarter. Revenue rose 4.1%, to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion. Growth was strong in the Asia Pacific region, the Americas and much of Europe....

FirstService Corp., symbol FSV on Toronto, serves the following areas of the real-estate market: commercial real estate; residential property management; and property improvement. We analyze FirstService in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that gives you our aggressive stock market recommendations. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, FirstService’s revenue jumped 18.9%, to $478.4 million from $402.4 million a year earlier (all figures except share prices in U.S. dollars)....

In our view, your goal, particularly if you’re a conservative investor, is to make an attractive return on your investments over a period of years or decades.

Diebold Inc., symbol DBD on New York, is a leading maker of automated teller machines (ATMs). It also makes safes, vaults and building-security systems. Diebold recently raised its quarterly dividend by 3.7%, to $0.28 a share from $0.27. The dividend stock’s new annual rate of $1.12 yields 3.5%. The company has raised its dividend each year for the past 58 years. The company earned $2.5 million, or $0.04 a share, in the three months ended March 31, 2011. That’s down sharply from $24.9 million, or $0.37 a share, a year earlier. If you exclude costs related to the dividend stock’s restructuring and other one-time items, earnings per share fell 32.4%, to $0.23 from $0.34....

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $62 (Nasdaq symbol TROW; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 259.8 million; Market cap: $16.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.troweprice.com) sells mutual funds and wealth-management services. Rising stock markets have lifted the value of the assets that T. Rowe Price manages. On March 31, 2011, these assets were worth a record $509.9 billion, up from $482.0 billion at the end of 2010. The company’s fees vary with the value of these assets. That’s why its revenue rose 22.7% in the first three months of 2011, to $682.4 million from $556.2 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 27.2%, to $194.6 million, or $0.72 a share, from $153.0 million, or $0.57 a share....

PetSmart Inc., Nasdaq symbol PETM, operates 1,192 pet stores in the U.S. and Canada. It also has 184 in-store PetsHotel dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart is one of the stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for U.S.A. stock market investing. In its 2012 first quarter, which ended May 1, 2011, PetSmart’s earnings rose 27.5%, to $70.9 million from $55.6 million a year earlier. The company spent $102 million on share buybacks in the quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 32.6%, to $0.61 from $0.46. That easily beat the consensus earnings forecast of $0.49 a share....

Investors continue to be concerned about high debt levels in many European countries. That’s especially true of the so-called PIIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain). Portugal recently accepted a 78-billion euro ($107 billion Canadian) bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. That’s in addition to previous bailouts for Ireland (67 billion euros) and Greece (110 billion euros). Worries persist that Greece, in particular, may not be able to cut its spending enough to avoid defaulting on its debt. ...

Dorel Industries (Toronto symbol DII.B) makes a wide range of products, including ready-to-assemble home and office furniture; juvenile products, such as car seats, strollers, high chairs, toddler beds and cribs; home furnishings, including chairs, tables, bunk beds, futons and step stools; and recreational products, including bicycles. It has 4,700 employees, and plants in 19 countries. We analyze Dorel in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive stock market trading. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Dorel’s revenue rose 1.9% to $607.8 million from $596.3 million on higher home furnishing and recreation/leisure sales. (All figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars.)...

STATE STREET CORP. $45 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 504.0 million; Market cap: $22.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to large institutional investors, such as mutual funds and pension plans. State Street continues to benefit from rising stock markets. Its fee income rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it manages, so the company’s revenue and earnings benefit when the value of these assets rises. The company is also cutting its long-term costs with a new restructuring plan, which mainly involves cutting 1,400 jobs (or 5% of its workforce) and selling surplus real estate. The plan will cost State Street $400 million to $450 million over the next four years. However, it should lower its annual expenses by $575 million to $625 million by the end of 2014....

The improving U.S. economy is helping more consumers repay their loans on time. That’s pushing down loan losses at a number of U.S. banks, and improving their profits. However, the outlook for the U.S. banking industry remains uncertain. High unemployment continues to hurt demand for new loans, and the industry faces greater regulations in the wake of the financial crisis. ...

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $50 (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $60.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) 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. The company’s cardholders have above-average credit scores and income. As a result, most of them pay their bills on time. The improving economy is also pushing up its travel-related fees. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, American Express earned $1.2 billion, or $0.97 a share. That’s up 33.0% from $885 million, or $0.73 a share, a year earlier. The company continues to set aside less money to cover bad loans: its loan-loss provisions fell 89.7%, to $97 million from $943 million....

VISA INC. $78 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 830.1 million; Market cap: $64.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.5; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest retail electronic-payments network. The company processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. The stock fell to $67 in December 2010 after the U.S. Federal Reserve proposed new limits on fees banks can charge for debit-card transactions. Visa gets about 20% of its revenue from debit-card transactions in the U.S. Regulators now aim to make a final ruling on these fees by July 21, 2011. However, a new bill in the U.S. Senate would delay any changes to the current system for two years....

CHEVRON CORP. $103 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $206.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S., after ExxonMobil Corp....

Macy’s Inc., New York symbol M, operates 850 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores in 45 states. It also sells goods over the Internet. Macy’s is one of the companies we cover in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for U.S. stock market investing. In its 2012 first quarter, which ended April 30, 2011, the company’s earnings jumped 233.3%, to $0.30 a share from $0.09 a year earlier. That easily beat the consensus earnings estimate of $0.18 a share....

Zhongpin Inc., symbol HOGS on Nasdaq, is a China-based company that processes meat and other foods. Zhongpin specializes in pork and pork products, as well as fruit and vegetables. It sells 358 meat products, including chilled pork, frozen pork and prepared meats, as well as 34 fruit and vegetable products. Zhongpin focuses on prepared meat, with its higher profit margins, rather than bulk pork. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the stock pick’s revenue jumped 39.9%, to $285.8 million from $204.3 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 27.1%, to $16.9 million from $13.3 million. Earnings per share rose 23.7%, to $0.47 from $0.38, on more shares outstanding. That beat the consensus earnings forecast of $0.45....

These days, many investors who are approaching retirement worry that their retirement investing won’t generate enough income once they’ve stopped working. We recommend that you base your retirement planning on a sound financial plan. Here are the 4 key variables that your plan should address to ensure that your retirement investing generates enough income in retirement:

1. How much you expect to save prior to retirement;
2. The return you expect on your savings;
3. How much of that return you’ll have left after taxes;
4. How much retirement income you’ll need once you’ve left the workforce.

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Baxter International Inc., New York symbol BAX, has two divisions: Medical Products (57% of sales) makes intravenous pumps, syringes and kidney-dialysis equipment; and BioScience (43%) makes vaccines and drugs. Overseas markets account for 60% of its sales. As well, about half of Baxter’s sales are single-use medical products that hospitals and clinics must continually reorder. Baxter’s sales in the first quarter of 2011 rose 12.2%, to $3.3 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier. The company is seeing strong demand for intravenous and nutritional therapies. Demand for injectable drugs is also rising....

Companies in the highly competitive and fickle fast-food market are always looking for new ways to grow. Sometimes this involves introducing new products to try to take advantage of changing customer tastes. For instance, yesterday Yum! Brands (symbol YUM on New York) announced that it will reintroduce its KFC “Double Down” sandwich in Canada on June 1. The Double Down clearly aims to, shall we say, “press the buttons” of those who disapprove of fast food and the North American diet. Instead of bread or a bun, the Double Down uses two slices of breaded, deep-fried chicken filets, stuffed with bacon and processed cheese, and drowned in a “secret sauce.” ...

Russel Metals, symbol RUS on Toronto, is one of North America’s largest metal distribution companies. Russel has three divisions: metals service centres (55% of sales) sells carbon steel and non-ferrous metals; energy tubular products (34%) sells tubular products to the energy industry in Western Canada and the U.S.; and steel distributors (11%) sells steel in large volumes, mainly to other metals distributors and original equipment manufacturers in Canada and the U.S. The Canadian dividend stock’s quarterly payout is $0.274 a share. That gives the shares a 4.5% yield on an annualized basis. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Russel earned $33 million, or $0.55 a share. That’s up sharply from $9.1 million, or $0.15 a share, a year earlier....

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: “What you must know about short selling stocks” Attractive opportunities for short selling come along from time to time, but it’s a hard way to make money. That’s because short sellers face a number of unique disadvantages that don’t apply to buyers....

Symantec Corp., symbol SYMC on Nasdaq, sells Internet security technology, including anti-virus and Internet content and email filtering software, to businesses and consumers. Symantec is one of the stocks we cover in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that covers more aggressive stock market recommendations. In the three months ended April 1, 2011, Symantec’s earnings fell 8.0%, to $297 million from $323 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 5.0%, to $0.38 from $0.40, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude several unusual items, including asset writedowns and restructuring costs. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.36 a share....

We continue to advise against overindulging in oil stocks. That’s because the Resource sector (including oil) is highly volatile, and no one can accurately predict future oil prices. For instance, after rising to $115 U.S. a barrel, oil dropped 16% in the first week of May 2011, to $97 U.S., on fears that the global economic recovery may be stalling. That’s why investors should stick with well-established oil stocks with high-quality reserves and rising production. ...

Broadridge Financial Services Inc., symbol BR on New York, serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. It mails and processes 66% of all proxy votes. The company earned $32.6 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011. That’s up 5.8% from $30.8 million a year earlier. The stock pick’s earnings per share rose 13.6%, to $0.25 from $0.22, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.20 a share. Revenue rose 7.4%, to $527.1 million from $490.8 million. That also beat the consensus revenue estimate of $521.0 million. The stock pick’s acquisitions were the main reasons for these gains: In December 2010, it paid $19.5 million for Forefield Inc., which makes web-based software that allows financial advisors to deliver educational and marketing materials to clients. In January 2011, Broadridge paid $201 million for Matrix Financial Solutions Inc., which processes trades and provides administrative services to mutual funds....

Owning your primary residence can be a great financial deal. Mortgage payments amount to forced savings, a home is an inflation hedge, and capital gains are tax-free. However, you can easily fritter away your Canadian real estate investing gains by excessive upgrading, or frequent moving. Here are 4 reasons why:

1. Neighbourhoods limit home prices: Suppose nearby homes sell for $350,000 to $400,000. You spend $60,000 on your $375,000 home. Your new deck, furnace, etc. only raise your home’s value by $25,000, to the area’s top price of $400,000. As well, your renovations may not appeal to all buyers. For example, they may be more interested in room and lot size, the home’s layout or other factors.
2. Additions have limited appeal: A new second floor or extra room may suit your needs, but will likely raise your home’s value by only half the cost of the extra room or floor. Additions are more costly and less functional than original construction, and buyers may have different needs than you.

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Intel Corp., symbol INTC on Nasdaq, is the world’s leading computer-chip maker. For the first quarter of 2011, the company reported record revenue of $12.9 billion. That’s up 25.0% from $10.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Two acquisitions in the 2011 quarter contributed $496 million to revenue. The tech stock’s earnings jumped 33.8%, to $3.3 billion, or $0.59 per share, from $2.5 billion, or $0.43 a share. Intel saw strong demand in all product lines and all markets around the world. Revenue for the tech stock’s PC Client Group (microprocessors and motherboards for notebooks, desktop computers, and wireless connectivity products) rose 17%. The Data Center Group (microprocessors and motherboards for servers, workstations, storage and wired network connectivity products) gained 32%. The Other Intel Architecture Group (components for phones, embedded applications, netbooks and tablets, consumer electronics and handhelds) jumped by 70%....