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BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $89 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $249.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.7; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) is the world’s largest mining company, with major operations in Australia, South Africa, Chile and the U.K. It produces iron ore, coal, oil, aluminum, manganese, diamonds and titanium. Regulators in Australia and Canada have recently forced the company to cancel two big deals. In October 2010, BHP called off its plan to merge its iron-ore operations in Australia with those of Rio Tinto Ltd. (New York symbol RIO)....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS INC. $22 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 125.0 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) provides communication, processing and other services to the investment industry. These services help its customers cut costs and focus on their core businesses. Broadridge’s clients include 250 banks, 500 mutual-fund families and over 5,000 publicly traded companies. The company gets roughly 75% of its revenue from its Investor Communication Solutions division, which distributes proxy materials, including ballots, to investors in stocks and mutual funds. It then counts the votes. Broadridge’s ProxyEdge software helps centralize and simplify shareholder voting, particularly if a meeting involves multiple ballots. Broadridge mails and processes two-thirds of all proxy votes in the U.S....

Demand for wireless services is rising sharply in North America. That’s partly because device makers continue to release new cellphones and wireless devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. As well, more customers are switching from traditional phones (or land lines) to wireless services. Smartphones, in particular, have become increasingly popular. Aside from functioning as mobile phones, these devices have many computer-like functions, including Internet access and email. Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry are today’s top-selling smartphones. However, other firms, such as Motorola and Samsung, have introduced new smartphones in recent months, as well....

FedEx Corp. (New York symbol FDX) delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries. The Memphis-based courier company reported earnings that fell short of consensus estimates on Thursday. However, it noted that shipments for the holiday season are much stronger than 2009 and 2008. (FedEx is one of the stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter.) In its 2011 second quarter, which ended November 30, 2010, the company earned $283 million, or $0.89 a share. That’s down 18.0% from $345 million, or $1.10 a share, a year earlier....

Many investors think drug stocks are can’t-miss investments. That’s because the baby boomers are reaching an age when they will need drugs for a number of medical conditions, and are willing to pay for them. We agree that the aging of the boomers will create drug demand. But there are several drawbacks to drug stocks that you should keep in mind if you are thinking of investing in them. Here are three major hurdles most drug stocks face:

1. High research costs: Drug firms need to spend heavily to create new drugs. Even then, they only get to profit for a limited time before patents run out and generic products appear. Then too, their research spending may lead to dead ends, rather than new drugs that fill a need.
2. Regulatory risk: Drug stocks whose success depends on drugs that are currently in clinical trials expose you to huge risk. Not only are the chances of success in trials remote, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become more cautious in approving new drugs following Merck’s 2004 voluntary withdrawal of heart drug Vioxx due to side effects; the FDA approved Vioxx in 1999. This heightened FDA caution adds further risk to new drug investments.

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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 advice on successful investing, including Canadian real estate investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “Buy a house that suits your needs, and let Canadian real estate investing profits take care of themselves.” A house is the biggest investment and consumer purchase most of us ever make. The house itself is the consumer purchase; the land underneath is the investment. Your house depreciates as surely as your car, but more slowly. Eventually, a house reaches the end of its economic life. But the land it sits on is as functional as ever....

Investors often ask how we have managed to recommend so many value stock picks that get taken over for big profits. In fact, some readers of our newsletters and investment services tell us that they never had a stock taken over at a profit until they began following our advice. More on the strategy that helps us routinely spot takeover candidates in a moment. But first, here are just a few recent takeover targets we’ve recommended. All have rewarded our readers with big gains:

• In the October 2010 issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, we recommended Del Monte Foods (symbol DLM on New York) at $13 a share. In November, the company accepted a $19.00-a-share takeover offer from a private equity group led by KKR & Co. (symbol KKR on New York). Del Monte is now trading at $18.80. That’s a 45% gain!
• In an October 8, 2010, Stock Pickers Digest Hotline, we issued a “buy” recommendation on DundeeWealth Inc. (symbol DW on Toronto), at $15.11. On November 22, Scotiabank (symbol BNS on Toronto), announced that it will buy the 82% of DundeeWealth that it doesn’t already own. The news caused DundeeWealth’s shares to shoot up to their current $21.22 — for a 40.4% gain!
• And these weren’t our only October recommendations that gained sharply on a takeover. We recommended Verigy Ltd. (symbol VRGY on Nasdaq) in the October issue of Stock Pickers Digest at $8.28. Just last week, Japan-based Advantest, another maker of computer-chip testing equipment, offered to buy Verigy for $12.15 a share. That sent the stock up to its current $13.43, for a gain of 62.2%.

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Saputo Inc. (Symbol SAP on Toronto) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese. The company also makes snack cakes and tarts. Aside from Saputo, the Canadian stock pick’s main brands include Neilson, Stella and Dairyland. The company also has operations in the U.S., Argentina and Europe. In its second quarter, which ended September 30, 2010, Saputo earned $125.5 million, or $0.60 a share. That’s up 32.8% from $94.5 million, or $0.45 a share, a year earlier. The company reported revenue of $1.56 billion in the latest quarter, up 5.3% from $1.48 billion....

A rebounding global economy continues to push up resource prices. That has helped raise the prices of Canadian oil stocks and companies that serve them, including Precision Drilling Corp. (symbol PD on Toronto). Precision provides contract-drilling services to oil and natural gas producers, mainly in western Canada. Precision recently converted from an income trust to a conventional corporation. The Canadian oil stock’s investors received one common share for each trust unit they held. In light of that and other changes at the company, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on Precision in the current issue of The Successful Investor. (Read on to find out how you can get a free copy of this issue. Along with our latest buy/sell/hold advice on Precision, the issue contains our full analysis of 19 other investments that could be suitable for your portfolio.)...

Transcontinental Inc. (symbol TCL.A on Toronto) is the largest commercial printer in Canada and Mexico, and the fourth-largest in North America. This business provides 65% of its revenue and earnings. The company also publishes newspapers and magazines (30% of revenue and earnings). The remaining 5% comes from its marketing-communications division, which designs advertising campaigns, including direct mail, and analyzes customer-purchasing data. Transcontinental is one of the stock market picks we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter. Transcontinental also has over 150 web sites. Business from the Internet accounts for just 1% of the company’s overall revenue. Still, these web sites will become more important to Transcontinental’s growth in the next few years, as advertisers spend more on the Internet than print products....

If you’re looking for stock-market bargains, December is the best time of year to find them. Here’s why: Investors love to sell stocks for a profit, but they hate to sell at a loss. That’s why many investors spread their selling-for-a-profit throughout the year, while holding on to stocks that have dropped. Toward year-end, it occurs to these investors that they’ll have to pay taxes on their capital gains, regardless of whether they made money overall. This leads some investors to dump their losers near year-end, simply to establish a capital loss for tax purposes, to offset a capital gain....

Every industry and group has its own special jargon. This specialized language always has the same purposes. It simplifies communications within the industry, and helps make insiders feel they are part of a tightly knit community. It also helps the group pursue its goals. It does that by shaping concepts so that they facilitate lines of thought and discussions that match the industry’s view of the world. This natural human tendency has probably been going on ever since language began. You may recall George Orwell’s classic Cold War novel, 1984. In the book, the totalitarian government that rules the English-speaking world has decided to replace English with an invented language called Newspeak. This new language uses lots of English words, but it defines concepts in such a way that forbidden ideas are clumsy, if not impossible, to express....

Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto symbol RY), is Canada’s largest bank, with total assets of $726.2 billion. The bank is one of the stock market investments we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter. The bank has about 79,000 employees, and serves close to 18 million personal, business, public-sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 50 other countries around the world. In its 2010 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2010, Royal earned $5.2 billion, or $3.46 a share. That’s up 35.4% from $3.9 billion, or $2.57 a share, in fiscal 2009....

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 advice on successfully investing money. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “Investing money in futures gives you high leverage, but leverage works two ways.” Futures trading provides a perfectly legal way to bet on price changes in commodity, currency and financial markets. When you buy or sell a futures contract, you commit yourself to buy or sell a quantity of a commodity (or currency or financial instrument) in the future. The date and quantity are standard; you fix the price when you buy or sell the contract....

ISHARES MSCI CHILE INVESTABLE MARKET INDEX FUND $77.20 (New York Exchange symbol ECH; buy or sell through brokers), is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Chile Investable Market Index. This index consists of stocks that are mainly traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange. The fund’s top holdings are Empresas Copec SA (conglomerate), 12.4%; Cencosud SA (retailer), 10.2%; Empresas CMPC (pulp and paper), 8.7%; Enersis AS (electric power), 8.5%; Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (electric power), 8.2%; CAP SA (iron-ore mining and steel), 5.6%; Quimiday Minera de Chile (mining), 5.3%; Lan Airlines SA (Chilean national airline), 5.1%; Banco Santander Chile (banking), 4.8%; and S.A.C.I. Falabella (retail), 4.4%. The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Utilities, 22.7%; Materials, 20.6%; Industrials, 20.1%; Consumer Staples, 13.9%; Financials, 11.1%; Consumer Discretionary, 8.5%; Telecommunication, 2.4%; and Information Technology, 0.9%. iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index Fund was launched on November 12, 2007. The exchange-traded fund has an expense ratio of 0.65%....

We display our TSINetwork ratings (Highest Quality, Above Average, Average, Extra Risk, Speculative and Start-up) next to every stock we recommend in our newsletters — including our flagship publication, The Successful Investor. We designed our TSINetwork ratings to help you quickly and easily identify great stock picks for long-term profits. These stocks have the asset size and investment quality to weather market downturns and changing industry conditions. Here are three factors we consider when we assign a rating to a stock....

Aéropostale, Inc. (symbol ARO in New York) is a specialty retailer of clothing and accessories. The company mainly targets 14- to 17-year-old women and men. Aeropostale also has 46 “P.S. from Aeropostale” stores, which are aimed at seven-to-12-year-old elementary-school students. The company is one of the aggressive stock investing picks we cover in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. Aéropostale has nearly 900 stores located in 49 U.S. states, and 36 in Canada. The company also sells its clothing through its web site, www.aeropostale.com. The company’s low prices are one of the main reasons why it has attracted a devoted customer base in an industry where fashion trends change quickly. In the three months ended October 30, 2010, the company’s overall sales rose 6.1% to $602.8 million from $567.8 million in the same period last year. Same-store sales for the period were essentially flat. Aeropostale earned $58.5 million, or $0.64 a share, down 6.5% from $62.6 million, or $0.62 a share, a year earlier....

ISHARES MSCI GERMANY FUND $23.40 (New York Exchange symbol EWG; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the stocks in the MSCI Germany Index. This index aims to replicate the performance of 85% of the total market capitalization of the German stock market. The remaining 15% is unavailable for investment, partly due to limitations on foreign ownership. The fund’s top holdings are Siemens AG (engineering conglomerate), 10.3%; BASF (chemicals), 7.3%; Bayer (diversified chemicals), 6.8%; Daimler AG (automobiles), 6.6%; E.ON (energy), 6.2%; Allianz (insurance), 6.2%; Deutsche Bank AG, 6.0%; Deutsche Telekom, 4.7%; SAP (software), 4.5%; and RWE AG (energy and waste disposal), 3.5%....

We’ve long recommended that all Canadian investors own two or more of the big five Canadian bank stocks. That’s mainly because of their importance to Canada’s economy. The top five banks slumped deeply during the 2007-2009 market downturn, like most stocks. But since the market turnaround of March 2009, several of the top five have recovered and gone on (at least briefly) to all-time highs. Few other stock groups have done as well. (In the latest issue of Canadian Wealth Advisor, our newsletter for conservative investing, we update our buy/sell/hold advice on Bank of Nova Scotia, which is the third biggest of the big-five banks. Read on for further details.)...

ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA INDEX FUND $55.63 (New York Exchange symbol EWY; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange-traded fund that aims to track the MSCI Korea Index. The index aims to capture 85% of the total market capitalization of the South Korean stock market. The other 15% is unavailable for investment, partly due to limitations on foreign ownership. The fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics, 15.2%; Posco (steel), 5.6%; Hyundai Motor Co., 4.8%; Hyundai Mobis (auto parts), 3.5%; Shinhan Financial, 3.2%; KB Financial Group, 3.0%; LG Chemical, 3.0%; Hyundai Heavy Industries, 2.6%; Samsung Electronics preferred shares, 2.2%; and Hynix Semiconductor, 2.1%. The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Information Technology, 26.3%; Industrials, 16.5%; Financials, 15.6%; Consumer Discretionary, 15.3%; Materials, 14.0%; Consumer Staples, 4.7%; Telecommunication Services, 2.8%; Energy, 2.8%; Utilities, 1.6%; and Health Care, 0.5%....

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $46.07 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange-traded fund that aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The fund’s geographic breakdown includes: China, 18%; Brazil, 15.9%; South Korea, 13%; Taiwan, 10.4%; South Africa, 7.8%: India, 7.1%; Russia, 6.4%; Mexico, 4.4%; Malaysia, 2.8%; and Indonesia, 2.6%. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund’s top holdings are Petrobras (Brazil: energy), 3.4%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea: electronics), 2.1%; China Mobile (China: wireless), 1.6%; Vale SA (Brazil: mining), 1.6%; Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 1.5%; Banco Itau (Brazil: banking), 1.5%; Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), 1.5%; America Movil (Brazil: wireless), 1.5%; and Infosys Technologies (India: software), 1.3%. The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Financials, 25.3%; Energy, 14.0%; Materials, 14.0%; Information Technology, 12.5%; Telecommunication Services, 8.2%; Industrials, 7.2%; Consumer Staples, 6.9%; Consumer Discretionary, 6.9%; Utilities, 3.5%; and Health Care, 0.9%....

Get my latest advice on how to cut your portfolio’s volatility — and maximize your stock market investing profits — absolutely FREE. If you’re like many investors, recent market volatility has made you more sensitive to risk. In fact, in light of all the bad news being reported in the mainstream media, you may be tempted to throw up your hands and sell all your stocks. But if you do, you’re likely to miss out on strong gains in the coming months and years....

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $10.48 (American Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through a broker; us.ishares.com) is an exchange-traded fund that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index. The fund’s top holdings include: Toyota Motor, 4.4%; Honda Motor Co., 2.7%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, 2.7%; Canon, 2.4%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 1.8%; Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., 1.6%; Tokyo Electric Power Co., 1.5%; Sony Corporation, 1.5%; Mitsubishi Corporation, 1.4%; and Mizuho Financial Group, 1.4%. The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Industrials, 20.0%; Consumer Discretionary, 19.1%; Financials, 16.7%; Information Technology, 13.3%; Materials, 7.6%; Utilities, 5.9%; Health Care, 5.6%. Consumer Staples, 5.3%; Telecommunication Services, 4.1%; and Energy, 1.5%....

POWER CORP. $27.66 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 409.3 million; Market cap: $11.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 66.1%-owned Power Financial. Power Corp.’s financial assets include 68.4% of Great-West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 56.6% of IGM Financial, one of the country’s leading mutual-fund companies. Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 54.1% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), Suez (energy, water and waste services) and Lafarge SA (cement and building materials). Excluding one-time items, Power Corp.’s earnings rose 8.7%, to $274 million, or $0.58 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2010. A year earlier, it earned $252 million, or $0.53 a share. The increase came from a higher contribution from Power Financial, which gained from its holdings in Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial....

TERADATA CORP. $41 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector: Shares outstanding: 167.5 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) makes computers and software that capture and store large amounts of a business’s data. Teradata then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits and trends. Teradata is taking advantage of the weak economy to hire new salespeople. That’s helping it enter new markets and offer more technology and services to its existing clients. These efforts should add $70 million to Teradata’s 2010 sales. As well, it continues to spend around 7% of its revenue on research. Resulting new products should also fuel its growth. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, earnings rose 19.0%, to $75 million from $63 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 22.2%, to $0.44 from $0.36, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales rose 15.1%, to $489 million from $425 million. The company has no debt, and holds cash of $741 million, or $4.42 a share....