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HARTE-HANKS INC. $12 (New York symbol HHS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 63.6 million; Market cap: $763.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.harte-hanks.com) gets two-thirds of its revenue by selling direct-mail and other marketing services to a wide variety of clients. The remaining third comes from publishing free, advertising-supported newspapers in Florida and California. In August 2010, the company paid $12.9 million for Information Arts (UK) Ltd., which provides data warehousing services to businesses in Europe. Right now, Harte-Hanks gets 90% of its sales from North America, so expanding overseas lowers its risk. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, revenue rose 3.5%, to $216.7 million from $209.3 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because Harte-Hanks won a large contract. However, the extra costs related to this job, as well as adding Information Arts’ employees, caused earnings to fall 1.7%, to $13.8 million from $14.1 million. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.22....

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 retirement planning. 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: “Retirement planning calls for realistic calculations.” Suppose you’re 50 and want to retire at 65. You have $200,000 in your RRSP, and expect to add $15,000 yearly for the next 15 years. To determine if this is enough to retire on, you need to make assumptions about investment returns and income needs....

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $36 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 346.0 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent.com) makes testing systems that help 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 blood and other samples. Medical-equipment demand is less cyclical than testing products, so this move cuts Agilent’s risk. Thanks to Varian, Agilent earned $706 million, or $2.00 a share, in the year ended October 31, 2010. That’s up 152.1% from $280 million, or $0.80 a share, in fiscal 2009. These figures exclude costs to integrate the new operations. Revenue rose 21.5%, to $5.4 billion from $4.5 billion. The company spends around 11% of its revenue on research....

Higher commodity prices and an improving global economy have pushed up the prices of many junior mining stocks recently. That has prompted more members of our Inner Circle service to ask us for our recommendations on junior mines they are considering investing in. (See below for further details on a junior firm that explores for rare earth elements, which have attracted a lot of investor attention lately. We recently analyzed this company for a member of our Inner Circle service.) ...

BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $67 (New York symbol BPL; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 51.6 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.buckeye.com) operates over 8,700 kilometres of pipelines in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. These lines pump gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. Buckeye also owns oil and natural-gas storage terminals and other related businesses. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, Buckeye earned $0.93 a unit, up 4.5% from $0.89 a year earlier. Revenue rose 73.5%, to $734.9 million from $423.4 million. The partnership is transporting more fuel due to the improving economy. As well, Buckeye’s fee income varies with fuel prices, and oil prices, in particular, have risen sharply. Buckeye recently agreed to buy an oil-products storage terminal in Puerto Rico from Royal Dutch Shell plc, for an undisclosed price. This is Buckeye’s first expansion into the Caribbean region. However, the partnership has signed long-term deals to store Shell’s fuel at the Puerto Rican terminal. That cuts the risk of this investment....

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 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 risen over 21% since September. See below for further details on this tech stock’s outlook.)...

VERIGY LTD. $8.84 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 60.0 million; Market cap: $530.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.verigy.com) designs and makes test systems that are used in the production of computer chips. The company recently agreed to acquire rival LTXCredence Corp. (Nasdaq symbol LTXC) in an all-stock deal. Verigy shareholders will own 56% of the combined company, which will keep the Verigy name and trading symbol. LTX investors will own the remaining 44%. The merger will let Verigy offer its customers a wider variety of testing systems, and expand its market share. As well, the company feels that combining manufacturing and other operations will save it $25 million a year....

CEDAR FAIR L.P. $15 (New York symbol FUN; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Units outstanding: 55.3 million; Market cap: $829.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cedarfair.com) owns and operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. Cedar Fair recently refinanced some of the loans it used to fund its $1.24-billion purchase of five theme parks in 2006. Its long-term debt of $1.6 billion is still a high 1.9 times its market cap, but the partnership now has up to six years to repay it. Thanks to the new financing, Cedar Fair will pay a $0.25-a-unit special distribution in December 2010. It will also resume regular quarterly payments of $0.08 a unit. The annual rate of $0.32 yields 2.1%....

MTS SYSTEMS CORP. $37 (Nasdaq symbol MTSC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 15.3 million; Market cap: $566.1 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mts.com) makes equipment and software that tests materials, machines and structures. This helps manufacturers lower their costs and improve the quality of their products. MTS recently paid $6.3 million, or $0.24 a share, to settle a patent-infringement lawsuit. Even so, the company’s earnings rose 6.8%, to $18.6 million, in the fiscal year ended October 2, 2010. In the prior year, MTS earned $17.4 million. Earnings per share rose 10.7%, to $1.14 from $1.03, on fewer shares outstanding....

These days, some of the most misleading ads you’ll see concern so-called “model portfolios.” All too many brokers use these model portfolios to build their money management business.

For instance, one recent ad claimed that its model portfolio turned $100,000 in 2000 into more than $1.7 million by 2009....

Many investors fear that today’s artificially low interest rates and high government budget deficits will spur a huge rise in inflation. These fears are prompting many investors to devote more of their money to investing in gold and gold investments, because they believe gold will provide them with additional security. That helps explain why the price of gold has risen more than 50% since the fall of 2008. We agree that a huge burst of inflation is a possibility in the next few years. But it’s a mistake to assume that vastly higher inflation is a certainty, as many who are investing in gold do today....

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 making successful stock market investments. 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: “In the long run, share buybacks can complement your dividend profits.” Stock market investments have two main ways to distribute their profits to shareholders. They can pay dividends, or they can buy back their own shares. Both dividends and buybacks pay off for investors. Here are 3 reasons why:...

The U.S. consumer sector is highly competitive. Independent stores and smaller chains continue to face rising competition from large discount retailers, like Wal-Mart and Costco. As well, retailers are more exposed to swings in the overall economy than companies in some other sectors, such as utilities. However, aggressive investing in consumer stocks also holds the potential for spectacular gains. To cut your risk and earn higher profits when aggressive investing in the junior retail segment, it’s especially important to focus on chains that can adapt quickly and prosper in the fast-changing retail landscape. ...

Over the past few months, we’ve periodically looked at common mistakes most investors make, and given you our investment advice on how to avoid them. Here are 3 more common errors all investors make from time to time.

1. Losing patience. Good chess players never “go for broke,” as the saying goes. Instead, they try to position their pieces so they can profit from the mistakes they expect from opponents who are less talented, less experienced or less patient. Successful investors follow a comparable approach. But the crucial difference is that they have no opponents who can be relied upon to make mistakes. Instead, successful investors try to arrange their portfolios so that they more-or-less automatically tap into the profit and long-term growth that inevitably comes to well-established companies operating in relatively free and stable economies.
   
   
2. Relying on brokers’ stock-price targets. Investors sometimes ask us why we don’t publish price targets in the investment advice we publish in our investment services and newsletters, including Canadian Wealth Advisor, our newsletter for conservative investing....

Tax-loss selling (or tax-loss harvesting) is a strategy for lowering your Canadian capital gains tax that involves selling a security at a loss in order to offset your capital gains. You can then deduct these losses against your taxable capital gains in the current tax year. For example, December 24 is the 2010 deadline for tax-loss selling on the Toronto Stock Exchange. If you sell at a loss on or before that date, you get to deduct your loss against your 2010 capital gains. If you still have capital losses left over, you can carry them back up to three years (2009, 2008 and 2007), or forward indefinitely to offset past or future capital gains....

Uranium prices have jumped from around $40 U.S. a pound in March 2010 to a recent high of around $58.50. That’s still well below uranium’s peak of $140 a pound in 2007. But conditions look favourable for higher long-term uranium demand. (In a Stock Pickers Digest hotline, we updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a Canadian uranium explorer whose shares have jumped since early October — and it could go higher. See below for further details on this uranium stock’s prospects.) China and many other emerging countries, such as India and Russia, are increasing their nuclear-power use as they switch from power plants that run on coal and oil. This expansion has sharply pushed up China’s uranium imports to as much as three times last year’s levels. In addition, China recently increased its nuclear-power targets by 60% over the next decade....

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 a specific advice on successful investing, including tips on portfolio management. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away....

P/e ratios (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings) are published regularly in newspapers and on the Internet. These financial ratios are widely followed, and are an important part of many investors’ decision making. Typically, you calculate p/e’s using a stock’s current price and its earnings for the previous 12 months. The general rule is that the lower a stock’s p/e, the better. And a p/e of less than, say, 10, represents excellent value. A low p/e implies more profit for every dollar you invest. ...

A number of wind power stocks have emerged over the past few years as concern over the environment has grown. However, like many other alternative-energy firms, wind power stocks face significant costs and risks. For example, varying wind speeds cause a wind turbine’s electricity output to fluctuate. In many areas, the wind is stronger in the daytime, when demand is lower, and dies down in the evening, when consumers use more appliances. As well, electrical power can’t be stored efficiently, so to make economic sense it must be used when it is produced. As a result, utilities must maintain back-up power capacity that is equal to their reliance on wind power....

FORTIS INC. $32 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 173.7 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.fortis.ca) is the main supplier of electrical power in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. It also operates power plants in other parts of Canada, as well as the U.S., Belize and the Cayman Islands. Fortis’ other businesses include Terasen Inc., which distributes natural gas in B.C., and hotels in Atlantic Canada. Fortis earned $45 million in the three months ended September 30, 2010. That’s up 25.0% from $36 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 23.8%, to $0.26 from $0.21, on more shares outstanding. Earnings rose at the company’s power businesses. That helped offset a $5 million loss at Terasen, which makes most of its money in the winter, when customers need gas to heat their homes. Revenue rose 8.3%, to $720 million from $665 million. The company will spend $6.6 on capital upgrades over the next six years, including $1.1 billion in 2010. One of its projects is a new hydroelectric plant near the Waneta Dam south of Trail, B.C. Fortis will own 51% of this new facility, and the B.C. government will own the remaining 49%. BC Hydro, the provincial power authority, will buy most of the power from this plant when it begins operating in 2015. That cuts the risk of this investment....

CAE INC. $12 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 256.6 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) makes military and airline flight simulators. It also runs commercial and military pilot-training schools in over 20 countries. In its second quarter, which ended September 30, 2010, CAE’s earnings rose 0.3%, to $40.0 million from $39.9 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.16. Revenue rose 6.1%, to $386.6 million from $364.5 million. Revenue from civilian clients rose 8%. CAE sold 16 flight simulators in the first half of fiscal 2011, and expects to sell around 25 for the full year. Revenue from military clients rose 4%....

TRANSALTA CORP. $21 (Toronto symbol TA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 220.3 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.transalta.com) operates over 85 unregulated power plants in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Coal-fired plants generate 53% of TransAlta’s power. Natural gas accounts for 25%, and the remaining 22% comes from hydroelectric and renewable sources. Lower power prices in Alberta and the northwestern U.S. continue to weigh on TransAlta’s earnings. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, earnings fell 42.4%, to $38 million from $66 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 50.0%, to $0.17 from $0.34, on more shares outstanding. However, cash flow per share rose 7.1%, to $1.05 from $0.98. As well, revenue rose 5.1%, to $700 million from $666 million. These increases mainly came from the 21 power plants that TransAlta gained following its 2009 purchase of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. The new plants also pushed up production by 9.8% in the latest quarter. As well, TransAlta’s plants operated at 91.0% of capacity, up from 83.9% a year earlier....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.97 and BBD.B $4.98; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $8.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest commercial-aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. Its aerospace division supplies roughly half of its revenue. The other half comes from its transportation division, which is the world’s largest maker of passenger railcars. In its 2011 second quarter, which ended July 31, 2010, the company earned $0.08 a share (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s down 27.2% from $0.11 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 17.5%, to $4.1 billion from $4.9 billion. The uncertain economy continues to hurt demand for Bombardier’s jets. It delivered 46 aircraft in the latest quarter. That’s down from 80 a year earlier. However, Bombardier received orders for 29 new planes (net of cancellations) in the latest quarter. A year ago, it had negative 38 net orders. The railcar division received $4.3 billion of new orders, up 43.3% from $3.0 billion a year earlier....

EMERA INC. $31 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 114.0 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) gets 70% of its revenue from Nova Scotia Power Inc., which is Nova Scotia’s main electrical-power supplier. The rest comes from its investments in pipelines and power companies in the U.S. and Caribbean. Emera is expanding into other businesses and countries. For example, it recently paid $85 million U.S. for 38% of Barbados Light & Power Co. Ltd. As well, its $350-million Brunswick Pipeline, which pumps natural gas from Saint John, New Brunswick, to the U.S. border, began operating on July 16, 2009. Thanks to these new operations and a lower tax bill, Emera’s earnings rose 20.1%, to $44.8 million from $37.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 18.2%, to $0.39 from $0.33, on more shares outstanding. Revenue rose 10.1%, to $373.5 million from $339.1 million....

ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X (class I non-voting) $57 and ACO.Y (class II voting) $57; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 58.1 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) is a holding company. Its main subsidiary is 52.2%-owned Canadian Utilities (see CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. - Toronto symbols CU $50 and CU.X $50). ATCO recently grouped its businesses into three main divisions: Utilities (which distributes electricity and natural gas); Energy (which operates power plants); and Structures & Logistics (which sells services to construction companies and firms that explore for oil and natural gas). ATCO owns 75.5% of the Structures & Logistics division; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%. The company earned $1.02 a share (or a total of $59.1 million) in the three months ended September 30, 2010. That’s up 10.9% from $0.92 a share (or $53.3 million) a year earlier. These figures exclude one-time items, such as losses on hedging contracts. Regulators let ATCO’s utilities businesses increase their rates. As well, rising oil and mineral prices have prompted mining and energy firms to increase exploration. That has lifted earnings at ATCO’s structures business. Revenue rose 11.2%, to $761.1 million from $684.3 million....