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TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $33 and T.A $32; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 318.0 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 5.8%; SI Rating: Above Average) provides telephone services in British Columbia, Alberta and eastern Quebec. It also sells wireless services through a nationwide network. The company expects its revenue to rise by 2% to 5% in 2010, to between $9.8 billion and $10.1 billion. Most of the gain will come from its wireless division, which contributes half of Telus’s revenue and earnings. This division recently upgraded its networks to handle a wider variety of cellphones, including Apple’s popular iPhone smartphone. Telus should also profit as more people use their cellphones to send email, access the Internet and download software. That’s good news for Telus, since it earns higher fees for Internet access than regular phone calls. Moreover, the company’s wireless upgrades will help it capture more roaming fees from foreign tourists and business travellers who use their phones while in Canada....

BCE INC. $29 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 767.2 million; Market cap: $22.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 6.0%; SI Rating: Above Average) provides telephone and Internet services in Ontario and Quebec. It also sells wireless and satellite TV services across Canada. BCE is starting to see the benefits of a restructuring plan that it began in July 2008. Under the plan, the company cut jobs, relocated employees and sold extra real estate. These moves should save BCE $400 million annually by the end of this year. In 2009, BCE’s earnings rose 6.5%, to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion in the prior year. Per-share earnings rose 11.1%, to $2.50 from $2.25, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items. Revenue rose 0.4%, to $17.74 billion from $17.66 billion....

AGRIUM INC. $67 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 157 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 0.2%; SI Rating: Average) makes fertilizers from natural gas at 10 plants in North America and Argentina. It also produces other fertilizers, such as potash and phosphate, from mines in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Idaho. Agrium sells its products to industrial users and individual farmers through 1,000 retail stores in Canada, the U.S., Argentina and Chile. Agrium’s retail outlets cut its reliance on bulk fertilizer sales. Thanks to rising fertilizer prices, Agrium’s sales rose 204.5%, from $3.3 billion in 2005 to $10.0 billion in 2008 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). However, sales fell 9.0%, to $9.1 billion on lower 2009 fertilizer prices....

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN INC. $112 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 296.0 million; Market cap: $33.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.8; Dividend yield: 0.4%; SI Rating: Average) is the world’s largest fertilizer producer. It has six potash mines in Saskatchewan and one in New Brunswick. Five of its mines have reserves of between 60 and 97 years. Potash Corp.’s sales rose 145.5%, from $3.8 billion in 2005 to $9.4 billion in 2008 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s mainly because potash prices climbed from $143 a tonne in 2005 to $449 a tonne in 2008. Thanks to the higher prices, Potash Corp.’s earnings soared from $1.63 a share (or a total of $542.9 million) in 2005 to $11.01 a share (or $3.5 billion) in 2008. Cash flow per share rose 411.9%, from $2.53 in 2005 to $12.95 in 2008....

Last week, Newmont Mining (symbol NEM on New York), one of the world’s biggest gold producers, said that it believes that gold could rise as high as $1,350 U.S. an ounce this year. Gold has fallen from the all-time high of $1,214.80 U.S. that it reached in late 2009, and now trades around $1,092 U.S. We cover Newmont in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster and Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletters. See below for more on this gold mining stock’s wide-ranging operations.

Gold investing can expose you to unique risks

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Here are four common mistakes to avoid when investing in the stock market. All can seriously hinder your portfolio’s long-term results. 1. Focusing too heavily on cutting costs: Cutting the costs of investing has an immediate, obvious benefit: it leaves you with more money. But some cost-cutting investment techniques can wind up costing you money in the long run. For example, some investors routinely refuse to pay the market price for stocks when they buy. They always put a bid in below the offer price, in hopes of buying at a slightly better price. However, some of your good investments are going to go up as soon as you buy, and keep going up. Other investments will go down. If you always put in a bid below the current market price when you buy, you’ll filter out all your good investments. You’ll save a few cents from time to time. But you’ll always buy all your bad investment choices, and none of your good investments....

A subscriber to Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing, recently asked us how much importance we give to a company’s name when we’re selecting growth stock picks to recommend in our newsletters and investment services. He felt that a poorly thought-out company name may reflect a poorly thought-out business plan and a low chance of success. He specifically asked about Tucows Inc. (symbol TC on Toronto). We recently updated our buy/sell/hold advice on the company in a Stock Pickers Digest Email Hotline. See below for more details on this growth stock pick’s outlook.

A growth stock pick’s name should be more memorable than descriptive

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Our Successful Investor rating system is a key guide we use to make stock market picks for our newsletters and investment services, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our publication that focuses on top-quality U. S. stock market picks.

Use our ratings to quickly spot the best U.S. stock market picks

We continue to recommend that Canadian investors hold 25% to 30% of their portfolios in well-established U.S. companies, like the stock market picks we recommend in Wall Street Stock Forecaster. To help you quickly and easily determine whether a U.S. stock is appropriate for your portfolio balance and risk tolerance, we display one of our six Successful Investor ratings next to every stock we cover in Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

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We think the long-term outlook for China — and Chinese stocks — is strong. That’s because the country’s huge population is generally younger than North Americans, and large numbers of Chinese have the potential to advance from poverty into the middle class. (One of the best ways for investors to tap into Chinese growth is through low-fee exchange-traded funds. The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund is one example of an exchange traded fund that focuses on China. You can get our very latest buy/sell/hold advice on this fund in the latest issue of Canadian Wealth Advisor. See below for further details. )

Political instability still a danger to foreign investors in China

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ISHARES CDN BOND INDEX FUND $29.67 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index. This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade Canadian government and corporate bonds with terms to maturity of more than one year. The 301 bonds in the portfolio have an average term to maturity of 8.62 years. The fund’s MER is 0.30%. The bonds in the index are 85.1% government and 14.9% corporate. The fund sticks with high-quality government bonds from issuers such as Canada Housing Trust, Government of Canada and Province of Ontario, plus high-quality corporate bonds from issuers such as Bank of Montreal, TransCanada Pipelines, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bell Canada....

ISHARES CDN SHORT BOND INDEX FUND $29.35 (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 currently holds 183 bonds with an average term to maturity of 3.01 years. Top issuers include the Government of Canada, Canada Housing Trust and the Province of Ontario. The bonds in the index are 89.7% government and 10.3% corporate. The fund’s MER is 0.25%....

PRIMARIS RETAIL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $17.47 (Toronto symbol PMZ.UN; Units outstanding: 62.5 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.0%) owns large malls in medium-sized Canadian cities. It also owns major shopping centres in suburbs of large cities. In all, the trust owns 26 properties that contain 9.3 million square feet of leasable area. Primaris has a 96% occupancy rate. Major tenants include Hudson’s Bay, Sears, Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaw, Reitmans, Canadian Tire and Best Buy. In the three months ended September 30, 2009, Primaris’ revenue fell 0.7%, to $66.1 million from $66.5 million a year earlier. The trust earned less interest on its investments. That offset higher rental revenue. Cash flow per unit fell 14.3%, to $0.30 from $0.35, mainly because of one-time managment and office-restructuring costs. Primaris’ annual distribution of $1.22 gives the units a 7.0% yield....

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $19.55 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 39.0 million; Market cap: $763.3 million; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.8%) owns office buildings in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg. These mainly Class I properties contain over 5.8 million square feet of leasable area. Allied has a 96.2% occupancy rate. Class I refers to 19th and early 20th-century light industrial buildings that have been restored and converted to office and retail space. These properties usually feature high ceilings, natural light, exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors. Allied has 54 mainly Class I properties in Toronto (these contain 53.7% of the trust’s leasable area). It also has eight Class I buildings in Montreal (34.9%), seven in Winnipeg (6.7%) and six in Quebec City (3.2%)....

VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $51.35 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI U.S. Prime Market Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of stocks of large U.S. companies. The fund has an MER of just 0.15%. The $15.7-billion fund’s top holdings are Microsoft, IBM, Apple Inc., Cisco Systems, Wal-Mart Stores, Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp., Philip Morris International and PepsiCo. Vanguard Growth ETF is broken down by economic segment as follows: Information Technologies (36.1%), Health Care (13.8%), Consumer Staples (11.3%), Consumer Discretionary (11.8%), Industrials (8.0%), Energy (7.5%), Financials (5.9%), Materials (4.5%), Telecommunication Services (0.8%) and Utilities (0.3%)....

VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS ETF $38.72 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies located in emerging markets around the world. The fund has an MER of 0.27%. The fund’s top holdings are China Mobile (China: wireless), Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), Samsung Electronics (South Korea: electronics), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, America Movil SA de CV (Latin America: wireless), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), China Construction Bank, Vale SA (Brazil: mining) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The $32.7-billion Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF’s largest holdings by country are: China (17.8%), Brazil (17.0%), South Korea (12.8%), Taiwan (11.3%), India (7.6%), South Africa (6.9%), Russia (6.5%), Mexico (4.4%), Israel (2.8%), Malaysia (2.7%), Indonesia (1.9%), Turkey (1.5%), Chile (1.5%), Thailand (1.4%), Poland (1.3%), Hungary (0.6%), Philippines (0.5%), Peru (0.5%), Czech Republic (0.4%), Colombia (0.3%) and Egypt (0.2%)....

SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $67.30 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers), is an ETF that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index. This index is made up of all of the publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, this ETF holds 136 stocks. The $548.9-million fund’s top holdings are: China Mobile, 9.1%; China Life Insurance, 6.2%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 5.6%; China Construction Bank, 4.8%; PetroChina, 4.5%; CNOOC Ltd., 4.0%; Tencent Holdings, 2.7%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 2.6%; Bank of China, 2.5%; and China Shenhua Energy, 2.4%. The fund’s top industry holdings are: Financials (30.9%), Oil and Gas (16.5%), Telecommunications (11.6%), Industrials (11.4%), Information Technology (10.5%), Consumer Discretionary (7.0%), Basic Materials (5.1%) and Consumer Staples (4.4%)....

ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEX FUND $38.90 (New York Exchange symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largest and most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York exchange. The $8.2-billion fund’s top holdings are China Mobile, 10.1%; China Construction Bank, 9.6%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 8.5%; China Life Insurance, 7.1%; Bank of China, 6.2%; China Merchants Bank, 4.1%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 4.0%; PetroChina, 4.0%; Ping An Insurance Group, 4.0%; and CNOOC Ltd., 3.9%. The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials (46.8%), Telecommunications (17.8%), Oil and Gas (11.8%), Basic Materials (11.6%), Industrials (8.7%), Utilities (1.8%) and Consumer Services (1.6%)....

In mining exploration, an “anomaly” is a geological formation that might attract a prospector’s interest. However, one rule of thumb is that you have to look at 1,000 anomalies to find one prospect. And fewer than one prospect in a thousand turns into a mine. In other words, finding a mine is a million-to-one shot. That’s one reason why junior mining stocks are highly speculative. Another reason is that it’s much easier to launch and promote one of these stocks than it is to build a profitable business. So junior mines attract more than their share of unscrupulous operators and stock promoters. But there are little-known ways to cut your risk. Here are 9 “secrets” we use to pick junior mines to analyze in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. We’re sure they can help you find the gems among the rocks in this fast-changing industry:...

Online stock investing can look like a great way to build wealth, but it has many hidden dangers. Trading too frequently: The main risk is that the lower costs and higher speeds of online stock investing can quickly lead otherwise conservative investors to trade too frequently. That can lead you to sell your best picks when they are just getting started. Trading stocks online may even prompt conservative investors to take up short-term trading or day trading. That’s just another danger of trading stocks online, because there’s a large random element in short-term stock-price fluctuations that you just can’t get away from....

One part of our three-pronged investing program is to spread your money out across the five main stock sectors of the economy (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources; Consumer; Finance; Utilities). (The other two parts are to hold mostly high-quality, dividend paying stocks, and downplay stocks in the broker/public-relations limelight.)

How we place stocks in the appropriate stock sectors

Many stocks clearly fit in certain stock sectors. Royal Bank, for example, obviously goes in the Finance sector. But sometimes correctly categorizing a stock requires a judgment call. That’s the case with La-Z-Boy Inc. (symbol LZB on New York). We update our buy/sell/hold advice on La-Z-Boy in the current issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks. See below for further details on this rapidly changing company.

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These days, many investors who are approaching retirement worry that their retirement planning won’t generate the income stream they were banking on once they’ve left the workforce. Some investors in this situation look for what brokers sometimes refer to as a “rescue stock” — a can’t miss trading idea that can make up for the shortfall in their retirement planning. This, of course, is unrealistic. If such a low-risk, high-potential stock existed, why would you buy anything else? In fact, if you’re heading into retirement and are short of money, you should move your retirement planning in the opposite direction: aim for safer investments, rather than one last gamble....

H.J. HEINZ CO. $44 (New York symbol HNZ; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 315.6 million; Market cap: $13.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 3.8%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is a leading maker of condiments. Its flagship product, Heinz ketchup, accounts for about 60% of U.S. ketchup sales. The company also makes frozen potatoes (under the Ore-Ida brand), pasta sauces (Classico) and diet foods (Weight Watchers). Heinz gets 60% of its sales from overseas markets, and the company continues to look to foreign markets for growth. That’s partly because rising sales in Mexico, India and Russia are helping it offset lower sales to U.S. restaurants. The falling U.S. dollar is also expanding the contribution of Heinz’s overseas sales. In its second quarter, which ended October 28, 2009, the company’s earnings fell 11.6%, to $0.76 a share from $0.86 a year earlier. However, if you disregard an $0.18-a-share foreign-currency hedging gain in the year-earlier quarter, earnings per share would have risen by 11.8%....

CAMPBELL SOUP CO. $33 (New York symbol CPB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 342.9 million; Market cap: $11.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 3.3%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Prego canned pasta and sauces, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. Like Heinz, Campbell aims to spur long-term growth by increasing sales in emerging markets, such as China and Russia. The company now gets 30% of its overall sales from international markets. Campbell is also doing a good job of developing new products. For example, it now sells low-sodium soups and baked goods made from whole grains. These premium products should appeal to health-conscious consumers. These foods also generate higher profit margins than Campbell’s regular products....

DEL MONTE FOODS CO. $12 (New York symbol DLM, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 198.2 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.7%; WSSF Rating: Average) makes canned fruits, vegetables, sauces and soups. The company also makes Meow Mix, 9Lives and Milk-Bone brand pet foods. The company earned $62.6 million in its second quarter, which ended November 1, 2009. That’s up 129.3% from $27.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 121.4%, to $0.31 from $0.14, on more shares outstanding. If you exclude a charge related to the early repayment of senior notes, Del Monte’s earnings would have risen to $0.36 a share in the latest quarter. Del Monte continues to cut costs and improve productivity. For example, it has moved some plants to cut the distance between them and reduce shipping costs. In all, Del Monte’s cost cuts lowered its expenses by $20 million in the latest quarter....

CONAGRA FOODS INC. $23 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 443.4 million; Market cap: $10.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.5%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) 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 gets 64% of its revenue by selling its products to consumers, so the company benefits as more people eat at home because of the slow economy. That has helped offset slower sales to businesses, such as restaurants, which account for the remaining 36% of its revenue. ConAgra continues to benefit from its plan to lower its annual costs by $250 million. These measures mainly include selling slow-growing, low-margin brands. Falling ingredient prices are also helping increase earnings....