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Technology stocks have always been a more speculative segment of the stock market. The recent downturn has pushed down many of them down lately, but the technology stocks with the greatest long-term potential are those that continue to make significant investments in research and development. The investment odds are against you in a “hot” market — one whose investment appeal is widely, if not universally, recognized. And most tech stocks, even in a market like we’re in now, are still overpriced. This is because many investors have inflated ideas of their value. You can turn the odds in your favour by investing in tech stocks that have hidden assets, or assets that other investors overlook....

Cautious investors wonder if they own enough different stocks, or perhaps even too many. The right number of stocks for investors to own for portfolio diversification depends, in part, on where they are in their investing careers. When they’re just starting out, most people have modest amounts of money to invest. Even so, it generally pays to invest at least several thousand dollars at a time, or the broker’s minimum commission will significantly lower profits....

Registered education savings plans (RESPs) are one of the best ways to save for a child’s post-secondary education. RESPs are a government-assisted form of savings, similar to registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs).

How RESPs work

There are no annual limits for contributions to RESPs. However, RESPs have a lifetime limit (from birth to age 17) per child of $50,000. Only the first $2,500 of contributions per year to RESPs will receive a Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) from the federal government. Under the CESG, the government will match a portion of what you put in: for the first $500, the matching amount is dictated by your family income, and for the subsequent $2,000, the government will match at a rate of $0.20 for every dollar contributed. The net family income amounts are indexed to inflation each year....

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $11 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 170.5 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; SI Rating: Above Average) sells, rents and repairs heavy equipment made by Caterpillar Inc. It has major customers in the mining, forest products and construction industries. Finning’s revenue rose 5.8% in 2008, to $6 billion from $5.7 billion in 2007. Finning’s clients ordered more heavy equipment in the first half of the year as a result of high commodity prices. Finning’s operations in the U.K. and South America account for roughly 45% of its sales, and the drop in the Canadian dollar in the last quarter of 2008 increased the contribution from these divisions. Finning is responding to the global recession by cutting jobs. If you exclude costs related to this, and a writedown of goodwill, earnings fell 11.7%, to $247.4 million from $280.1 million. Earnings per share fell 7.7%, to $1.43 from $1.55 on fewer shares outstanding....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $33 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 64.6 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; SI Rating: Average) has over 1.2 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. It also owns Allstream, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada. Allstream accounted for 57% of Manitoba Telecom’s 2008 revenue, but just 37% of its profit. Manitoba Telecom is launching new services, which are helping it hang on to its telephone customers. For example, its TV service, which uses high-speed Internet technology to send signals over regular phone lines, now has 34% of the Winnipeg market, up from 32% a year earlier. Manitoba Telecom’s 2008 revenue rose 0.8%, to $1.92 billion from $1.9 billion in 2007. Strong demand for wireless, Internet and TV services was entirely responsible for the gain; Allstream’s revenues were flat. Manitoba Telecom’s earnings per share dropped 14.2%, to $2.23 from $2.60. If you disregard unusual items, including a $0.28 per share charge related to last year’s purchase of new wireless frequencies, per-share earnings rose 3.1%, to $2.98 from $2.89....

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $31 and T.A $30; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 317.2 million; Market cap: $10.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; SI Rating: Above Average) has 4.2 million phone customers and 2.1 million Internet subscribers in Alberta, British Columbia and parts of Quebec. Telus also operates a national wireless service with 6.1 million subscribers. Wireless provides roughly half of Telus’s revenue and earnings. This is a much higher percentage than other Canadian telephone companies. In 2008, Telus’s revenue rose 6.4%, to $9.65 billion from $9.1 billion in 2007. Wireless revenues rose 8.6%, thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones, which let users access the Internet and send and receive email. (Telus charges higher fees for these services than it does for regular voice calls.) Telus also successfully launched Koodo, a new brand aimed at first-time cellphone buyers, in March 2008. Revenue at Telus’s traditional phone division rose 4.4%, mainly on strong demand for high-speed Internet services. Telus’s 2008 earnings fell 10.3%, to $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion in the prior year. Earnings per share fell 6.6%, to $3.51 from $3.76, on fewer shares outstanding. The earnings drop was mainly because of lower taxes in 2007 thanks to one-time income-tax adjustments....

BELL ALIANT REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS INCOME FUND $25 (Toronto symbol BA.UN; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 227.6 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; SI Rating: Above Average) has 3.1 million telephone customers in Atlantic Canada and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. As part of the deal that created the trust in 2006, Bell Aliant transferred most of its wireless business to BCE, which owns 44% of Bell Aliant. Strong demand for high-speed Internet service is helping Bell Aliant offset the loss of regular phone customers. In 2008, revenue grew 0.9%, to $3.28 billion from $3.25 billion in 2007. However, earnings rose 6.9%, to $331.9 million from $310.4 million. Per-unit earnings rose just 1.5%, to $2.07 from $2.04, on more units outstanding. These figures include restructuring and related charges....

BCE INC. $24 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 803.1 million; Market cap: $19.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; SI Rating: Above Average) has over 7.5 million telephone and Internet customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 6.5 million wireless subscribers across Canada. BCE continues to lose traditional phone customers, but these losses are slowing. Meanwhile, BCE’s cellphone business is growing strongly. The wireless division’s 2008 revenue rose 7.6%, and its subscriber base grew by 4.5%. Wireless accounts for 25% of BCE’s revenue and 43% of its profit. BCE hopes to spur sales of its wireless and other services, like satellite TV, with a new deal to buy “The Source”, a 756-store home-electronics chain in Canada. BCE already operates about 750 retail stores....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $36 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 167.7 million; Market cap: $6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; SI Rating: Above Average) ships freight over a 25,000-kilometre rail network between Montreal and Vancouver. In the United States, its subsidiaries connect its Canadian lines to major hubs in the midwest and northeast. Alliances with other railways extend CP’s reach to Mexico. CP made 29% of its 2008 revenues hauling shipping containers loaded with a variety of goods. Grain accounted for 20% of its revenues, followed by industrial products (16%), coal (13%), fertilizers (10%), automotive products (7%) and forest products (5%). CP’s many revenue sources cut its reliance on any single commodity or industry. Thanks largely to expanding trade with Asia, CP’s revenue rose 20.6%, from $3.9 billion in 2004 to $4.7 billion in 2007. Earnings rose 87.1%, from $359.5 million in 2004 to $672.8 million in 2007. Earnings per share rose 91.2%, from $2.26 to $4.32 on fewer shares outstanding....

TEMPLETON EMERGING MARKETS FUND $7.87 (New York symbol EMF; CWA Fund Rating: Speculative) is a closed-end fund that invests in equities from emerging economies. Franklin Templeton manages the fund. Templeton Emerging Market Fund’s holdings are spread around the world. Although volatile, the fund gives investors access to countries like Brazil, China, India and others that still have strong growth prospects. The $187.6-million fund’s regional allocation is heavily weighted toward Asia (63.1%), followed by Latin America, (21.5%) and Europe (15.4%)....

NEW GERMANY FUND $5.90 (New York symbol GF; CWA Fund Rating: Speculative) is a closed-end fund that invests mostly in small and mid-cap German equities. The fund’s manager is Deutsche Asset Management. The $198-million fund’s 52 holdings operate in Germany (91%) and the Netherlands (9%). The New Germany Fund’s top holdings are Fresenius (health care equipment & supplies), 6.8%; European Aeronautical Defense (a Dutch-based aerospace and defense firm), 5.6%; Bilfinger Berger (construction & engineering), 5.2%; SGL Carbon (electrical equipment), 4.2%; Software AG, 3.9%; Qiagen (life sciences), 3.5%; Hannover Rueckversicherung (insurance), 3.5%; GEA Group (chemicals), 3.3%; Rheinmetall AG (an industrial conglomerate), 3.2%; and United Internet (Internet service provider), 3.2%....

KOREA FUND $18.27 (New York symbol KF; CWA Fund Rating: Speculative) is a closed-end fund that invests at least 80% of its assets in Korean equities. Currently, all of its assets are in South Korean stocks. RCM Asia Pacific manages the fund. Korea Fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics at 9.9%; KT&G Corporation (a cigarette maker), 4.7%; KT Corporation (telecommunications), 4.2%; Samsung Fire & Marine (insurance), 4.1%; LG Electronics, 4.0%; Posco (steel), 3.9%; SK Telecom (wireless telecom), 3.9%; Yuhan Corp. (pharmaceuticals), 3.8%; Hyundai Engineering & Construction, 3.8%; and LG Corp. (conglomerate), 3.7%. The industry exposure of the 36 stocks in the Korea Fund’s $244-million portfolio is as follows: Industrials, 25%; Information technology, 19%; Financial services, 15%; Telecommunications services, 12%; Consumer staples, 10%; Consumer discretionary, 9%, Materials, 7%; and Health care, 3%....

CENTRAL EUROPE AND RUSSIA FUND $12.38 (New York symbol CEE; CWA Fund Rating: Speculative) is a closed-end fund that invests mostly in larger cap stocks from Russia and central Europe. The fund’s manager is Deutsche Asset Management. The $314-million fund’s 62 holdings are currently invested in Russia (49%), Poland (16%), Turkey (12%), Czech Republic (12%), Hungary (4%), U.S. (4%) and Austria (3%). The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (a Russian gas utility) at 8.5%; Lukoil (Russia: oil and gas), 7.3%; Ceske Energetike Zavody (Poland: utility), 5.8%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 5.5%; Rosneft Oil (Russia: oil and gas), 5.4%; Telefonica (Czech Republic: telecom), 4.9%; Telekomunikacja Polska (Poland: telecom), 4.9%; Bank Pekao (Poland: bank), 4.7%; Surgutneftagaz (Russia: oil and gas), 4.5%; and Powszechna Kasa (Poland: bank), 3.8%....

POWER CORPORATION $17.23 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 407.5 million; Market cap: $7.0 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) is a diversified holding company. It controls one of Canada’s largest mutual-fund companies, IGM Financial, and Great-West Lifeco, one of the country’s largest life insurers. Power Financial, 66.4% held, is a holding company for Power Corp.'s financial assets, which include 72.9% of Great-West Lifeco and 58.4% of IGM Financial. As well, Power Financial holds 50% of holding company Parjointco, which, in turn, owns a 54.3% interest in Swiss-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). In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Power Corp.'s earnings, excluding one-time items, fell 6.2%, to $332 million, or $0.70 a share, from $354 million, or $0.76. Great-West contributed $203 million to Power’s earnings and IGM contributed $74 million....

A stop is an order to sell a stock if it falls to a specific price. If an investor owns an $18 stock, for example, they might tell their broker to sell it “on stop” if it hits $16. This may limit their losses if they paid more than $16; if they paid less, it may preserve some of their profits. However, the triggering of the $16 stop-loss order merely means the investor will automatically put in a sell-at-market order. There’s no guarantee that anyone will bid anywhere near $16 for the stock. As well, if other holders put in stops at $16, and multiple sell-at-market orders hit the market at the same time, everyone may wind up selling for far below $16. The funny thing about this stock trading strategy is that after all the stop-loss generated sell orders have been filled, the market may turn around and push the stock back up to $16 or higher....

CEDAR FAIR L.P. $7.84 (New York symbol FUN; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Units outstanding: 55.1 million; Market cap: $432 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) owns amusement parks, water parks and hotels in the U.S. and Canada. Cedar Fair pays quarterly distributions of $0.48 a unit, for a current yield of 24.5%. However, its $1.7- billion debt is a high 3.9 times its market cap. Cedar Fair will probably cut its distributions to free up cash for debt repayments. Even if it does, the lower rate would still yield around 10%. Meanwhile, attendance at Cedar Fair’s parks rose 3% in 2008, to 22.7 million visitors. However, inpark spending per guest fell 1.2%, which is why overall revenues rose just 0.9%, to $996.2 million from $987 million in 2007. Earnings improved to $0.10 a unit from a loss of $0.08. If you disregard a writedown of goodwill and other unusual items, per-unit earnings rose 94.6%, to $1.81 from $0.93....

BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $37 (New York symbol BPL; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 48.4 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; WSSF Rating: Average) operates over 8,700 kilometres of pipelines that pump gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. In 2008, Buckeye’s earnings rose 17.9%, to $183.2 million from $155.4 million in 2007, largely as a result of acquisitions, including a natural gas storage facility in northern California. It issued new units to help pay for these purchases. Consequently, earnings per unit grew just 3.3%, to $3.13 from $3.03. Revenue rose 265.2%, to $1.9 billion from $519.3 billion. The slowing economy has hurt fuel demand in the past few months. However, higher pipeline rates have helped Buckeye offset the lower volume. This let Buckeye raise its quarterly distribution by 1.4%. The new annual rate of $3.55 yields 9.6%....

LA-Z-BOY INC. $0.97 (New York symbol LZB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 51.5 million; Market cap: $50 million; Priceto- sales ratio: 0.05; WSSF Rating: Speculative) makes reclining chairs and other furniture. The sharp decline in housing prices and consumer confidence continues to hurt La-Z-Boy. In its third fiscal quarter, which ended January 24, 2009, its sales fell 22.7%, to $288.6 million from $373.1 million a year earlier. Despite several restructurings over the past few years, including cutting jobs and shifting production to low-cost countries, La-Z-Boy lost $1.25 a share in the latest quarter, compared with a profit of $0.18 a share a year earlier. The company has suspended its quarterly dividend of $0.04 a share to conserve cash, which should save it $8 million a year. La-Z-Boy’s total debt of $90.4 million is equal to a high 1.8 times its market cap. It also holds $18.7 million, or $0.36 a share, in cash....

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $46 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 116.9 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is North America’s largest paint producer. It also operates over 3,300 retail paint stores, which supply 60% of its sales. In 2008, Sherwin’s sales fell 0.3%, to $7.98 billion from $8.01 billion in the prior year. Price increases helped offset lower retail sales volumes. However, sales at its international division grew 7.8% in 2008, partly due to acquisitions of smaller paint producers in Europe and Asia. Overseas markets now account for 20% of Sherwin’s sales. Sherwin’s 2008 earnings dropped 22.5%, to $476.9 million from $615.6 million. The company bought back 6% of its shares in 2008, so earnings per share fell 14.9%, to $4.00 from $4.70. If you exclude writedowns of goodwill, per-share earnings fell 9.8%, to $4.31 from $4.78....

APACHE CORP. $60 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 334.7 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; WSSF Rating: Average) explores for and produces oil and natural gas, mostly in North America. Apache prefers to sell its oil at the current spot price, instead of locking in prices through hedging contracts. This strategy let it take full advantage of rising oil and natural-gas prices in the first half of 2008. Thanks to a 27.5% rise in its average oil prices, and a 25.5% jump in gas prices, Apache’s 2008 earnings rose 30.5%, to $3.8 billion from $2.9 billion in the prior year. Earnings per share climbed 29.6%, to $11.22 from $8.66. The 2008 earnings exclude a $3.6-billion writedown of Apache’s properties that was caused by falling energy prices in the second half of 2008. This is a non-cash accounting adjustment, and had no impact on the company’s cash balances. Apache’s revenue rose 23.9%, to $12.4 billion from $10 billion....

ENCANA CORP. $38 (New York symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 750.4 million; Market cap: $28.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; WSSF Rating: Average) is a leading North American producer of natural gas and oil. Natural gas accounts for about 80% of EnCana’s production. EnCana focuses on what it calls “key resource plays”. These are unconventional properties, such as early-stage gas fields and oil-sands projects, that have much longer production lives than conventional properties. EnCana’s oil-sands operations consist of two 50- 50 joint ventures with ConocoPhillips — one operates the oil-sands properties, while the other processes the heavy, tar-like oil at refineries in Texas and Illinois. Oil-sands projects cost more to operate and face greater environmental opposition than regular oil fields, so this arrangement cuts EnCana’s risk....

CHEVRON CORP. $64 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2 billion; Market cap: $128 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the United States, after ExxonMobil. Oil production supplied 86% of its earnings in 2008; the remaining 14% came from its refineries and retail gas stations. In response to weaker energy prices, Chevron aims to conserve cash by temporarily suspending its sharebuyback program. (In 2008, it repurchased $8 billion of its stock.) It now holds $9.6 billion, or $4.70 a share, in cash, and its total debt of $8.9 billion is a low 7% of its market cap. In 2008, Chevron’s earnings rose 28.1%, to $23.9 billion from $18.7 billion in 2007. Earnings per share rose 33.1%, to $11.67 from $8.77 on fewer shares outstanding. (Chevron’s 2008 earnings included a $600-million gain on the swap of some properties.) Revenue rose 23.6%, to $273 billion from $220.9 billion. Higher oil prices in 2008 offset a 3.4% drop in overall production, mainly due to the disruption caused by hurricanes at its offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico....

AUTODESK INC. $14 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 226.3 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; WSSF Rating: Average) makes computer-assisted design software that lets engineers and architects visualize, simulate and analyze the performance of their products early in the design process. This saves time and money, and improves the quality of the finished product. Slowing construction activity has hurt demand for Autodesk’s products. In response, the company plans to cut 10% of its workforce and consolidate some of its facilities. Severance and related expenses will cost it $65 million to $75 million. These cost-cutting plans should lower its annual expenses by $130 million. To put these figures in perspective, Autodesk earned $0.45 a share, for a total $104.5 million, in its third fiscal quarter, ended October 31, 2008, up 28.6% from $0.35 a share, or $84.8 million a year earlier. If you disregard a number of non-recurring expenses and gains, earnings per share rose 14.3%, to $0.56 from $0.49. Revenue improved 12.8%, to $607.1 million from $538.4 million. These gains were largely the result of favourable foreign exchange rates and strong sales in emerging markets. International sales account for about 80% of Autodesk’s revenue....

SYMANTEC CORP. $14 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 821 million; Market cap: $11.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; WSSF Rating: Average) makes software that protects computers from viruses and intruders. The company is best known for its top-selling Norton Anti-Virus program. Products aimed at individual computer users supply 30% of Symantec’s revenue, and half of its earnings. Symantec mainly sells its products in retail stores and through online downloads. It also encourages users to renew their licences every year. Selling anti-virus products on a subscription basis gives Symantec predictable revenue streams and cuts its risk. Symantec continues to increase its focus on selling security software and other services to corporate customers, mostly through companies it has acquired. Symantec’s biggest acquisition to date was its $13.5-billion, all-stock purchase of data-storage specialist Veritas in July 2005....

EUROPEAN GOLDFIELDS $3.53 (Toronto symbol EGU; SI Rating: Speculative) (44 (20) 7408 9534; www.egoldfields.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $633.2 million) holds a 95% interest in Hellas Gold. Hellas owns three gold and base-metal deposits in northern Greece: the Stratoni zinc/ lead/silver property, the Olympias gold/zinc/lead/silver project and the Skouries copper/gold property. Production at Stratoni started in September 2005. Permits to develop the Skouries and Olympias projects are moving steadily forward....