CAE Inc.

CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 265.3 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) gets 55% of its revenue by selling flight simulators and pilot-training services to commercial airlines. Another 40% comes from simulators and training for military clients, mainly in the U.S. CAE gets the remaining 5% of its sales by making medical-simulation products, such as mannequins, for training nurses and medical students. Steady growth in revenue, earnings...

We still think investors will profit most—and with the least risk—by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.

These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.

Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects.

Here are 20 stocks we think meet those criteria:

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CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $120.92, Toronto symbol CTC.A, hit a new all-time high of $121.66 this week after announcing a new three-year growth plan. The company’s strategy mainly involves building new stores, upgrading existing ones and expanding its e-commerce businesses. It will spend $575 million a year on these initiatives from 2015 to 2017. To put that in context, Canadian Tire earned $169.9 million, or $2.12 a share, in the quarter ended June 28, 2014. The company feels these improvements will increase annual sales by 3% at its Canadian Tire stores, 5% at the Mark’s casual clothing chain and 9% at its sporting goods stores, including Sport Chek. It also expects its earnings per share to rise 8% to 10% each year over the next three years....

TIM HORTONS INC., $88.38, Toronto symbol THI, still plans to merge with Miami-based Burger King Worldwide (New York symbol BKW), even though the U.S. government is now clamping down on “tax inversion” deals like this one. The combined firm will be based in Oakville, Ontario, which will let it take advantage of Canada’s 15% corporate tax rate, compared to 35% in the U.S. Under the new rules, it’s now more difficult for the foreign parent firm to shift funds between subsidiaries....

CAE INC. $13.45, Toronto symbol CAE, plans to sell its mining operations, which make simulators for training workers to operate underground trucks, loaders and drills. This business supplies just 2% of the company’s revenue. The mining operations were part of CAE’s New Core Markets division, which applies the company’s flight simulator expertise to other industries. This division, now called Healthcare, will focus on medical-simulation products, such as mannequins for training nurses and medical students. In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended June 30, 2014, CAE’s earnings from ongoing operations fell 2.0%, to $43.6 million from $44.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.17, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19. Lower earnings from the company’s military-related businesses offset strong gains from its commercial division....

CAE INC. $14 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 264.0 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) has received orders for seven flight simulators and related equipment. In all, these deals are worth $120 million, or 6% of CAE’s $2.1 billion of annual revenue.

The company has sold 11 flight simulators since its 2015 fiscal year began on April 1, 2014. In fiscal 2014, the company sold a record 48 simulators.

CAE is our #1 buy for 2014.

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CAE INC. $14 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 264.0 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) has received orders for seven flight simulators and related equipment. In all, these deals are worth $120 million, or 6% of CAE’s $2.1 billion of annual revenue. The company has sold 11 flight simulators since its 2015 fiscal year began on April 1, 2014. In fiscal 2014, the company sold a record 48 simulators. CAE is our #1 buy for 2014.

CAE INC., $14.29, Toronto symbol CAE, has won new contracts to supply flight simulators and related services and equipment to several military clients, including the German and New Zealand air forces. In all, these deals are worth $110 million, or 5% of CAE’s $2.1 billion of annual revenue. The company’s military-related businesses supply 40% of its revenue, which cuts its reliance on cyclical commercial airlines. CAE is our #1 buy for 2014....

CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 263.8 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) has a long history of developing flight simulators for Bombardier’s aircraft. This expertise will give CAE an advantage when airlines begin training their pilots to operate the new CSeries jet.

Meanwhile, the company sold a record 48 simulators in its 2014 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2014. It ended the year with a $4.2-billion order backlog, which is equal to roughly two years’ worth of revenue.

CAE is our #1 buy for 2014.

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Bombardier recently had to suspend test flights of its CSeries passenger plane because of a problem with its Pratt & Whitney engines, which are 20% more fuel-efficient than current models. This was the first major issue with this new engine in over three years of testing.

The delay will probably add to the CSeries’ development costs, but Bombardier still expects to begin deliveries in the second half of 2015.

Uncertainty over the CSeries adds to Bombardier’s risk, and weighs on its stock price....