dividends paid

DOMINO’S PIZZA $42.06 (New York symbol DPZ; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (734-930-3030; www.dominos.com; Shares outstanding: 56.8 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; No dividends paid) is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. It operates 10,040 outlets in the U.S. and over 70 in other countries. Franchisees run most of these stores. In the quarter ended September 9, 2012, the company’s earnings per share rose 22.2%, to $0.44 from $0.36 a year earlier. Sales rose slightly, to $378.1 million from $376.3 million. Same-store sales rose 5.0% internationally and 3.3% in the U.S. Domino’s continues to boost its sales by aggressively promoting its new pizza recipes. It’s also profiting by moving into digital ordering on the Internet and through software applications (or apps) on smartphones. In addition, Domino’s still has lots of growth potential overseas....

RUBY TUESDAY, INC. $7.89 (New York symbol RT; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (865-379-5700; www.rubytuesday.com; Shares outstanding: 63.7 million; Market cap: $502.6 million; No dividends paid) has appointed J.J. Buettgen as its new president and CEO. The move comes after Ruby Tuesday’s founder, Sandy Beall, stepped down in June after heading the company for 40 years. Buettgen was formerly the chief marketing officer at Darden Restaurants (symbol DRI on New York). Darden is the world’s largest casual-dining operator, with more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Ruby Tuesday has developed a number of new concepts, including Marlin & Ray’s seafood restaurants and Lime Fresh Mexican Grills, so it needs someone with experience promoting multiple brands. As well, Buettgen has worked on turning around Darden’s wellestablished but underperforming Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains....

REITMANS (CANADA) LTD. $11.75 (Toronto symbol RET.A; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514- 384-1140; www.reitmans.com; Shares outstanding: 65.5 million; Market cap: $769.6 million; Dividend yield: 6.8%) reports that its sales fell 7.0% in the three months ended October 27, 2012, to $236.2 million from $254.1 million a year earlier. Same-store sales declined 4.0%. The company earned $38,000, or nil per share, compared to a profit of $10.6 million, or $0.16 a share, a year earlier. In June 2012, Reitmans installed new inventorymanagement software at its distribution centre, and complications with this system have disrupted shipments to its stores. In the latest quarter, that cut sales at the company’s outlets by $7 million to $15 million and caused a corresponding drop in profits....

When you select finance-sector investments, we recommend that you begin with Canada’s big-five banks due to their long record of profits and rising dividends. We then recommend diversifying your holdings with non-bank finance stocks like these four. Conservative investors should stick with Great-West and IGM. More aggressive investors should also consider Home Capital and Dundee. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $23 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 949.9 million; Market cap: $21.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend Yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $532.3 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds and financial services, such as retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 68.2% of Great-West....

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $7.48 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 276.3 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; No dividends paid since February 2009; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract-drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. It had 363 rigs in service as of September 30, 2012. The company is slowly expanding its international operations: it now has a total of eight rigs in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Precision’s overseas business now accounts for 5% of its revenue, up from just 1% a year ago. In the three months ended September 30, 2012, the company’s earnings fell 52.8%, to $39.4 million, or $0.14 a share. A year earlier, it earned $83.5 million, or $0.29 a share....

These two technology stocks have dropped sharply in the past year. RIM is facing strong competition from other smartphone makers, while Nordion is having trouble lining up new medical isotope supplies. Still, their strong balance sheets make them worthwhile holds. RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD. $12 (Toronto symbol RIM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 516.4 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rim.com) has gained over 96% since it fell to $6.10 on September 24, 2012. That’s mainly because the company confirmed it will launch smartphones that use its new BlackBerry 10 software on January 30, 2013. These devices will help RIM compete with Apple’s (Nasdaq symbol AAPL) iPhone and phones powered by Google’s (Nasdaq symbol GOOG) Android software. The U.S. government has also approved BlackBerry 10 software for use by its agencies. This will help RIM hang on to its current government clients....

Dividends often don’t get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. That’s because a dividend stock’s yearly 3% or 5% yield may not seem impressive alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. Yet dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. So with today’s low interest rates, investors are paying more attention to dividend yields (a company’s total annual dividends paid per share divided by the current stock price). That’s why the high dividend yield of a company like Bell Aliant stands out....

Like Kraft (see page 111), Sara Lee Corp. recently split into two separate companies: U.S.-based Hillshire Brands and Holland-based D.E. Master Blenders. Both stocks have stayed in a narrow range sincethe split in June 2012. That’s partly because investors often dump new shares they didn’t want. As well, few brokers cover these new companies. However, spinoffs tend to pay off for patient investors. Their smaller size could also make theses two new companies attractive takeover targets....

EBAY INC. $49 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $63.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) aims to profit from rising demand for online shopping in China through a new alliance with Xiu.com, a leading Chinese seller of luxury goods. Under the deal, the partners will launch a new website, ebay.xiu.com, which will let certain U.S. retailers sell their goods at fixed prices. The sellers will then send the orders they receive from the site to eBay’s Dallas warehouse, which will forward the goods to China. Xiu.com will handle local shipping and customer service. eBay is a buy.

NCR CORP. $24 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 159.9 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) has won a contract to install 10,000 of its self-checkout systems at more than 1,200 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. These devices let shoppers pay for their purchases without a cashier. That cuts the retailer’s labour costs, speeds up checkout times and encourages repeat visits. The company did not say how much this contract is worth. However, Wal-Mart’s purchase should make it easier for NCR to sell its systems to other big retailers. NCR is a buy.