dividends paid

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. $13.60 (New York symbol GT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (330-796-2122; www.goodyear.com; Shares outstanding: 281.0 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; No dividends paid) is the world’s largest tire maker. It operates over 60 plants in 25 countries. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the company’s sales rose 22.1%, to a record $6.1 billion from $5.0 billion a year earlier. North American sales climbed 17.5%, to a record $2.6 billion from $2.2 billion. Sales rose 31.3% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 14.4% in Latin America; and 20.5% in Asia....

DELPHI ENERGY $2.20 (Toronto symbol DEE; TSI Network Rating: Speculative) (403-265-6171; www.delphienergy.ca; Shares outstanding: 119.2 million; Market cap: $262.2 million; No dividends paid) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta and B.C. The company is now focusing on its Bigstone, Hythe and Wapiti/Gold Creek properties in northwestern Alberta. Gas makes up 72% of Delphi’s daily output; the remaining 28% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Delphi’s average daily output rose 10.5%, to a record 8,967 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) from 8,114 barrels a year earlier....

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $33.98 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 38.7 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, which dominates the market for software that businesses use to make better decisions on customer creditworthiness. In addition, the company sells software to help credit-card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter, which ended September 30, 2011, Fair Isaac’s earnings jumped 55.4%, to $24.6 million from $15.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 66.7% to $0.65 from $0.39, on fewer shares outstanding. Savings from the company’s ongoing cost cuts were a big part of the increase. The latest earnings also beat the consensus estimate of $0.61 a share. Revenue rose 3.3% to $160.2 million from $155.1 million....

SYMANTEC $16.67 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 751.0 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; No dividends paid) sells Internet-security technology, including antivirus and Internet and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, earnings per share before one-time items rose 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34. Sales rose 13.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion. The company’s sales to businesses and consumers continue to increase due to rising concerns about identity theft and online intruders....

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE CORP. $34.10 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 162.0 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.8%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,190 franchised hotels worldwide. Aside from Wyndham and Ramada, it owns a variety of other brands, including Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inns & Suites, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and AmeriHost Inn. In addition to hotels, Wyndham manages a number of vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. Wyndham now has 97,000 vacation rental properties worldwide. This wide range of operations gives the company more consistent cash flow than most of its competitors, which mainly focus on hotels. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Wyndham’s revenue rose 13.8%, to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier. The company gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up Wyndham’s occupancy rate by 3.1%....

AMAZON.COM $211.99 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 461.0 million; Market cap: $97.7 billion; No dividends paid) reported sharply lower earnings in the latest quarter. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Amazon’s earnings fell 72.7%, to $63 million, or $0.14 a share. A year earlier, it earned $231 million, or $0.51 a share. The decline came despite a 43.9% jump in sales, to $10.9 billion from $7.6 billion. During the quarter, the company spent $779 million on “technology and content,” up 74% from $442 million a year earlier. That was the main reason for the lower earnings....

MOSAID TECHNOLOGIES INC. $45.79 (Toronto symbol MSD; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (613-599-9539; www.mosaid.com; Shares outstanding: 12.1 million; Market cap: $554.1 million; Dividend yield: 2.2%) has agreed to a friendly, $46.00-a-share, all-cash takeover offer from U.S.-based private-equity firm Sterling Partners. The Sterling Partners bid counters the most recent $42-a-share hostile offer from Wi-LAN. Prior to that, Wi-LAN had offered $38 a share. Mosaid is now trading at $45.79 a share, or just below Sterling’s bid. This indicates that investors do not expect a higher price. Wi-LAN has also said it would not raise its bid any further....

DOMINO’S PIZZA $32.21 (New York symbol DPZ; TSINetwork Rating: Average)(734-930-3030; www.dominos.com; Shares outstanding: 61.8 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; No dividends paid) is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. The company operates 9,541 stores in the U.S. and over 70 other countries. Franchisees run most of these outlets. In the three months ended September 11, 2011, Domino’s earnings per share jumped 33.3%, to $0.36 from $0.27. Sales rose 8.3%, to $376.3 million from $347.4 million. U.S. same-store sales rose 3.0%. International same-store sales jumped 8.1%. International sales have risen for 71 consecutive quarters, and should keep growing. Domino’s plans to add 300 stores a year outside the U.S., and has lots of room to expand in Europe, Latin America and Asia....

Dividends rarely get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. That’s because a dividend paying stock’s yearly 2% or 3% or 5% yield barely seems worth mentioning alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. But dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. A stock that pays a dividend of $1 this year will probably do the same next year. It may even raise it to $1.05....

NVIDIA CORP. $15 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 603.7 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nvidia.com) develops 3D graphics chips and related technology for computers, gaming consoles and other devices. The company’s chips make computer games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike. Nvidia focuses on design, and outsources production to other chipmakers. The company continues to see strong demand for its chips from makers of smartphones and other mobile devices; Motorola and Samsung are now using Nvidia’s new Tegra chips in their latest smartphones. Rising sales to mobile device makers are also offsetting slower sales of chips for desktop and notebook computers. In its 2011 second quarter, which ended July 31, 2011, Nvidia earned $193.5 million. That’s up 306.2% from $47.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 300.0%, to $0.32 from $0.08, on more shares outstanding. Sales rose 25.3%, to $1.0 billion from $811.2 million....