dividends paid

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $33 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 348.1 million; Market cap: $11.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent.com) paid $1.5 billion for Varian Inc. in May 2010. This company makes testing equipment for medical-research labs. Demand for this equipment is less cyclical than Agilent’s electronic-testing products, so adding Varian cuts Agilent’s risk. Thanks mainly to Varian, Agilent’s revenue rose 22.2% in the three months ended July 31, 2011, to $1.7 billion from $1.4 billion a year earlier. Agilent earned $276 million, or $0.77 a share, up 44.5% from $191 million, or $0.54 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate Varian. The slowing economy could dampen Agilent’s growth. However, the company continues to spend around 10% of its revenue on research. This should give it a steady stream of new products to fuel its sales. As well, Agilent’s long-term debt of $2.2 billion is a moderate 19% of its market cap. It also holds cash of $3.1 billion, or $8.94 a share. That gives it plenty of room to keep buying other technology companies and developing new products....

EBAY INC. $29 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $37.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) has set up a new section of its online auction site for buying and selling gold and silver coins and bars. This new service has attracted many gold buyers, due to record gold and silver prices and eBay’s strong reputation. (Note that we still feel the best way to profit from rising gold is through well-established gold stocks like Newmont). As well, eBay should continue to profit as the sluggish economy prompts more people to sell goods online to supplement their incomes. eBay is a buy.

REITMANS (CANADA) LTD. $13.90 (Toronto symbol RET.A; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-384-1140; www.reitmans.com; Shares outstanding: 66.3 million; Market cap: $942.9 million; Dividend yield: 5.8%) owns 965 women’s clothing stores across Canada. The chain consists of 363 Reitmans, 160 Penningtons, 157 Smart Set, 122 Addition Elle, 73 Thyme Maternity, 67 RW & Co. and 23 Cassis stores. Reitmans continues to actively monitor its regional markets, and open and close stores as necessary. In the three months ended April 30, 2011, Reitmans’ earnings fell 98.3%, to $624,000, or $0.01 a share, from $37.3 million, or $0.23 a share, a year earlier. Sales were down 7.0%, to $219.3 million from $235.7 million. Same-store sales declined 8.7%....

CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL $309.44 (New York symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (303-595-4000; www.chipotle.com; Shares outstanding: 31.8 million; Market cap: $9.9 billion; No dividends paid) reported revenue of $571.6 million in the three months ended June 30, 2011. That’s up 22.4% from $466.8 million a year earlier. The company’s restaurants attracted more customers during the quarter. That pushed up its same-restaurant sales by 10.0%. Earnings per share rose 10.1%, to $1.63 from $1.48, on fewer shares outstanding. That’s mainly because the company’s food costs continue to rise, and it’s paying higher labour costs after it replaced illegal workers in the wake of a U.S. government probe of illegal immigrant hiring....

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $5.64 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704-6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 296.2 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) is a diversified natural-resource company that produces nickel, cobalt, thermal coal, oil and gas. It also manages 376 megawatts of power-generation capacity in Cuba. Sherritt is a major nickel producer, with operations in Cuba and Canada. It is also close to finishing a mine at its 40%-owned Ambatovy project on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. As well, Sherritt produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan. It is also Canada’s largest thermal coal producer. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Sherritt’s revenue rose 23.2%, to $500.6 million from $406.3 million. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share rose 5.3%, to $0.20 from $0.19. Higher nickel sales, as well as higher prices for coal and oil, were the main reasons for the improved results. Cash flow per share rose 13.6%, to $0.50 from $0.44....

ENDEAVOUR SILVER $10.36 (Toronto symbol EDR: TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-877-685-9775; www.edrsilver.com; Shares outstanding: 88.8 million; Market cap: $888.1 million; No dividends paid) operates the Guanacevi and Guanajuato silver/gold mines in Mexico. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Endeavour’s revenue rose 84.7%, to $36.4 million from $19.7 million a year earlier (all amounts except share prices in U.S. dollars). It earned $0.20 a share in the latest quarter, compared to a loss of $0.05 a share. Higher production and sharply higher gold and silver prices were the main reasons for the gains. Endeavour is nearly finished expanding the Guanajuato mine. That will let it produce 3.7 million ounces of silver in 2011, up 12.1% from 3.3 million ounces in 2010. The company has lots of room to increase the reserves of its two mines. It also has three other properties with exploration potential....

DELPHI ENERGY $2.18 (Toronto symbol DEE; TSI Network Rating: Speculative) (403-265-6171; www.delphienergy.ca; Shares outstanding: 119.7 million; Market cap: $250.3 million; No dividends paid) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Gas makes up 70% of Delphi’s daily output; the remaining 30% is oil. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Delphi’s average daily output rose 10.8%, to a record 8,906 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) from 8,035 barrels a year earlier. The higher production pushed up Delphi’s cash flow by 40.1%, to $17.5 million from $12.5 million. Cash flow per share rose 25%, to $0.15 from $0.12, on more shares outstanding....

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $4.31 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 97.4 million; Market cap: $459.6 million; No dividends paid) produces oil and natural gas in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Gas makes up about 62% of its output; the remaining 38% is oil. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, the company’s production fell 2.9%, to 11,783 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) from 12,141 barrels. However, the decline was mostly due to wet weather conditions, which held back well development. Bellatrix still plans to increase its 2011 capital spending budget by 70%, to $170 million from $100 million. As well, it has confirmed that it still expects to produce 15,000 barrels a day at the end of this year, up from its earlier forecast of 13,000 barrels....

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $15.80 (Toronto symbol AAH; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905-760-4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 14.2 million; Market cap: $222.4 million; Dividend yield: 5.1%) develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centered around business phone systems, and includes products that integrate mobile and land-line phones. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Aastra’s sales rose 2.2%, to $174.1 million from $170.3 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because the euro and Swiss franc rose against the Canadian dollar (the company gets three-quarters of its sales from Europe). Earnings rose 18.3%, to $6.1 million, or $0.43 a share. A year earlier, it earned $5.1 million, or $0.37 a share. The improved earnings are largely the result of lower research and development costs....

DOMINO’S PIZZA $26.01 (New York symbol DPZ; TSINetwork Rating: Average)(734-930-3030; www.dominos.com; Shares outstanding: 60.8 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; No dividends paid) reports that in the three months ended June 19, 2011, it earned $25.2 million, or $0.40 a share. That’s up 11.5% from $22.6 million, or $0.37 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 6.2%, to $384.9 million from $362.4 million. Same-restaurant sales rose 4.5% in the U.S. and 7.4% internationally. The consensus estimates were for earnings of $0.36 a share on sales of $372 million. The company paid more for food ingredients, but that was offset by lower costs for labour, rent and interest....