dividends paid

NCR CORP. $27 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 169.9 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) makes automated teller machines, cash registers, self-serve checkouts and kiosks for theatres and arenas. Private equity firm Blackstone Group (New York symbol BX) recently purchased $820 million worth of preferred shares that can be converted to common shares at $30.00 each. If Blackstone converted all of these holdings, it would own 17% of NCR. Blackstone’s expertise should help NCR expand its software and services businesses, which are more profitable than making ATMs and other equipment. Meanwhile, the company will use the cash to buy back $1.0 billion worth of its common shares through a Dutch auction process. Based on the initial response to the offer, NCR will repurchase 37.4 million shares at $26.75 each. That will cut the number of shares outstanding by 22%....

NCR CORP. $27 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 169.9 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) makes automated teller machines, cash registers, self-serve checkouts and kiosks for theatres and arenas. Private equity firm Blackstone Group (New York symbol BX) recently purchased $820 million worth of preferred shares that can be converted to common shares at $30.00 each. If Blackstone converted all of these holdings, it would own 17% of NCR. Blackstone’s expertise should help NCR expand its software and services businesses, which are more profitable than making ATMs and other equipment....

TRILOGY ENERGY CORP. $3.35 (Toronto symbol TET; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-290-2900; www.trilogyenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 105.4 million; Market cap: $432.8 million; No dividends paid) owns oil and gas properties in central Alberta’s Kaybob and Grande Prairie areas. About 64% of Trilogy’s production is natural gas. The remaining 36% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Trilogy produced 25,090 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including gas), down 28.6% from 35,125 barrels a year earlier. However, pipeline outages cut about 2,600 barrels a day from the latest figure. Cash flow per share fell sharply, to $0.18 from $0.69, on the production drop and lower oil and gas prices....

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $3.62 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 152.3 million; Market cap: $542.2 million; No dividends paid) develops, produces and explores for oil and gas, mainly in the Peace River Arch area near the Alberta/B.C. border. About 87% of its output is gas. The remaining 13% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Birchcliff’s cash flow per share dropped 42.0%, to $0.29 from $0.50 a year earlier. Sharply lower oil and gas prices offset a 12.3% rise in daily production. The company continues to support its cash flow with cost cuts. As well, in response to low prices, Birchcliff cut back on exploration and development spending for 2015. It will likely spend $249 million during the full year, down 45.0% from $451 million in 2014. It hasn’t yet announced its 2016 spending plans....

TEMPUR SEALY $75.57 (New York symbol TPX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (800-878-8889; www.tempursealy.com; Shares outstanding: 62.2 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; No dividends paid) completed its $1.3- billion purchase of rival Sealy in 2013. This was a major acquisition for Tempur Sealy (formerly Tempur- Pedic), but it let the company diversify into traditional spring-coil beds. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Tempur Sealy’s earnings rose 27.6%, to $69.9 million, or $1.11 a share, from $54.8 million, or $0.88 a share, a year earlier. Excluding the effect of a higher U.S. dollar, earnings per share jumped 36.4%. Sales gained 6.4%, to $880.0 million from $827.4 million. North American sales (82% of the total) rose 7.5%, while international sales (18%) fell 2.3%....

KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $31 (New York symbol KEYS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 170.0 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.keysight.com) reported a 2.6% revenue decline in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2015, to $2.86 billion from $2.93 billion in 2014. Excluding exchange rates, revenue rose 1%. Before unusual items, earnings fell 15.0%, to $432 million from $508 million. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 17.1%, to $2.52 from $3.04. That’s partly because Keysight raised its research spending by 7.2%, to $387 million (or 13.6% of revenue) from $361 million (or 12.3%). The company aims to shift away from manufacturing testing equipment for electronic devices to more profitable businesses like software and services. However, its short-term outlook is weak, which is why the stock trades at just 12.0 times the $2.59 a share Keysight will probably earn in fiscal 2016....

MITEL NETWORKS $11.40 (Toronto symbol MNW; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (613-592-2122; www.mitel.ca; Shares outstanding: 120.3 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; No dividends paid) develops and markets products centred on business telephone systems, including technology that integrates land lines and mobile phones. The company also offers call centre and videoconferencing products. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Mitel’s revenue rose 7.2%, to $293.7 million from $274.0 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). However, earnings per share fell 33.3%, to $0.12 from $0.18, as the stronger dollar lowered the value of the company’s international sales. Even so, that beat the consensus estimate of $0.07 a share....

AEROPOSTALE INC. $0.68 (New York symbol ARO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (646-485-5410; www.aeropostale.com; Shares outstanding: 79.6 million; Market cap: $53.3 million; No dividends paid) recently opened its first location in Ireland, at Dublin’s Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, one of the country’s biggest malls. The Dublin store is operated through a licensing agreement with Shuz 4 U International Ltd. Over the next five years, Aeropostale expects to open 10 more locations in Western Europe through this partnership. The company should be able to repeat its previous success at attracting new customers, but its sales may remain weak in the near term....

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL $0.79 (Toronto symbol S; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800-704- 6698; www.sherritt.com; Shares outstanding: 293.9 million; Market cap: $226.3 million; No dividends paid) is now focused on nickel production, with operations in Cuba and Canada. As well, it has a 40% interest in the Ambatovy nickel mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. Sherritt also produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan and manages 506 megawatts of power generation capacity in Cuba. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, the company’s revenue fell 25.3%, to $76.9 million from $102.9 million a year earlier, mostly due to lower oil and gas prices. Cash flow per share fell sharply, to $0.05 from $0.16....

DELPHI ENERGY $0.72 (Toronto symbol DEE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403- 265-6171; www.delphienergy.ca; Shares outstanding: 155.5 million; Market cap: $110.4 million; No dividends paid) develops, produces and explores for oil and natural gas. About 70% of its output is gas; the remaining 30% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Delphi’s production fell 16.6%, to 7,888 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 9,461 a year earlier, after the company sold some fields. The lower output and a 31.4% average decline in oil and gas prices cut cash flow per share to $0.06 from $0.09. The company will need improved oil and gas prices to move significantly higher, but its long-term outlook is positive....