dividends paid

Google’s shares have moved sideways in the past year, mainly because investors are concerned that the shift toward mobile devices is slowing growth at its online advertising business. Developers have also launched new software that blocks online ads, which adds further uncertainty. However, we feel the company’s new plan to promote mobile websites in its search results will spur its mobile ad revenue. That should give it an advantage over other online ad sellers, like Facebook. To top it off, the stock could rise sharply if Google began paying a dividend or announced a big share buyback plan. GOOGLE INC. (Nasdaq symbols GOOG $540 [class C: nonvoting] and GOOGL $554 [class A: one vote per share]; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 682.4 million; Market cap: $368.8 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 5.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.google.com) controls about two-thirds of the global Internet search market, mainly because its innovative technology helps users quickly find the information they’re seeking. The U.S. supplies 43% of the company’s revenue....

NEW GOLD $3.86 (Toronto symbol NGD; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (888-315-9715; www.newgold.com; Shares outstanding: 508.9 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; No dividends paid) has four mines: the Mesquite project in the U.S., Cerro San Pedro in Mexico, the Peak mine in Australia and the New Afton mine in B.C. New Gold also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/ gold project in Chile, 100% of the Blackwater property in B.C. and 100% of Ontario’s Rainy River project. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s cash flow per share fell 27.8%, to $0.13 from $0.18 a year earlier. Gold production rose 4.0%, to 94,977 ounces from 91,317, but an 11.2% fall in copper output from New Afton, along with lower realized gold prices, cut New Gold’s cash flow....

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $86.49 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 120.0 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,670 franchised hotels worldwide. Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has 109,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Wyndham’s revenue rose 5.8%, to $1.26 billion from $1.19 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 increase its occupancy rate by 0.6%....

BMTC GROUP $16.25 (Toronto symbol GBT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-648-5757; No website; Shares outstanding: 43.1 million; Market cap: $799.9 million; Dividend yield: 1.5%) recently received shareholder approval for its plan to simplify its capital structure by moving from two share classes to one. As a result, it has converted all of its class A (one vote per share) and B shares (20 votes per share) into a single class of common shares (one vote per share). The common shares trade on the Toronto exchange under the new GBT symbol. Meanwhile, BMTC earned $59,000, or nil per share, in the quarter ended March 31, 2015, compared to a loss of $1.5 million, or $0.03 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 2.9%, to $149.3 million from $145.1 million. Same-store sales gained 1.6%....

GOOGLE INC. (Nasdaq symbols GOOG $540 [class C: nonvoting] and GOOGL $554 [class A: one vote per share]; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 682.4 million; Market cap: $368.8 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 5.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.google.com) controls about two-thirds of the global Internet search market, mainly because its innovative technology helps users quickly find the information they’re seeking. The U.S. supplies 43% of the company’s revenue.

Google gets 90% of its revenue by selling advertising on its websites. It mainly does this through its AdWords program. Using AdWords, advertisers bid on certain search words or phrases. The company then charges advertisers when users click on their ads.

In addition to search, Google offers other free services and soft- ware, including Gmail (email), YouTube (videos), Google+ (social networking), Chrome (a web browser) and Android (mobile phone software). These services draw more users to Google’s sites, which lets it sell more ads and charge higher ad rates.

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AMAZON.COM $423.86 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk)(206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 465.7 million; Market cap: $196.4 billion; No dividends paid) continues to expand its Amazon Prime service.

Amazon recently formed an alliance with JetBlue that will let Prime members stream movies and TV shows through the airline’s in-plane Wi-Fi system to their mobile devices at no extra cost. They can also listen to over one million songs. Non-members can also access the service for a small fee.

The company launched Prime in 2005. For $99 a year, members get two-day shipping on all of their purchases. U.S. members also get three additional free services: streaming from Amazon Instant Video, streaming from Prime Music and cloud photo storage with Prime Photos.

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TEMPUR SEALY $60.78 (New York symbol TPX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative)(800-878-8889; www.tempursealy.com; Shares outstanding: 61.0 million; Market cap: $3.8 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 has let the company diversify into traditional spring-coil beds.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Tempur Sealy’s earnings rose 4.6%, to $34.1 million from $32.6 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings gained 3.8%, to $0.55 from $0.53, on more shares outstanding. Excluding the effect of a higher U.S. dollar, earnings per share jumped 20%.

Sales gained 5.4%, to $739.5 million from $701.9 million. North American sales (80% of the total) rose 7.5%, but international sales (20% of total revenue) fell 2.6%.

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NEW GOLD $3.86 (Toronto symbol NGD; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (888-315-9715; www.newgold.com; Shares outstanding: 508.9 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; No dividends paid) has four mines: the Mesquite project in the U.S., Cerro San Pedro in Mexico, the Peak mine in Australia and the New Afton mine in B.C.

New Gold also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/ gold project in Chile, 100% of the Blackwater property in B.C. and 100% of Ontario’s Rainy River project.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s cash flow per share fell 27.8%, to $0.13 from $0.18 a year earlier. Gold production rose 4.0%, to 94,977 ounces from 91,317, but an 11.2% fall in copper output from New Afton, along with lower realized gold prices, cut New Gold’s cash flow.

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These three companies have a long history of developing cutting-edge products. That’s partly why they’re hitting new multi-year highs. However, disruptive new technologies could quickly overtake their latest offerings and slow their growth. APPLE INC. $129 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.8 billion; Market cap: $748.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) aims to cut its reliance on the iPhone smartphone, which supplies nearly 70% of its revenue, with several new products....

GOOGLE INC. (Nasdaq symbols GOOG $539 [class C non-voting] and GOOGL $549 [class A voting]); Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 680.6 million; Market cap: $366.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.google.com) may launch a paid version of its popular YouTube video-streaming website later this year. By paying a monthly fee, viewers would be able to watch videos without advertising. That would help YouTube compete with other streaming services, including Netflix and Hulu, and cut its reliance on selling ads. The company would have to share most of these subscription fees with content providers. Still, a subscription service could generate $2 billion of additional revenue a year for Google; the company’s total revenue was $66.0 billion in 2014. Shareholders should continue to hold their class A shares, but we recommend the cheaper class C stock for new buying....