dividends paid
NCR CORP. $30 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 168.6 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) gets 54% of its revenue from automated teller machines (ATMs). It also makes cash registers and self-serve checkouts (31% of revenue) and kiosks for theatres and arenas (10%). The remaining 5% comes from maintaining this equipment. NCR is cutting its reliance on ATMs by purchasing other companies. In February 2013, it paid $788 million for Israel-based Retalix, whose software helps retailers manage their sales and track inventory. Companies with a combined 70,000 locations in over 50 countries use Retalix’s products. In January 2014, NCR acquired Digital Insight, whose software helps over 1,000 banks and credit unions manage online and mobile transactions, for $1.65 billion....
p>BLACKBERRY LTD. $12 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 528.8 million; Market cap: $6.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) is best known for its BlackBerry smartphones. However, competition from Apple’s iPhone and Android-powered devices has cut the number of BlackBerry users worldwide to 37 million from 85 million in 2013. (All amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars.) The company also earns fees on software it installs on its clients’ email servers. These programs let its businesses and government clients manage their employees’ phones and encrypt sensitive data.
In response to its shrinking smartphone sales, BlackBerry has cut jobs and sold surplus real estate. If you exclude unusual items, the company lost $45 million, or $0.09 a share, in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended February 28, 2015. However, that’s a big improvement over its 2014 loss of $711 million, or $1.35 a share.
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In response to its shrinking smartphone sales, BlackBerry has cut jobs and sold surplus real estate. If you exclude unusual items, the company lost $45 million, or $0.09 a share, in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended February 28, 2015. However, that’s a big improvement over its 2014 loss of $711 million, or $1.35 a share.
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IAMGOLD CORP. $2.67 (Toronto symbol IMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888- 464-9999; www.iamgold.com; Shares outstanding: 391.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) will sell its 1% revenue royalty on the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories to Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (symbol SSL on Toronto). Diavik is Canada’s largest diamond mine and has been in operation since 2003. Sandstorm will pay $52.5 million U.S. in cash plus three million warrants. IAMGold can exercise the warrants for up to five years after production from a new zone at Diavik starts up. The exercise price is $4.50; Sandstorm currently trades at $4.38....
BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $7.73 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 152.3 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; 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 85% of its output is gas. The remaining 15% is oil. In the three months ended December 31, 2014, Birchcliff’s cash flow per share rose 17.1%, to $0.41 from $0.35 a year earlier. The company raised its daily output by 32.8%, offsetting lower oil prices and boosting its cash flow. Like many oil and gas producers, Birchcliff plans to cut back on exploration and development spending. This year, it will devote $266.7 million to this purpose, down from $450.0 million in 2014....
SYMANTEC CORP. $23.79 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 682.4 million; Market cap: $16.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%) sells computersecurity technology, including antivirus and emailfiltering software, to businesses and consumers. In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended January 2, 2015, Symantec earned $367 million, unchanged from a year earlier. However, per-share earnings rose 1.9%, to $0.53 from $0.52, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue slipped 3.9%, to $1.64 billion from $1.71 billion. But if you disregard the negative impact of the high U.S. dollar on the company’s overseas sales, revenue was flat....
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL $677.60 (New York symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (303-595-4000; www.chipotle.com; Shares outstanding: 31.0 million; Market cap: $21.1 billion; No dividends paid) offers only naturally raised meat that comes from animals that are raised humanely, never given antibiotics or hormones and fed a pure vegetarian diet. Chipotle had a total of 1,783 outlets at the end of 2014 and plans to add 190 to 205 more this year. However, its strict adherence to its food standards could make continued expansion increasingly difficult. That’s because demand for natural and humanely raised livestock is growing, especially in the U.S., where fast-food chains ranging from Dunkin’ Donuts to McDonald’s are switching over. In addition, new chains using naturally raised meat, like Five Guys and Shake Shack, are expanding rapidly....
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL $38.99 (New York symbol QSR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (212-333-3810; www.rbi.com; Shares outstanding: 467.0 million; Market cap: $18.2 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) is testing a new premium coffee blend, called Three Peaks Colombian, at five of its Tim Hortons outlets in Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec. This coffee comes from Colombia’s Cauca mountain region, where volcanic ash in the soil gives it what Tim Hortons describes as “a hint of caramel and a smooth finish.” The chain will sell the new brew for 15% more than its current coffees. Right now, Tim Hortons makes its coffee from a blend of various beans from sources in different countries. This helps offset varying growing seasons, as well as local droughts and other supply disruptions....
NCR CORP. $30 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 168.6 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) gets 54% of its revenue from automated teller machines (ATMs). It also makes cash registers and self-serve checkouts (31% of revenue) and kiosks for theatres and arenas (10%). The remaining 5% comes from maintaining this equipment.
NCR is cutting its reliance on ATMs by purchasing other companies. In February 2013, it paid $788 million for Israel-based Retalix, whose software helps retailers manage their sales and track inventory. Companies with a combined 70,000 locations in over 50 countries use Retalix’s products.
In January 2014, NCR acquired Digital Insight, whose software helps over 1,000 banks and credit unions manage online and mobile transactions, for $1.65 billion.
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NCR is cutting its reliance on ATMs by purchasing other companies. In February 2013, it paid $788 million for Israel-based Retalix, whose software helps retailers manage their sales and track inventory. Companies with a combined 70,000 locations in over 50 countries use Retalix’s products.
In January 2014, NCR acquired Digital Insight, whose software helps over 1,000 banks and credit unions manage online and mobile transactions, for $1.65 billion.
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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.
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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.
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ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $76 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 500.3 million; Market cap: $38.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 8.8; No dividends paid since June 2005; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.adobe.com) makes software for publishing companies and website developers.
The company’s main products include Adobe Acrobat, which lets users create and edit electronic documents in the widely used PDF format, and its Creative Suite package of desktop publishing and photo editing programs, including Photoshop.
In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended February 27, 2015, Adobe earned $0.44 a share, up 46.7% from $0.30 a year earlier. Revenue rose 10.9%, to $1.11 billion from $1.00 billion. The company spends a high 20% of its revenue on research.
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The company’s main products include Adobe Acrobat, which lets users create and edit electronic documents in the widely used PDF format, and its Creative Suite package of desktop publishing and photo editing programs, including Photoshop.
In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended February 27, 2015, Adobe earned $0.44 a share, up 46.7% from $0.30 a year earlier. Revenue rose 10.9%, to $1.11 billion from $1.00 billion. The company spends a high 20% of its revenue on research.
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