dividends paid

BLACKBERRY LTD. $8.44 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.6 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) lost $965 million, or $1.84 a share, in the three months ended August 31, 2013 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s mainly because it wrote down the value of its unsold Z10 touchscreen smartphones by $934 million. A year earlier, it lost $229 million, or $0.44 a share. Revenue fell 45.0%, to $1.6 billion from $2.9 billion.

The company has accepted a $9.00 U.S.-a-share takeover offer from Fairfax Financial Holdings (Toronto symbol FFH). However, it’s unclear if Fairfax can complete the deal. That’s why the stock is trading at 9.8% below the offer price.

Due to its worsening financial condition, we’ve cut BlackBerry’s TSINetwork Rating from “Average” to “Speculative.”
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CGI GROUP INC. $36 (Toronto symbol GIB.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 310.9 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cgi.com) is Canada’s largest provider of computer outsourcing services. CGI helps its clients automate routine functions, like accounting and buying supplies. That makes them more efficient and lets them focus on their main businesses.

CGI was our Stock of the Year for both 2010 and 2011. We first recommended it as our top choice at $15, which works out to a 140.0% gain.

The company continues to benefit from its August 2012 purchase of U.K.-based outsourcing firm Logica. Thanks to Logica, CGI earned $200.4 million in its 2013 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2013. That’s up 115.3% from $93.0 million a year ago. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 80.0%, to $0.63 from $0.35.
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For many years, these three technology firms have dominated their markets. However, rapidly changing consumer tastes and business trends have hurt their recent growth.

Their strong brands and reputations will help them overcome these challenges, but their shares will probably continue to move sideways for some time.

HEWLETT-PACKARD CO....

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES $20.78 (Toronto symbol AAH; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905-760- 4200; www.aastra.com; Shares outstanding: 11.8 million; Market cap: $245.1 million; Dividend yield: 3.9%) develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet....

IAMGOLD $4.59 (Toronto symbol IMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-888-464-9999; www.iamgold- .com; Shares outstanding: 376.6 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Dividend yield: 5.5%) owns 38% of the Sadiola mine and 40% of the Yatela mine, both located in Mali; 90% of its new Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso; 100% of the Doyon mine in Quebec; and 95% of the Rosebel mine in Suriname, South America.

In addition, IAMGold has a 1% royalty interest in the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories....

AEROPOSTALE $8.99 (New York symbol ARO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (646- 485-5410; www.aeropostale.com; Shares outstanding: 78.5 million; Market cap: $705.6 million; No dividends paid) is now 8% owned by New-York based private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

Earlier this year, Sycamore Partners paid $600 million for Hot Topic, a U.S....

NISSAN MOTOR (ADR) $20.51 (Nasdaq symbol NSANY; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) (310-771-3111; www.nissan-global.com; Shares outstanding: 2.3 billion; Market cap: $45.7 billion; No dividends paid) has reported lower U.S. sales for the month of September, along with most other automakers....

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $62.75 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 133.0 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,410 franchised hotels worldwide.

In addition to hotels, Wyndham manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares....

TERADATA CORP. $43 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 163.1 million; Market cap: $7.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) makes computers and software that capture and store large amounts of a business’s data, including its sales and inventory. It then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits and trends, which helps its clients make better decisions.

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, the company’s earnings fell 4.5%, to $126 million from $132 million a year earlier.

Teradata spent $91 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell at a slower pace of 1.3%, to $0.76 from $0.77.
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In choosing a Stock of the Year, we aim for a “heads you win, tails you break even” situation. These stocks can put on above-average rises, but they’re unlikely to be disasters if they disappoint.

Our past #1 picks, including Agrium (see page 101), sometimes take a year or more to get going....