intel

We feel that investors will profit the most by holding a well-balanced portfolio of high-quality stocks. However, if you don’t want to build a portfolio, or you want to supplement your individual stock holdings, then ETFs can provide a great alternative. The main factors we use to evaluate ETFs are the stocks they hold, the diversification of their holdings across the five economic sectors and the fees (MERs) they charge. In general, investors holding mainly ETFs would want, say, 60% in Canadian ETFs and 20% to 30% in U.S. ETFs....

Intel Corp. aims to grow revenue by $1.8 billion with new chip technology for server computers

Computer technology continues to change— and spread— rapidly. We feel the best way to profit from this growth is by investing in well-established companies that lead their markets, like the four we analyze below. All of them have strong earnings and balance sheets. That lets them spend heavily on product development and buy smaller firms with attractive technologies. We have a high opinion of all four, but we see only two as buys right now....

Computer technology continues to change— and spread— rapidly. We feel the best way to profit from this growth is by investing in well-established companies that lead their markets, like the four we analyze below. All of them have strong earnings and balance sheets. That lets them spend heavily on product development and buy smaller firms with attractive technologies. We have a high opinion of all four, but we see only two as buys right now....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

These three technology firms continue to see slowing demand for their traditional, but still highly successful, products. In response, they’re shifting into related areas such as cloud computing. We feel their strong balance sheets and expertise will help them adapt, both through acquisitions and internal growth, but only two are buys right now. INTEL CORP. $34 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.7 billion; Market cap: $159.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s leading chip maker. Its products power 80% of all personal computers....

CONAGRA FOODS INC., $40.85, New York symbol CAG, rose 5% this week after announcing it will spin off its commercial-food operations as a separate publicly traded company. This new business, called Lamb Weston, sells frozen potatoes and other vegetable products to restaurants and other food makers. It had $2.9 billion of revenue in ConAgra’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2015. The remaining operations will operate as Conagra Brands and will focus on the company’s branded consumer foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pastas, Hunt’s tomato sauce and Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn. It will also hold ConAgra’s 44% stake in the Ardent Mills flour-milling joint venture. In fiscal 2015, these businesses had $7.2 billion of revenue....

INTEL CORP. $34 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.7 billion; Market cap: $159.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s leading chip maker. Its products power 80% of all personal computers.

In the three months ended September 26, 2015, Intel’s earnings fell 6.3%, to $3.1 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier. The company repurchased $1.0 billion of its shares during the quarter, so per-share profits declined just 3.0%, to $0.64 from $0.66. Overall revenue slipped 0.6%, to $14.47 billion from $14.55 billion.

Revenue from chips for computers and mobile devices (59% of the total) fell 7.5%, partly because Intel is offering fewer subsidies to mobile-device makers.

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POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $105.63 (Nasdaq symbol QQQ; buy or sell throughbrokers ; www.invescopowershares.com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds stocks representing the Nasdaq 100 Index, which consists of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange by market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial firms. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets. It yields 1.0%.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Amgen, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel Corp., Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences, Comcast and Facebook.

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WAL-MART STORES INC., $58.87, New York symbol WMT, fell 11% this week after warning that higher employee wages, new investments in its online businesses and the negative impact of the high U.S. dollar will slow its earnings growth. The company earned $4.84 a share in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2015, but it expects its profits to dip to between $4.40 and $4.70 a share in fiscal 2016. It also forecasts a further 6% to 12% decline in 2017. That’s much worse than the consensus prediction of a 4% gain. However, Wal-Mart feels its expanded online presence and higher efficiency will increase its earnings per share in 2018 and 2019....