investment

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $60.43 New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 118.8 million; Market cap: $7.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) serves the investment industry in two main areas: investor communications, and securities processing and transaction clearing. It processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada. Excluding one-time items, Broadridge earned $46.5 million in its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended December 31, 2015. That’s up 16.5% from $39.9 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 18.8%, to $0.38 from $0.32, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 11.1%, to $638.9 million from $574.6 million. Investor communications makes up 72% of Broadridge’s revenues. Back-office securities processing and transaction clearing make up the remaining 28%; they also provide the company with strong long-term growth prospects in the U.S. and globally....

D-BOX Technologies experienced double-digit revenue gains for each of its business lines in the last quarter, reversing an earnings shortfall.

You have to learn a lot of things to become a successful investor, and few people learn them all in any logical progression. Instead, most of us move from one subject of interest to another, with a lot of zigs and zags in between. That’s why some investors go through a phase when they know just enough about a particular investment to be a danger to themselves and others. All investments come with a mix of risk and potential reward. The greatest danger comes when you understand the mechanics of an investment, but you’re missing some of the details. Your understanding of the potential reward can make you greedy, while the gaps in your knowledge limit your natural, healthy sense of skepticism....

BOMBARDIER INC., Toronto symbols BBD.A $1.84 and BBD.B $1.62, announced this week that Latvia-based Air Baltic has exercised its option to buy seven more of the company’s new CSeries passenger jets. The client had previously ordered 13 planes. Bombardier will begin to deliver the aircraft by the end of 2016. The company now has firm orders for 250 CSeries planes. Based on the list price for the aircraft, these orders are worth $18 billion (all amounts except share prices in U.S. dollars). To put that in context, Bombardier’s total revenue was $18.2 billion in 2015. However, the company typically offers discounts to customers that buy multiple planes. So the total value of its CSeries backlog is probably much less than the list price. OUR RECOMMENDATION: Bombardier is still a hold....

TransCanada recently had to write off its investment in its Keystone XL oil pipeline project after the U.S. government rejected the plan. Political pressure in Canada could also force it to cancel its huge Energy East pipeline. Despite these setbacks, TransCanada’s future looks bright. The company recently announced a big acquisition in the U.S. that should fuel its growth for years to come. As well, it will soon complete $13 billion of smaller pipelines and power plants. The projects already have long-term commitments from future customers. Those contracts cut the risk of these new ventures. TRANSCANADA CORP. $50 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 702.3 million; Market cap: $35.1 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) operates a 67,300- kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to Eastern Canada and the U.S. This system supplies 20% of North America’s natural gas needs. In 2015, gas pipelines provided 47% of TransCanada’s revenue and 54% of its earnings....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $1.52 and BBD.B $1.43; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend suspended in February 2015; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest maker of commercial aircraft, after Boeing and Airbus. It’s also a leading maker of passenger railcars. The company recently formed a joint venture with the government of Quebec to build its new CSeries passenger jets. Under the deal, the province will pay $1.0 billion for 49.5% of this business (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars)....

Bombardier and BlackBerry (see box) continue to struggle with strong competition and shrinking sales. However, both are developing new products that should spur growth. As well, their sizable cash holdings help cut their short-term risk. BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $1.52 and BBD.B $1.43; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend suspended in February 2015; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest maker of commercial aircraft, after Boeing and Airbus. It’s also a leading maker of passenger railcars. The company recently formed a joint venture with the government of Quebec to build its new CSeries passenger jets....

Trading on the after hours market can easily do more harm than good to your portfolio returns.

Nobel Prizes for scientific discoveries—particularly in physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine and economics—often go to two or three individuals. (Three is the maximum that Nobel rules allow.) You might think these groups are made up of people who were working together. In fact, the Nobel winners often worked independently from each other. Historians refer to this as “multiple independent discovery.” It’s a common pattern in science, and goes back centuries. For instance, Isaac Newton (1642–1726) commonly gets credit for the discovery of calculus (the mathematical study of rates of change). Newton was an English physicist and mathematician (described in those days as a “natural philosopher”). His work made him the obvious choice for the honour, especially in the English-speaking world. However, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) claimed to have developed calculus independently of Newton. Liebniz was a German philosopher and polymath (an intellectual jack-of-all-trades), so his claim to the discovery carried less weight. A rivalry developed between them. They sniped at each other when speaking to groups of intellectuals, and their dispute grew more bitter as time passed....

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