investment

Genworth Financial, $10.61, symbol GNW on New York (Shares outstanding: 493.1 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; www.genworth.com), is a U.S. financial company that provides insurance, wealth management, investment and financial products to about 15 million customers in more than 25 countries. The company has four main segments: U.S. Life Insurance, which supplies 65% of Genworth’s revenue, International Mortgage Insurance (15%), International Protection (9%), U.S. Mortgage Insurance (7%) and Wealth Management (4%). Genworth was badly hurt by the mortgages it insured during the big fall in U.S. housing prices in the recession. However, it has made a lot of progress in making its insurance business more profitable....

Alere Inc., $24.84, symbol ALR on New York (Shares outstanding: 81.3 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; www.alere.com), develops, makes and sells medical diagnostic products and monitoring and testing kits for professional and home use. The company focuses on the infectious disease, cardiology, oncology, drug abuse and women’s health areas. Alere operates through three main segments: Professional Diagnostic Products, which provides 78% of its overall sales, Health Information Solutions (19%) and Consumer Diagnostic Products (3%). The company has strong relationships with hospitals and other health care providers, as well as a diverse product line. However, it continues to grow rapidly by acquisition, largely by issuing debt....

LEON’S FURNITURE LTD. (Toronto symbol LNF; www.leons.ca) built its 75-store furniture chain on its four main strengths: a huge selection of furniture, appliances and electronics; a lowest-price guarantee; strong after-sales service; and aggressive TV, radio and print advertising. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Leon’s sales rose 3.2%, to $162.5 million from $157.4 million a year earlier. However, earnings fell 36.9%, to $5.4 million, or $0.08 a share....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA (Toronto symbol RY; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with $867.5 billion of assets. Royal recently paid $3.7 billion for Ally Financial’s Canadian operations. This business mainly provides car loans through over 1,600 dealerships across the country. It also offers no-fee savings accounts and consumer and business loans....

ALARMFORCE INDUSTRIES, $10.41, symbol AF on Toronto, reports that its sales rose 9.1% in the three months ended April 30, 2013, to $11.9 million from $10.9 million a year earlier. The company earned $1.3 million, or $0.11 a share, compared to a loss of $238,021, or $0.02 a share. AlarmForce’s revenue rose along with its subscriber base: the company ended the quarter with 31,200 U.S. customers, up 22.8% from 25,400 a year ago. In Canada, it now has 106,500 subscribers, up 1.8%. The company’s earnings rose because it spent a lot less on marketing than in the year-earlier quarter, when it increased its advertising spending as it launched its VideoRelay system. This service lets subscribers watch their homes through computers and smartphones....

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC., $44.77, Nasdaq symbol ADBE, reported better-than-expected earnings this week. In its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended May 31, 2013, Adobe’s earnings fell 39.0%, to $182.9 million, or $0.36 a share. A year earlier, it earned $299.6 million, or $0.60 a share. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as restructuring charges and gains on investment sales. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.34 a share. Revenue fell 10.1%, to $1.01 billion from $1.12 billion. That matched the consensus estimate....

TIM HORTONS INC., $55.01, Toronto symbol THI, moved up this week after U.S.-based activist investor Scout Capital Management said it now owns 5.5% of the company’s shares. The announcement follows last month’s news that another investment firm, Highfields Capital Management, had pressured Tim Hortons to unlock shareholder value by buying back shares and selling some of its operations. Highfields owns about 4% of the company. These two investors also want Tim Hortons to slow down its plan to expand in the U.S., where it faces strong competition from larger chains like McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. However, the company still expects to open 70 to 90 new outlets in the U.S. this year. As of March 31, 2013, it had 3,453 coffee-and-donut stores in Canada, 808 in the U.S. and 27 in the Persian Gulf....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on investing in stocks and other questions on investment strategy and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week, an Inner Circle member asked about a stock that made headlines in the past week. Popular athletic wear maker lululemon is dealing with the unexpected departure of CEO Christine Day in the wake of well publicized manufacturing problems. Pat examines the company’s financial outlook and its future prospects in a competitive activewear market. ...

GOOGLE INC. (Nasdaq symbol GOOG; www.google.com) is the world’s top Internet search engine, with about two-thirds of this market. The company makes money by selling advertising on its websites. Google gets 96% of its revenue from advertising. The company also offers a variety of free services such as Gmail (email), YouTube (videos) and Google+ (social networking). These services help draw more users to Google’s websites, which lets the company sell more ads and charge higher ad rates....

TIM HORTONS INC. (Toronto symbol THI; www.timhortons.com) is the largest fast-food company in Canada, with 3,453 outlets that mainly serve coffee and donuts. The company also has 808 U.S. stores. The stock has moved up lately in response to demands from Highfields Capital Management, a U.S.-based activist investment firm that owns 1.5% of Tim Hortons’ shares. Highfields has proposed several ways to boost shareholder value, including slowing Tim Hortons’ expansion in the U.S., where it faces intense competition from larger chains like McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks....