Pfizer Inc.

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP., $71.45, New York symbol TUP, has gained 174.8% since we first recommended it in the May 2007 Wall Street Stock Forecaster at $26. It’s also up 56.6% since we named it as our “#1 Stock of the Year” for 2011 in the January 28, 2011 Hotline. The company makes high-quality products for the home, including plastic food and beverage containers and children’s educational toys. It also makes wide range of cosmetics, bath oils and fragrances. Tupperware sells its products through independent dealers and over the Internet, instead of retail stores. This keeps its distribution costs down, and gives it greater flexibility to handle rising prices for plastic resins made from petroleum. As well, Tupperware continues to see strong growth in emerging markets like Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

PFIZER INC. $20 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.9 billion; Market cap: $158.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is a major pharmaceutical maker. It also makes hospital and consumer products, and animal-health drugs. Pfizer sells its products in more than 150 countries; overseas sales account for about 57% of Pfizer’s total sales. Pfizer has a lot in common with AT&T. It, too, is facing falling sales in its older businesses, as patents on its top-selling drugs, such as Lipitor (for high cholesterol) expire. Like AT&T, Pfizer has used acquisitions to fuel its growth. That includes its big, $68-billion purchase of rival drug maker Wyeth in 2009, which gave it a number of promising new drugs, including Enbrel (psoriasis) and Zosyn (bacterial infections)....

Paladin Labs, $26.75, symbol PLB on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 18.7 million; Market cap: $501.0 million), is a Montreal-based specialty pharmaceutical company. Paladin sells its drugs to Canadian doctors who focus on urology, dermatology, pain management and women’s health. Paladin mainly buys, licenses and markets drugs. It specializes in drugs with patents that are about to expire, and under-promoted drugs from large pharmaceutical companies, like Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Novartis and Pfizer. Paladin also buys new drugs, or those that are close to having their patents approved. It mainly gets these drugs from small- to medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with no sales or marketing presence in Canada. Paladin promotes seven key brands, including Twinject, a pre-filled, pen-sized auto-injector with two doses of epinephrine for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions; Metadol and Tridural (both of which treat chronic pain); Pennsaid (for arthritis); Testim (a testosterone gel); Seasonale (a birth-control pill); and Plan B (an emergency contraceptive that is effective up to 72 hours after unprotected sex)....

ALTAMIRA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FUND $7.59 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Altamira Investment Services, The Exchange Tower, 130 King Street West, Suite 900, Toronto, Ont. M5X 1K9. 1-800-263-2824; Web site: www.altamira.com. No load — deal directly with the company) mostly invests in U.S. companies in the telecommunications, biotechnology, environmental-technology, health-care and computer industries. Altamira Science & Technology’s top holdings include Apple, Microsoft Corp., Google, Hewlett-Packard Co., Oracle Corporation, Electronic Arts, Pfizer, Intel, EMC Corp., Cisco Systems, IBM, Qualcomm, Canon and Merck & Co. The fund’s MER is 2.35%. The $44-million fund gained 21.7% (in Canadian dollars) in the year ended November 30, 2009. The Nasdaq index rose 19.4% (also in Canadian funds) in the same period. Over the last 10 years, the fund has lost 11.3% annually, compared to a loss of 7.4% annually for the Nasdaq index....

Many U.S. corporations cut their information-technology spending while they waited for the economy to start growing again. At the same time, U.S. consumers were buying less computer equipment as job losses pushed up the unemployment rate and eroded confidence. Spending has started to recover. As well, many U.S. technology companies have increased their international sales. At the same time, the high value of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar has boosted foreign profit contributions. Still, it would be a mistake to let volatile tech stocks dominate your portfolio. If you want to invest in tech funds, limit your investment to modest quantities. And these funds should only make up a portion of your portfolio’s manufacturing-sector holdings. Above all, only hold funds that focus on established businesses rather than start-ups....

FIDELITY TRUE NORTH FUND $24.80 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) invests in companies that the managers see as undervalued. They base their judgments on fundamentals, such as earnings, dividend yield, book value, cash flow and debt level. Fidelity True North Fund holds 77 stocks. Its top holdings consist of the following high-quality companies: Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial, Rogers Communications, EnCana Corporation, Research in Motion, Canadian Natural Resources, Goldcorp Inc., Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Suncor Energy and Royal Bank of Canada. Fidelity True North Fund’s breakdown by economic segment is: Financials, 27.0%; Energy, 24.0%; Metals & Minerals, 22.6%; Industrials, 6.6%; Telecommunication Services, 6.3%; Information Technologies, 5.8%; Consumer Discretionary, 3.3%; and Consumer Staples, 2.0%....

FIDELITY CANADIAN LARGE CAP FUND $24.05 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) mainly invests in large firms, like those on the S&P/TSX 60 index, although it may also invest in mid-cap stocks. The $304.8-million Fidelity Canadian Large Cap Fund’s top holdings include Royal Bank of Canada, Suncor Energy, Manulife Financial, Canadian Natural Resources, Research in Motion, Goldcorp, Bank of Nova Scotia, BCE Inc., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and TD Bank. The fund’s breakdown by industry includes: Financials (27.3%), Energy (18.0%), Materials (11.7%), Information Technology (9.0%), Consumer Discretionary (7.8%) and Industrials (7.5%)....

ECONOMIC INVESTMENT TRUST $59.64 (Toronto symbol EVT) holds a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality Canadian, U.S. and foreign stocks. The $378-million fund’s largest holdings include E-L Financial, Algoma Central Railway, Chevron, Nissan Motor, Royal Dutch Shell, BNP Paribas, Pfizer, ConocoPhillips, Allianz SE, BASF SE, ING Group and Vodafone Group plc. The fund holds 55.4% of its portfolio in Canada, followed by the U.S. (14.2%), Europe (22.9%), Asia (7.1%) and Australia (0.4%)....

Pfizer Inc., $14.72, symbol PFE on New York, (Shares outstanding: 6.8 billion; Market cap: $100.1 billion) is one of the world’s largest drug companies. It’s a major maker of pharmaceuticals, hospital and consumer products, and animal-health lines. Pfizer’s products are sold in more than 150 countries; international business accounts for about 58% of Pfizer’s sales. Pfizer’s major brands include Lipitor (cholesterol), Lyrica (back pain), Viagra (impotence), Zyvox (anti-infection), Aricept (Alzheimer’s), Sutent (cancer), Geodon (schizophrenia), Chantix (nicotine addiction), and Celebrex (arthritic pain and inflammation). Pfizer drugs on which U.S. patents have recently expired include Norvasc (high blood pressure), Camptosar (colon cancer) and Zyrtec (allergies). Last January, the company agreed to buy rival drug maker Wyeth (New York symbol WYE) for cash and shares. Based on current prices, the deal will cost Pfizer $63.3 billion. (Pfizer will pay about 70% of the purchase price in cash, and the remaining 30% in stock). Wyeth shareholders will own 16% of the combined company, which will probably keep the Pfizer name and trading symbol....