price to sales ratio

NORDION INC. $7.73 (Toronto symbol NDN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 61.9 million; Market cap: $478.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend suspended in September 2012; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.nordion.com) is selling its Targeted Therapies division to U.K.-based BTG plc....

ANDREW PELLER LTD. $12 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $171.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) reported that its sales rose 4.4% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013, to a record $289.1 million from $276.9 million in 2012....

Advertisers continue to move away from newspapers and magazines and toward online ads. These two media firms are cutting costs in response. The savings should help them expand their Internet businesses and maintain their dividend rates.

TRANSCONTINENTAL INC....

CGI GROUP INC. $30 (Toronto symbol GIB.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 309.3 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cgi.com) has won contracts from the Kentucky and Louisiana health cooperatives....

BLACKBERRY INC. $14 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.0 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.blackberry.com) aims to increase its sales in developing markets like Africa, Asia and Latin America with the Q5, the third smartphone to use the company’s new BlackBerry 10 software.

Like the new Q10, this new model features a 3.1-inch display and a physical keyboard....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.68 and BBD.B $4.67; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) plans to begin test flights of its new CSeries jet p...

TIM HORTONS INC. $54 (Toronto symbol THI; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 153.4 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.timhortons.com) is the largest fast-food company in Canada, with 3,453 outlets that mainly serve coffee and donuts....

Big telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon continue to spend large sums upgrading their networks. That hurts their current earnings. However, these investments help them keep up with rising demand for faster wireless and Internet access, and this expands their long-term growth potential.

Better networks will also help AT&T and Verizon hang on to customers in the face of new competition from Google (see right).

We like the outlook for both stocks, but value-seeking investors may prefer AT&T for its lower p/e ratio and higher dividend yield.

AT&T INC....

Windstream and Frontier serve rural areas and smaller cities, so they face less competition than larger telecom firms like AT&T and Verizon. That should help them maintain their dividends. However, their high debt levels and p/e ratios add risk.

WINDSTREAM CORP....

These two companies have had erratic histories since their parent firms spun them off. Agilent is up 13% since it was established as a separate company, while Teradata has gained 112%. We like the longterm outlook for both, but we only see Agilent as a buy right now.

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC....