stantec
Toronto symbol STN, offers clients a broad range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services.
Stantec, Inc., symbol STN on Toronto, sells a range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services. The company’s clients operate in a number of markets, including industry, environment, transportation and construction. Stantec is one of the growth stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest. The company has over 11,000 employees in 170 locations throughout North America. It also has four international offices....
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP LTD., $12.43, symbol CMG on Toronto, makes software and supplies services that help its clients get as much oil as possible from their existing wells. The company makes mostly recurring revenue from software licences and consulting contracts. That gives it long-term stability. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 32.2%, to $15.9 million from $12.1 million a year earlier. Licence revenue rose 42%; that more than offset a 19% drop in consulting and professional services revenue, due to the strong Canadian dollar. Earnings rose 57.6%, to $6.7 million, or $0.18 a share, from $4.2 million, or $0.12 a share....
Stantec Inc., symbol STN on Toronto, sells a range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services. The company’s clients operate in a number of markets, including industry, environment, transportation and construction. Stantec has over 9,400 employees in 150 locations throughout North America. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, the growth stock’s revenue rose 11.9%, to $383.7 million from $342.8 million a year earlier. Acquisitions were the main reason for the revenue increase. The growth stock’s earnings rose 9.6%, to $22.9 million, or $0.55 a share, from $25.1 million, or $0.50 a share. The company continues to grow through acquistions. In October 2010, it acquired Street Smarts, a Georgia company that specializes in roadway engineering. In December it bought Burt Hill, a 600-employee Pennsylvania architectural and engineering firm that focuses on health care and higher education. In February 2011, Stantec acquired QuadraTech, Inc., an engineering-services firm in Newfoundland and Labrador....
YAMANA GOLD, $12.36, symbol YRI on Toronto, has entered into an agreement with Goldcorp Inc. (Toronto symbol G) and Switzerland-based Xstrata plc. Under the deal, Yamana will sell its 100%-owned Agua Rica copper/gold property in Argentina to mining firm Minera Alumbrera. Agua Rica is about 35 kilometres from the producing Alumbrera mine. This mine is owned by Minera Alumbrera, which is currently owned 50% by Xstrata, 37.5% by Goldcorp and 12.5% by Yamana. In exchange for Agua Rica, Yamana (which will still own 12.5% of the project through Minera Alumbrera) will get payments totalling $110 million over three years, plus a further $150 million when construction begins on a mine, and an additional $50 million when the mine goes into production. Yamana will also get a revenue stream equal to 65% of the gold produced as a by-product of the mainly copper deposit, to a maximum of 2.3 million ounces at spot prices minus $450 U.S. an ounce....
ALARMFORCE INDUSTRIES $9.25 (Toronto symbol AF: TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-800- 267-2001; www.alarmforce.com; Shares outstanding: 12.2 million; Market cap: $113.2 million; No dividends paid) sells two-way voice alarm systems and monitoring services in Canada and the U.S. AlarmForce’s system differs from others because it lets emergency operators verify an alarm by establishing immediate, two-way voice contact with homeowners. It then dispatches security personnel to the client’s home. If intruders are present, the two-way contact can frighten them away. The company has used radio and TV advertising to gain a high profile. It gives its system away in order to add new subscribers. In return, they pay $25 a month for monitoring service, and sign on with a three-year contract. AlarmForce makes and owns each system....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on the U.S. stock markets, will reveal its #1 pick for 2011. If you’re not already a Wall Street Stock Forecaster subscriber, click here to learn how you can get one month — including the Wall Street Stock Forecaster Stock of the Year —FREE. AMAZON.COM INC., $177.42, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has agreed to pay $320 million for the 58% of privately held Lovefilm International Ltd. that it didn’t already own. Amazon.com took a minority stake in U.K.-based Lovefilm after it sold its DVD rental business in the U.K. and Germany to Lovefilm in 2008....
CANALASKA URANIUM, $0.09, symbol CVV on Toronto, plans to consolidate its shares on a 1-for-10 basis. That will lower its shares outstanding from about 171.9 million to 17.2 million. Companies typically cut back their shares to make them more attractive to institutional or other large investors who typically avoid stocks that trade for just pennies a share. Consolidations, or reverse stock splits, sometimes hurt investor confidence. They can undermine the value of a given holding by as much as 25%, at least temporarily, even though there is no change in the company’s business or assets. Other times, however, they have little, if any, effect....
FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $21.69 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.9 million; Market cap: $627.0 million; No dividends paid) serves the following areas of the real-estate market: commercial real estate; residential property management; and property improvement. FirstService has more than 17,000 employees worldwide. FirstService’s revenue rose 11.6% in the three months ended March 31, 2010 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars), to $402.4 million from $361 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share jumped 87.5%, to $0.15 from $0.08. Cash flow jumped to $0.35 a share from $0.02 a share. The big gains in earnings and cash flow came from a turnaround in results in Firstservice’s commercial real estate division. The improving economy pushed up revenue at that division by 30% in the latest quarter, to $154.1 million....
RUGGEDCOM INC., $15.37, symbol RCM on Toronto, makes computer-networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. Its products are designed to reliably operate under high levels of electromagnetic interference. They can also cope with wide variations in temperature and humidity, as well as vibration and exposure to dust. They also work while exposed to such things as corrosive gases and water. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, RuggedCom’s sales rose 11.3%, to $19.4 million from $17.4 million a year earlier. The gain mainly resulted from higher sales to transportation and industrial clients. As well, the current revenue figure included a contribution from WiNetworks, which RuggedCom bought in September 2009. WiNetworks designs WiMAX equipment, which can provide wireless broadband access at a distance of up to 50 kilometres from fixed stations, and five to 15 kilometres from mobile stations. In contrast, most of today’s Wi-Fi networks are limited to only 30 to 100 metres....
FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $20.54 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.3 million; Market cap: $581.3 million; No dividends paid) serves the following areas of the real-estate market: commercial real estate; residential property management; and property improvement. FirstService has more than 17,000 employees worldwide. In the three months ended September 30, 2009, FirstService’s revenue rose slightly, to $451.1 million from $450.1 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) Excluding one-time items, earnings per share fell 11.8%, to $0.60 from $0.68. However, cash flow rose 5.6%, to $0.95 a share from $0.90 a share. FirstService’s long-term debt of $261.5 million is a manageable 45% of its $581.3-million market cap.