stantec

RUBY TUESDAY, $6.41, symbol RT on New York, rose over 18% this week after it reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded consensus expectations. In the three months ended June 3, 2008, earnings per share fell 41.3%, to $0.27 from $0.46 a year earlier. However, consensus forecasts were for earnings of just $0.20 a share. Sales fell 4.3%, to $341.4 million from $356.8 million. Ruby Tuesday plans to close 15 company-owned restaurants as their leases expire. The company owns and operates 721 Ruby Tuesday restaurants. Domestic franchisees operate an additional 170 restaurants, and international franchisees run a further 54 restaurants....

SYMANTEC, $19.99, symbol SYMC on Nasdaq, rose this week after it reported that earnings excluding one-time items rose 36.4% in the three months ended March 28, 2008, to $309.4 million from $226.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 50%, to $0.36 from $0.24, on 8.2% fewer shares outstanding. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, revenues rose 14.0% to $1.55 billion from $1.36 billion. In the latest quarter, earnings gained from strong sales in Europe (up 17.3%) and Asia (up 18.7%). International sales (52.5% of revenues) rose 15.2%. U.S. sales (47.5% of revenues) rose 11.5%, despite difficult economic conditions. Symantec’s consumer business, which represents 29% of the company’s total revenues, grew 9.9%. Revenues from Symantec’s services business (6.2% of revenues) grew 11.8%. Security and data management sales (28.4% of revenues) grew 21.5%, and storage and server management sales (36.4% of revenues) rose 10.6%....

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $24 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.8 million; Market cap: $687.4 million) operates in the rapidly growing service sector, providing services in the following areas: commercial real estate; residential property management; integrated security services; and property improvement services. The company continues to expand profitably through acquisitions and internal growth. Both avenues still offer lots of potential for expansion in the fragmented service sector. FirstService reported 34% higher revenues in the three months ended December 31, 2007, to $502.2 million from $374.8 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) Excluding one time items, earnings per share rose 31.8%, to $0.29 from $0.22. Cash flow per share rose 35.3%, to $0.92 from $0.68. FirstService now trades at 6.5 times cash flow....

Today many people seem sure that the subprime situation and associated problems will bring on a long-term market decline that could carry stock prices much lower. I think those fears are overblown, but we may be in a situation like the one that began in 1997, in response to the start of Thailand’s economic crisis that year. At that time, investors talked about the so-called “Asian contagion”, and feared the crisis would spread to the west. Instead, we got over it and many markets went on to new highs. We may be on a similar track right now. I still take a generally optimistic view of the market, but I could be wrong. So you’ll want to take a relatively conservative stance. In aggressive stocks, my advice is to focus on issues that are attractive for existing value, such as Delphi, which is our “Stock of the month” for February....

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $33.56 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.6 million; Market cap: $958.8 million) operates in the rapidly growing service sector, providing services in the following areas: commercial real estate; residential property management; integrated security services; and property improvement services. The company continues to expand profitably through acquisitions and internal growth. Both avenues still offer lots of potential for expansion in the fragmented service sector. Firstservice reports 28.8% higher revenues in its first quarter ended June 30, 2007, to $419.3 million from $325.5 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) Earnings per share rose 29.8%, to $0.61 from $0.47....

CELTIC MINERALS $0.35 (Toronto symbol CME; SI Rating: Start-up) (403-261-2890; www.celticminerals.com; Shares outstanding: 60.0 million; Market cap: $20.7 million) has agreed to acquire a 75% interest in the Colliers River copper project, near Conception Bay, Newfoundland. A diamond drill has been mobilized on the property and drilling is underway. Celtic has the right to earn a 75% interest over three years by incurring expenditures of $300,000 on the property, and by making payments to its partner totaling $125,000, plus a payment of 175,000 Celtic shares. Strong mineral showings were first discovered at Colliers River in 1858 in surface samples, at which time a small shaft was sunk. No work has been completed since then. Celtic Mineral’s main prospect is still its West Voisey’s Bay property, 12 kilometers southwest of Inco’s Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt mine in Labrador. It’s a long way between the initial drilling phase Celtic is now at on both properties, and the commercial production phase when it begins making money. Still, the stock has speculative appeal for its landholdings in regions with proven potential....