stock pickers

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK, $58.88, symbol ATNI on Nasdaq, jumped over 8% this week after reporting stronger quarterly results. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Atlantic’s revenue rose 16.3%, to $83.3 million from $71.6 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings jumped to $11.5 million, or $0.72 a share, from $6.4 million, or $0.40. Atlantic closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. It now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt....

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks” as our daily post. In these new posts, you’ll get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves that are profiled in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. “Best Canadian Stocks” is part of our new approach offering you regular buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday and on Friday, our advice on one of the stocks our Inner Circle members have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. LINAMAR CORP. (Toronto symbol LNR; www.linamar.com) survived the 2008 financial crisis, plus the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. The company has emerged stronger than ever, and we’ve now upgraded its TSINetwork Rating from “Extra Risk” to “Average.” (See below for a description of how we award our TSINetwork ratings.)...

Every Monday we now feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With each sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in these stocks. This is part of our new approach offering you buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. You also get “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday, and every Friday, our advice on one of the stocks that members of Pat’s Inner Circle have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. Rite Aid (symbol RAD on New York; www.riteaid.com), is one of the largest drugstore chains in the U.S., with 4,623 outlets in 31 states and Washington, D.C....

MAJOR DRILLING GROUP INTERNATIONAL INC., $8.92, symbol MDI on Toronto, jumped over 14% this week after agreeing to buy privately held Taurus Drilling Services for $27.7 million, plus a further $11.5 million tied to performance. Taurus, which operates in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, provides underground longhole drilling to mining companies. Longhole drilling is used in operating mines to drill holes for various purposes, including blasting, drainage, electrical service and ventilation. The acquisition includes Taurus’s 39 drill rigs, together with related equipment, inventory and contracts. Major is also keeping the company’s management and employees, which include experienced drillers....

Beginning today, we launch Best Canadian Stocks, a feature which will appear every Tuesday as our daily post. We also launch a new approach—you will get our specific advice on whether to buy, hold or sell the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about covered in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. On Thursday, look for our first weekly feature on U.S. stocks, complete with our specific buy, hold and sell advice. PENGROWTH ENERGY (Toronto symbol PGF; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada and off the Nova Scotia coast. Gas accounts for 55% of its production; the other 45% is oil....

DragonWave Inc. (symbol DWI on Toronto; www.dragonwaveinc.com) makes equipment that wirelessly transmits broadband voice, video and other data. That lets customers send and receive data in places that fibre optic networks haven’t yet reached. The company’s clients are mainly high-speed Internet and wireless providers. It also sells to organizations that operate their own networks, such as universities, hospitals, cities and businesses. DragonWave prefers to focus on product design and support; it outsources most of its manufacturing to other firms....

CALIAN TECHNOLOGIES LTD., $19.71, symbol CTY on Toronto, has acquired Ottawa-based DWP Solutions Inc. for an undisclosed amount. DWP has been in business for 18 years and helps government and defence customers secure their computer networks. The company’s annual revenue is around $6 million. To put that in context, Calian reported $51.2 million of revenue in the latest quarter. The purchase is small for Calian, but it will be a good fit with the company’s Business and Technology Services division, which supplies engineers, health care workers, information technology professionals and other personnel on a contract basis. Calian’s clients are asking for more cyber-security specialists, and DWP will help it meet that demand....

LEON’S FURNITURE LTD. (Toronto symbol LNF; www.leons.ca) has steadily opened new stores, growing from 27 in 2003 to 78 today. But the company more than quadrupled in size overnight with its March 28, 2013, purchase of its main rival, The Brick, for $700 million. The Brick has 228 outlets across Canada. Leon’s and The Brick will continue to operate as separate chains. As a result of the acquisition, Leon’s sales jumped to $426.0 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014, from $162.5 million a year earlier. Earnings fell sharply, to $818,000, or $0.01 a share, from $5.4 million, or $0.08....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $29.34, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, has reported higher sales and earnings in the latest quarter, as well as a dividend increase. In the three months ended April 27, 2014, Couche-Tard’s sales rose 2.0%, to $9.0 billion from $8.8 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings gained 10.0%, to $0.22 from $0.20 (all figures adjusted for Couche-Tard’s 3-for-1 stock split on April 14, 2014). The company is raising its quarterly dividend by 20.0% with the July 2014 payment, to $0.04 from $0.033. The shares now yield 0.6%....

COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP (Toronto symbol CMG; www.cmgroup.com) sells software and consulting services that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their wells. It has customers in over 50 countries and offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Caracas, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. The company is a leader in complex heavy oil and oil sands simulations. In the quarter ended March 31, 2014, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $20.0 million from $19.3 million a year earlier. Software licence sales (89% of total revenue) rose slightly, but consulting and professional services (11%) jumped 39.1%, thanks to new projects and a large consulting agreement. Earnings gained 6.7%, to $7.7 million from $7.25 million. Per-share earnings jumped 18.8%, to $0.095 from $0.08, on fewer shares outstanding....