stock pickers
DOREL INDUSTRIES (Toronto symbol DII.B; www.dorel.com) makes a range of items, including ready-to-assemble home and office furniture; juvenile products, such as car seats, strollers, high chairs, toddler beds and cribs; and recreational goods, mainly bicycles....
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP., $24.67, symbol CHK on New York, is preparing to spin off its oil-field services division into a separate, publicly traded company. The new firm would be called Seventy Seven Energy and would trade under the SSE symbol. Chesapeake would then hand out all of the new company’s shares to its shareholders in a tax-free transaction. The division, now called Chesapeake Oilfield, provides contract drilling, hydraulic fracturing, equipment rentals, trucking and other services. Combined, drilling and hydraulic fracturing supply over 75% of its revenue. Chesapeake Oilfield has around 71 active drilling rigs and nine fleets of pressure-pumping trucks for fracturing....
SASOL LTD. (ADR), $52.87, symbol SSL on New York, has developed a technology to convert coal and natural gas into motor fuels. The company is now the world’s largest producer of fuel from coal at its facility in Secunda, South Africa. It also makes synthetic fuels from natural gas at plants in Qatar and Nigeria. In addition, Sasol has substantial chemical production interests and produces oil and gas in Africa. It’s also South Africa’s third-largest coal producer. In Sasol’s 2014 fiscal first half, which ended December 31, 2013, its revenue rose 23.1%, to 98.3 billion South African rand (1 rand = $0.10 U.S.) from 79.9 billion rand in the first half of fiscal 2013. Earnings per ADR rose 25.7%, to 30.19 rand from 24.01 rand. Oil prices were relatively flat, and chemical prices were higher. The U.S. dollar also rose against the South African rand, which increased the value of Sasol’s sales outside South Africa....
CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $22 (Nasdaq symbol CSCO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.2 billion; Market cap: $114.4 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cisco.com) plans to invest $1 billion over the next two years on building a new cloud-computing service, which will let businesses lease data processing and storage systems instead of buying their own.
This is a small investment for Cisco, which earned $2.5 billion, or $0.47 a share, in its latest quarter. However, cloud computing could become an important new business for Cisco, and cut its reliance on selling routers and other networking hardware.
Demand for cloud services is growing fast, as they let corporations and government agencies cut their computing costs. Moreover, these big clients are more likely to trust wellestablished suppliers like Cisco instead of other cloud competitors like Amazon.com, which cater mainly to smaller businesses. (Note— Amazon is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investments.)
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This is a small investment for Cisco, which earned $2.5 billion, or $0.47 a share, in its latest quarter. However, cloud computing could become an important new business for Cisco, and cut its reliance on selling routers and other networking hardware.
Demand for cloud services is growing fast, as they let corporations and government agencies cut their computing costs. Moreover, these big clients are more likely to trust wellestablished suppliers like Cisco instead of other cloud competitors like Amazon.com, which cater mainly to smaller businesses. (Note— Amazon is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investments.)
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FAIR ISAAC CORP. (New York symbol FICO; www.fairisaac.com) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns....
DOMINO’S PIZZA INC., $79.34, symbol DPZ on New York, is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. It operates 10,800 outlets in the U.S. and over 70 other countries. Franchisees run most of them. In the three months ended December 29, 2013, the company’s earnings per share rose 21.9%, to $0.78 from $0.64 a year earlier, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76. Sales gained 5.0%, to $566.5 million from $539.7 million. Same-store sales rose 7.0% internationally and 3.7% in the U.S. Domino’s continues to boost its sales by aggressively promoting its new pizza recipes. It’s also profiting as more customers order online and through smartphone apps. In addition, Domino’s still has lots of growth potential overseas....
ACI WORLDWIDE INC., $59.84, symbol ACIW on Nasdaq, makes software that processes transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. Its products also help cut fraud. In the quarter ended December 31, 2013, ACI’s revenue rose 26.4%, to $283.2 million from $224.1 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to contributions from two acquisitions it made in 2013: Online Resources Corp., which it bought for $126.6 million, and Official Payments Holdings ($109.0 million). These moves helped ACI further expand into online banking and bill payments. Earnings per share rose 3.2% to $1.30 from $1.26....
MCCOY CORP., $5.64, symbol MCB on Toronto, dropped 21% after announcing that it expects to report significantly lower earnings in the three months ended December 31, 2013. The company will release its final results on March 14, 2014. McCoy operates through two divisions: Mobile Solutions and Energy Products and Services. Energy Products and Services sells hydraulic equipment for drilling rigs. This gear includes power tongs, which are large, wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in the drill hole. Mobile Solutions builds heavy-duty trailers for U.S. and Canadian clients in the oil and gas, wind energy, infrastructure and construction industries....