stock pickers
GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER, $26.76, symbol GT on New York, is up over 10% after reporting strong earnings yesterday. The company also announced that it has used its rising profits to add $1.15 billion in cash to its U.S. hourly workers’ defined-benefit pension plan. This plan is now fully funded, and Goodyear has started to freeze it. A defined benefit plan is where an employer promises to pay a specified monthly retirement benefit regardless of employee contributions or investment performance. Under its recent four-year contract with its U.S. unions, Goodyear has the right to freeze this plan once it’s fully funded....
TD Bank recently overtook Royal Bank as Canada’s largest bank by assets. That’s partly because it has spent about $20 billion in the past three years buying other businesses.
Growth by acquisition is riskier than internal growth, as acquisitions carry an above-average chance of unpleasant surprises....
Growth by acquisition is riskier than internal growth, as acquisitions carry an above-average chance of unpleasant surprises....
Royal Canadian Mint Gold Reserves Exchange Traded Receipts (ETRs), $13.61, symbol MNT on Toronto (Receipts outstanding: 35.8 million; Market cap: $540.4 million; www.reserves.mint.ca), are receipts issued by the Royal Canadian Mint (the Crown corporation responsible for minting and distributing Canada’s circulation coins) that let investors own gold bullion stored in the Mint’s vaults. The value of these ETRs varies with the price of gold. Investors can trade their ETRs on the stock exchange, or once a month they can redeem them for gold coins or bullion with a minimum purity of 99.99%. This requires at least 10,000 ETRs plus redemption and fabrication fees for the gold coins or bars. Instead of physical gold, investors can choose to redeem their units for cash equal to 95% of the lesser of: a) the ETR price on the redemption date; or b) the volume-weighted average price of the ETRs for five trading days prior to and including the redemption date....
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC., $549.29, symbol CMG on New York, is a Denver-based Mexican restaurant chain. In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Chipotle’s sales rose 20.7%, to $844.1 million from $699.2 million a year earlier. The company’s restaurants attracted more customers in the latest quarter, which pushed up same-restaurant sales by 9.3%. It also opened 56 new outlets, bringing its total to 1,595. For all of 2013, the company opened 185 restaurants. It plans to add 180 to 195 more this year. Earnings rose 29.6%, to $79.6 million from $61.6 million. Per-share earnings gained 31.1%, to $2.57 from $1.96, on fewer shares outstanding....
AURICO GOLD (Toronto symbol AUQ; www.auricogold.com) operates the El Chanate gold mine in Mexico, which produced 71,864 ounces in 2013....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Canadian Wealth Advisor will reveal its “#1 Safety-Conscious Stock Pick for 2014.” One week from today, on February 7, 2014, shortly after the stock market closes at 4:00 p.m. Toronto time, we will reveal our our #1 Safety-Conscious Pick for 2014 to subscribers of Canadian Wealth Advisor. You can be among the first to hear about our #1 pick for 2014. Because you’re a loyal subscriber, we are happy to offer you a bargain-priced, no-risk introduction to Canadian Wealth Advisor. It gives you the first month—and the 2013 U.S. Stock of the Year—FREE. But you must act now. Click here. ALARMFORCE INDUSTRIES, $10.10, symbol AF on Toronto, reports that its sales rose 10.8% in the three months ended October 31, 2013, to $12.6 million from $11.4 million a year earlier. The company earned $2.6 million, or $0.21 a share, up sharply from $708,539, or $0.06. AlarmForce’s revenue rose along with its customer base: it ended the period with 141,200 subscribers, up 5.3% from 134,100 a year earlier....
Clarke Inc., $8.01, symbol CKI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 16.6 million; Market cap: $141.3 million; www.clarkeinc.com), is a holding company with interests in products and services in the transportation, industrial, energy and consumer areas. It also invests in securities. Clarke continues to evolve from a trucking firm into an investment holding company. It recently purchased 5.2% of Sherritt International (symbol S on Toronto), a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest. However, its strategy mainly involves investing in and turning around small, distressed companies, which adds risk. The stock has moved up from around $5 in August. That’s when Clarke announced strong earnings and increased its dividend by 25%, to $0.10 a quarter from $0.08. The shares now yield 5.0%. However, the improved profits mostly came from investment gains, not operating businesses, and that could change quickly....
SYMANTEC CORP. (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; www.symantec.com) sells computer security technology, including anti-virus and email filtering software, to businesses and consumers. It also offers data-archiving software....
PLEASE NOTE: One week from today, on January 31, 2014, shortly after the stock market closes at 4:00 p.m. Toronto time, we will reveal our #1 U.S. Stock of 2014 to subscribers of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. You can be among the first to hear about our #1 pick for 2014. Because you’re a loyal subscriber, we are happy to offer you a bargain-priced, no-risk introduction to Wall Street Stock Forecaster. It gives you the first month—and the 2014 Stock of the Year—FREE. But you must act now. Click here. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER, $23.04, symbol GT on New York, is our Stock of the Year for 2014. Goodyear is the world’s largest tire maker, with 52 plants in 22 countries....