stock pickers
ADOBE SYSTEMS (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; www.adobe.com) makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use its software to create print publications and web pages....
MONSANTO CO., $105.63, New York symbol MON, is buying Climate Corp., a private company that specializes in weather forecasting software and climate models. These products help farmers decide when to plant their crops in order to maximize their harvests. This technology will also help Monsanto develop genetically engineered seeds for specific regions and weather conditions. The company will pay $930 million for Climate Corp. when the deal closes in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Monsanto earned $2.5 billion, or $4.60 a share, in its 2013 fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2013. That’s up 21.4% from $2.0 billion, or $3.79 a share, in 2012....
TRILOGY ENERGY CORP., $28.36, symbol TET on Toronto, is up over 9% since last week after it announced positive results from the 9-10 well at its Kaybob Montney operations in Alberta. Trilogy used horizontal drilling, which involves drilling down and then “across” to oil deposits, to reach the oil in the Kaybob Montney pool. It then used fracturing—collapsing rock using sand pumped at high pressure—to bring the oil to the surface. The well flowed at an early-stage rate of 438 barrels a day. To put that in perspective, Trilogy’s daily production averages 37,209 barrels of oil equivalent (including gas). The successful production also indicates that the oil pool likely extends beyond the previously identified boundaries....
The price of gold hit a peak a little more than two years ago, in August 2011, at around $1,900 an ounce. It has generally been falling ever since. It fell below $1,200 in July, and is now around $1,300. If you had that kind of movement in a broad stock market average, you might say that now is a good time to consider if that market has come down into buying territory. You might wonder if prices were ready to reverse course and resume a long-term rise. However, if you try to make that kind of assumption with gold, you have a lot less information to work with. After all, stocks have a relationship with various measures of value such as earnings, dividends, sales and so on. The history of these relationships ranges widely, but they still give you a basis for comparison. Not so for gold. It doesn’t produce any sales, revenue or earnings. In fact, it consumes rather than produces income, because you have to pay to insure and store it. Unlike stocks which represent a share in a profit-seeking enterprise, gold is a commodity, and a highly specialized one at that....
Royal Canadian Mint Gold Reserves Exchange Traded Receipts (ETRs), $14.00, symbol MNT on Toronto (Receipts outstanding: 30.9 million; Market cap: $455.5 million; www.reserves.mint.ca), are receipts issued by the Royal Canadian Mint (the Crown corporation responsible for the minting and distribution of 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 a minimum of 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....
Heavy equipment distributor Toromont Industries Ltd. completed the spinoff of its natural gas equipment division, Enerflex Ltd., in July 2011. Shareholders received shares of the new Toromont and shares of Enerflex. Here is our latest report on these two Canadian stocks which we follow in our advisory for more aggressive investing, Stock Pickers Digest....
METRO INC. $67 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 93.1 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates about 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario. It also has over 250 drugstores under the Brunet, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
Metro has aggressively cut costs and improved its efficiency in response to rising competition from larger Canadian chains like Loblaw and Sobeys, as well as big U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco. It also upgraded its stores and lowered its advertising costs by converting its various banners in Ontario to the Metro and Food Basics brands.
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Metro has aggressively cut costs and improved its efficiency in response to rising competition from larger Canadian chains like Loblaw and Sobeys, as well as big U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco. It also upgraded its stores and lowered its advertising costs by converting its various banners in Ontario to the Metro and Food Basics brands.
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AMAZON.COM INC., $316.01, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has unveiled two new versions of its Kindle tablet computer, as the company aims to increase its small share of the highly competitive tablet market. Amazon has an estimated 5% of the U.S. tablet market, compared to 51% for the Apple iPad and 19% for Samsung. The company will continue to offer its lower-end Kindle Fire HD, with a seven-inch screen, for $139. However, it is now introducing a new seven-inch Kindle Fire HDX starting at $229 and an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX starting at $379....
PASON SYSTEMS (Toronto symbol PSI; www.pason.com) rents equipment for monitoring and managing oil and gas rigs. It also sells communication technology, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations. Pason serves oil and gas producers and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Argentina and Australia....
