stock pickers

VITERRA $14.65 (Toronto symbol VT; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-866-569-4411; www.viterra.ca; Shares outstanding: 371.7 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; Dividend yield: 1.0%) is up almost 31% since the company said it has received expressions of interest from unnamed parties interested in taking it over.

The stock was our Pick of the Month in the last issue (March 2012) of Stock Pickers Digest. At the time, it was trading at $10.09. That’s a 45.2% gain in one month.

Our view is that the company is well positioned to benefit from an expected rise in Canadian and Australian crop yields in 2012, as well as the end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly on western Canadian wheat and barley sales. In addition, its Australian operations’ sales to Asia continue to rise.

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Aeropostale, $18.63, symbol ARO on New York (Shares outstanding: 80.8 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; www.aeropostale.com), is a recommendation of our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. It’s a buy. A: American Eagle, $14.69, symbol AEO on New York (Shares outstanding: 193.7 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; www.ae.com), sells clothing, shoes and accessories, mainly to 15- to 25-year-old men and women. The company’s 937 Canadian and U.S. American Eagle stores are mainly located in shopping malls. It also operates 158 stand-alone Aerie outlets and 21 77kids locations....

Most investors recognize that aggressive investments have the potential to produce higher returns than the more conservative choices in your portfolio. But they can also suffer bigger losses. As well, aggressive stocks are often more highly leveraged and volatile than conservative stocks. Understanding all this, there are still very good reasons to turn to aggressive stocks. And there are ways to earn big returns without exposing yourself to excessive risk. Here are 4 principles that we use to select our growth stock picks for Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for the aggressive portion of investors’ portfolios.

1. Limit aggressive holdings to 30% of your overall portfolio. Because aggressive stocks expose you to a greater risk of loss, we recommend limiting your aggressive holdings to no more than about 30% of your overall portfolio....

STANTEC INC., $29.83, symbol STN on Toronto, sells a range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services. The company’s clients operate in a variety of industries, including transportation, construction and oil and gas. Stantec has over 11,000 employees in 170 locations throughout North America. It also has four international offices. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, the company’s revenue rose 12.6%, to $432.0 million from $383.7 million a year earlier. Acquisitions were part of the reason for the gains. Stantec is also working on a number of new projects. Before one-time items, earnings rose 4.3%, to $24.3 million, or $0.53 a share, from $23.3 million, or $0.51....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, there was a question about a stock that has been on the rise, Canada’s biggest private liquor store operator. Pat examines the company’s prospects for future growth in Canada as well as the possible risks and rewards of U.S. expansion....

DUNDEE REIT, $34.63, symbol D.UN on Toronto, owns and manages 18.9 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space. The real estate investment trust’s occupancy rate is 95.6%. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Dundee’s revenue jumped 73.2%, to $136.3 million from $78.7 million a year earlier. Most of the increase came from properties the trust recently purchased. The best way to assess a real estate investment trust’s operating performance is to look at its cash flow, and Dundee’s cash flow rose 62.6% in the latest quarter, to $41.0 million from $25.2 million. Cash flow per unit rose 12.7%, to $0.62 from $0.55, due to more units outstanding (the trust issued new units to pay for the acquired properties)....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one Inner Circle question concerned a potentially fast-growing stock market investment, convenience store chains. Pat looks at how one U.S. chain is doing following its successful fight to resist a takeover bid from a big Canadian chain. ...

Casey’s General Stores, $54.05, symbol CASY on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 38.1 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; www.caseys.com), operates over 1,700 convenience stores under the Casey’s General Store and Just Diesel brands. The company’s stores are located in eleven Midwestern states, but they are mainly concentrated in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Casey’s gets 71% of its revenue by selling gasoline, but its stores also offer food, including freshly prepared pizza, donuts and hamburgers, as well as beer and other beverages....

DEVON ENERGY CORP. (New York symbol DVN; www.dvn.com) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural-gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 65% gas and 35% oil. In May 2011, Devon completed the sale of its Brazilian operations for $3.2 billion. It has now sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop....

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER, $13.42, symbol GT on New York, reported record sales in the latest quarter. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, the company’s sales rose 12.0%, to a record $5.7 billion from $5.1 billion a year earlier. North American sales climbed 17.5%, to a record $2.6 billion from $2.2 billion. Sales rose 10.7% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 2.4% in Latin America; and 5.1% in the Asia-Pacific region....