stock pickers
TEMPUR-PEDIC, $70.09, symbol TPX on New York, reported higher revenue and earnings in the latest quarter. The company makes and distributes therapeutic mattresses and pillows made from its Tempur material. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Tempur-Pedic’s earnings rose 21.7%, to $56.3 million from $46.3 million a year earlier. The company bought back $365.9 million of its shares in 2011. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 26.5%, to $0.86 from $0.68. The company spent more on marketing in the latest quarter, but it has done a good job of cutting its costs and streamlining production....
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, the subject of tech stocks came up as one Inner Circle member asked about a company that makes software that is vitally important for computers and mobile devices, but also faces a highly competitive market....
The fast-food business is generally associated with inexpensive food and plain décor. It is rarely associated with healthy eating. But one U.S. chain has adopted a higher quality approach, so far with success. CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL (New York symbol CMG; www.chipotle.com) is a Denver-based Mexican-restaurant chain. The company charges slightly higher prices than fast-food chains, but it offers higher-quality food, including naturally raised meat, and better decor and service....
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $29.85, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, is our “Stock of the Year” for 2012. Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on high-quality U.S. stocks, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. We’ve had great success with Alimentation Couche-Tard since we recommended it in our December 2008 issue at $15.50. That’s a gain of 92.6% in just over three years. We said then that the company’s growth-by-acquisition strategy was risky, but Couche-Tard lowered its risk by aiming to acquire profitable, well-managed chains with room for expansion and profit improvement....
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 an Inner Circle, one question on stock market investments concerned a company that executed a major spinoff this past autumn, changing its name and turning its focus toward premium spirits. Q: Hi Pat: Can you give your opinion on Beam Inc.? It has a lot of good brands. Looking forward to your comments....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investors, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. ALCOA INC., $9.80, New York symbol AA, plans to cut its aluminum production by 12% in 2012. The move is in response to falling aluminum prices, which are down 27% from their 2011 peak. As part of this plan, the company will permanently close its smelter in Tennessee and shut down part of a smelter in Texas. It will also cut production at high-cost smelters in Italy and Spain....
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $70.77, Toronto symbol CP, is our “Stock of the Year” for 2012. Next week, Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investors, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. We’ve had great success with CP since we recommended it in the first issue of The Successful Investor in January 1995. In October 2001 the old CP broke up into five separate companies: CP Rail, CP Ships, Fording Coal, Pan Canadian and Fairmont Hotels. In 2002, PanCanadian merged with Alberta Energy to form EnCana, which broke up into Encana and Cenovus in December 2009. All of these mergers and breakups unlocked significant shareholder value. Railways are highly cyclical. Unpredictable factors, such as weather, also add risk: in 2011, avalanches in B.C. and spring floods in the Prairies delayed CP’s trains and hurt its earnings....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Stock Pickers Digest will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to profit. RUGGEDCOM INC., $24.76, symbol RCM on Toronto, is still the target of a hostile takeover bid from U.S. cable and networking equipment manufacturer Belden Inc. RuggedCom makes computer-networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. Belden recently reaffirmed its offer of $22 in cash for each RuggedCom share....
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. One question this week concerned energy stocks, specifically one stock that expects to benefit as the search for new oil production increasingly leads to the deposits found deep in the world’s oceans....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on high-quality Canadian stocks, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to profit. DEVON ENERGY CORP., $64.76, symbol DVN on New York, has agreed to sell a one-third interest in five shale oil and gas fields to giant Chinese state-owned petroleum and chemical company Sinopec (symbol SNP on New York). Shale oil and shale gas are trapped in rock formations. To extract them, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the oil or gas....