stock pickers

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “What you must know about short selling stocks” Attractive opportunities for short selling come along from time to time, but it’s a hard way to make money. That’s because short sellers face a number of unique disadvantages that don’t apply to buyers....

Symantec Corp., symbol SYMC on Nasdaq, sells Internet security technology, including anti-virus and Internet content and email filtering software, to businesses and consumers. Symantec is one of the stocks we cover in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that covers more aggressive stock market recommendations. In the three months ended April 1, 2011, Symantec’s earnings fell 8.0%, to $297 million from $323 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 5.0%, to $0.38 from $0.40, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude several unusual items, including asset writedowns and restructuring costs. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.36 a share....

Toromont Industries Ltd., $30.60, symbol TIH on Toronto, operates two divisions: the equipment group distributes a broad range of Caterpillar and industrial equipment; the compression group builds natural-gas compression units. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Canadian stock pick’s revenue jumped 38.3% to $588.0 million from $425.3 million a year earlier. Enerflex Systems, which Toromont bought for $613 million in January 2010, was the main reason for the increase. Enerflex brought new oil and gas compression customers to Toromont. It also expanded Toromont’s international presence. Earnings rose 13%, to $0.26 a share from $0.23 a share. Order bookings were up 27% in the latest quarter from a year earlier. The company’s total backlog now stands at $1 billion, up 59% from a year ago....

You may have an old stock certificate or two in your files, issued by an unfamiliar firm. Perhaps you bought the stock yourself, or inherited it. The stock market pick’s certificate may be registered in your name, or in the name of an earlier owner — the friend or relation who left it to you, or a total stranger. One way to determine the value of a certificate like this, if any, is to try to deposit it in an account with a discount broker. If the issuing company’s corporate charter has been cancelled, the discount broker will reject the certificate and return it to you. If the stock has been taken over by another company, the discount broker will try to collect the securities or cash that the buying company paid for it.

Why you never find high-quality stock market picks in the bottom of the junk drawer

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Talisman Energy, $20.26, symbol TLM on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $20.8 billion; www.talisman-energy.com), has sold about $2 billion of its Canadian natural-gas properties to Sasol (ADR symbol SSL on New York), a recommendation of our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. Talisman now aims to expand its international presence in Latin America and southeast Asia. The company already has interests in the North Sea and northern Africa. Encana, $31.59, symbol ECA on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 735.4 million; Market cap: $23.2 billion; www.encana.com), is cheaper than Talisman in terms of cash flow. But more than that, we think its properties have more potential than Talisman’s, and Encana exposes investors to less political risk, due to its concentration in North America....

PASON SYSTEMS, symbol PSI on Toronto, rents equipment that its customers use to monitor and manage land-based oil rigs. The stock market pick also provides communication systems, such as its satellite system, which companies use to remotely collect data from their drilling operations. Pason serves oil and gas companies and drilling contractors throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Argentina. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Pason’s revenue jumped 50.0%, to $84.7 million from $56.4 million a year earlier. The company’s Canadian operations benefited from a cold winter that allowed rig movement on frozen ground until the end of March. Earnings climbed 125.3%, to $17.9 million, or $0.22 a share, from $7.9 million, or $0.10 a share. Stronger oil and gas industry drilling and higher selling prices for the company’s equipment pushed up results....

Tim Hortons Inc., Toronto symbol THI, saw less traffic at its Canadian coffee-and-donut stores in the first quarter of 2011, due to bad winter weather. As well, the company spent more on promotions, which hurt its earnings growth.

We analyze Tim Hortons in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for portfolio investing in aggressive stocks.

In the three months ended April 3, 2011, Tim Hortons’ earnings rose 2.3%, to $80.7 million from $78.9 million....

If you’re a member of our Inner Circle service or a subscriber to one of our newsletters—or if you’re thinking of becoming a subscriber—you’ll want to make sure you “like” our Facebook page right away. That’s because, every Wednesday afternoon, you learn “what’s on Pat’s mind”. That’s when Pat gives you a special advance preview of what he’s working on for the upcoming issue of his newsletters (The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest, Canadian Wealth Advisor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster). We send a new issue to Inner Circle members and newsletter subscribers every Friday. If you haven’t yet visited the page — www.tsinetwork.ca/facebook — you really should. Nearly 500 investors now follow our Facebook page....

Cash Store Financial, symbol CSF on Toronto, operates 573 stores in Canada under two banners: Cash Store Financial and Instaloans. It also has six Cash Store outlets in the U.K. Both stores offer consumer payday loans (advances on upcoming paycheques). In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Cash Store earned $0.14 a share. That’s up 7.7% from $0.13 a share a year earlier. Revenue rose 15.7% in the latest quarter, to $47.2 million from $40.8 million, mainly because the company opened seven new branches in Canada and two new outlets in the U.K. Cash Store aims to increase its profitability by slowing its expansion, except in the U.K., where its stores’ profit margins are high. It is also offering a wider variety of bank accounts through an alliance with Calgary-based DirectCash Bank....

Aastra Technologies, symbol AAH on Toronto, develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centered around business telephone systems, and includes products that integrate traditional and mobile phones. Aastra is one of the aggressive stock market picks we analyze in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. The company reports that its sales fell 4.9%, in the three months ended March 31, 2011, to $162.7 million from $171.1 million a year earlier. Earnings fell sharply, to $200,000, or $0.01 a share, from $4.1 million, or $0.29 a share, a year earlier....