stock picks
ConAgra Foods Inc., symbol CAG on New York, makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s Tomato Sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. The company’s consumer foods segment accounts for 63% of its sales, while the remaining 37% from its commercial foods business. ConAgra is one of the companies we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that helps you spot the top stock picks in the U.S. markets. Sales in the fiscal year ended May 29, 2011 rose 2.4%, to $12.3 billion from $12.0 billion in 2010. Revenue for the consumer food segment increased by 0.8%, as lower volumes offset higher selling prices for cooking oil, frozen foods and snacks. Sales of commercial foods rose 5.5%, mainly because the company increased prices for its flour in response to rising wheat costs....
Gennum Corp., Toronto symbol GND, makes equipment for TV broadcasters that stores, manipulates and transfers video signals. It also makes chips that make computer networks work more quickly. Gennum is one of the Canadian stock picks we analyze in The Successful Investor. On April 6, 2011, Gennum acquired Nanotech Semiconductor Limited for $35.9 million. Based in Bristol, U.K., Nanotech designs chips for high-speed communication networks....
CriticalControl Solutions Corp., symbol CCZ on Toronto, sells services and software that help business better manage, access and store their information. CriticalControl gets about 60% of its revenue from clients in the oil and gas industry, followed by government (20%), health care (10%) and finance and retail (10%). CriticalControl is one of the stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that helps you make great stock picks for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, CriticalControl’s revenue fell 6.2%, to $12.2 million from $13.0 million a year earlier. Revenue at the Service Bureau Operations division rose 10%, while revenue at the Canadian Energy Services division was flat. Revenue at the U.S. Energy Services division fell 28.0%....
Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on how to spot the top stock picks. 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: “How you can profit from our TSI Network ratings: Part 2” In last week’s Investor Toolkit, we analyzed 4 of the 9 factors we use to assign one of our TSI Network ratings (Highest Quality, Above Average, Average, Extra Risk, Speculative and Start-up) to every stock we recommend in our newsletters, including our flagship publication, The Successful Investor. Click here to read that article....
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Indigo Books & Music Inc., Toronto symbol IDG, is Canada’s largest bookseller. The company operates 97 superstores under the Chapters and Indigo banners. It also has 149 mall-based stores, and sells books, movies and music through its web site. Indigo is one of the Canadian stock picks we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter. In its latest fiscal year, which ended April 2, 2011, the Canadian stock pick’s revenue rose 5.0% to $1.0 billion from $968.9 million in the prior year. Even so, earnings fell 67.5%, to $11.3 million, or $0.45 a share, from $34.9 million, or $1.39 a share....
Zhongpin Inc., symbol HOGS on Nasdaq, is a China-based company that processes meat and other foods. Zhongpin specializes in pork and pork products, as well as fruit and vegetables. It sells 358 meat products, including chilled pork, frozen pork and prepared meats, as well as 34 fruit and vegetable products. Zhongpin focuses on prepared meat, with its higher profit margins, rather than bulk pork. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the stock pick’s revenue jumped 39.9%, to $285.8 million from $204.3 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 27.1%, to $16.9 million from $13.3 million. Earnings per share rose 23.7%, to $0.47 from $0.38, on more shares outstanding. That beat the consensus earnings forecast of $0.45....
Broadridge Financial Services Inc., symbol BR on New York, serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. It mails and processes 66% of all proxy votes. The company earned $32.6 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011. That’s up 5.8% from $30.8 million a year earlier. The stock pick’s earnings per share rose 13.6%, to $0.25 from $0.22, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.20 a share. Revenue rose 7.4%, to $527.1 million from $490.8 million. That also beat the consensus revenue estimate of $521.0 million. The stock pick’s acquisitions were the main reasons for these gains: In December 2010, it paid $19.5 million for Forefield Inc., which makes web-based software that allows financial advisors to deliver educational and marketing materials to clients. In January 2011, Broadridge paid $201 million for Matrix Financial Solutions Inc., which processes trades and provides administrative services to mutual funds....
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....
Chipotle Mexican Grill, symbol CMG on New York, is a Denver-based Mexican-restaurant chain. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Chipotle’s revenue rose 24.3% to $509.4 million from $409.7 million a year earlier. The company’s restaurants attracted more customers during the quarter. That pushed up its same-restaurant sales by 12.4%. Chipotle also opened 12 new restaurants. It now has a total of 1,095 locations. Earnings rose 22.5%, to $46.4 million from $37.8 million. Earnings per share rose 24.2%, to $1.49 from $1.20, on fewer shares outstanding. The company holds cash of $282.9 million, or $9.10 a share, and has no debt....