symantec

SYMANTEC $16.67 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 751.0 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; No dividends paid) sells Internet-security technology, including antivirus and Internet and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, earnings per share before one-time items rose 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34. Sales rose 13.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion. The company’s sales to businesses and consumers continue to increase due to rising concerns about identity theft and online intruders....

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP., $59.47, New York symbol TUP, makes high-quality household products, including plastic food and beverage containers and educational toys. It also makes wide range of cosmetics, bath oils and fragrances. The company continues to see strong demand in fast-growing economies, such as Asia and Latin America. Tupperware now gets 63% of its sales from these markets. That’s helping it offset slower sales in North America and Europe. In the three months ended October 1, 2011, Tupperware earned $50.3 million. That’s up 23.3% from $40.8 million a year earlier. During the quarter, the company spent $195.7 million on share buybacks. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 29.7%, to $0.83 from $0.64....

MOSAID TECHNOLOGIES INC., $45.95, symbol MSD on Toronto, has agreed to a friendly, $46.00-a-share, all-cash takeover offer from U.S.-based private-equity firm Sterling Partners. Mosaid mainly licenses computer chip and telecommunications technology, including patents for technology used in smartphones and laptops. The Sterling Partners bid counters last week’s $42-a-share hostile offer from Wi-LAN. Prior to that, Wi-LAN had offered $38 a share....

ACI WORLDWIDE $28.35 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $972.4 million; No dividends paid) makes software that is used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. ACI has just bought S1 Corp. for $540 million in cash and stock. S1 sells transaction software for banks, credit unions, retailers and other processors. The company has over 3,000 clients worldwide. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, ACI’s revenue rose 22.7%, to $113.4 million from $92.4 million a year earlier. The company earned $9.8 million, or $0.29 a share, compared to a loss of $150,000, or nil per share. ACI holds cash of $170.8 million, or $4.98 a share....

MOSAID TECHNOLOGIES INC. $39.66 (Toronto symbol MSD; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (613-599-9539; www.mosaid.com; Shares outstanding: 12.1 million; Market cap: $479.9 million; Dividend yield: 2.5%) is now the subject of a takeover bid from Wi-LAN Inc. (symbol WIN on Toronto). The offer is for $38 a share in cash for all of Mosaid’s shares. Mosaid mainly licenses patented computer chip and telecommunications technology, including patents for technology used in smartphones and laptops. Mosaid is now trading at $39.66 a share, or above Wi-LAN’s bid. This indicates that investors are anticipating a higher or rival offer....

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP., $62.49, New York symbol TUP, makes high-quality household products, including plastic food and beverage containers and educational toys. It also makes wide range of cosmetics, bath oils and fragrances. Tupperware reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings this week. However, the company makes many of its products from oil-based plastic resins, and the cost of these materials is rising. That will probably slow Tupperware’s earnings growth in the second half of 2011. That caused the stock to fall 12%. In the three months ended July 2, 2011, Tupperware’s sales rose 18.5%, to $669.9 million from $565.1 million a year earlier. The company gets over 70% of its sales from outside the U.S. If you exclude the positive impact of currency-exchange rates, sales would have risen 9% in the latest quarter. Earnings rose 34.4%, to $1.25 a share from $0.93. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.18 a share....

ACI WORLDWIDE, $36.17, symbol ACIW on Nasdaq, makes software used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. In March 2011, ACI bought ICD Corp. for an undisclosed amount. ICD has over 140 customers who use its software to authorize credit- and debit-card transactions through over 70 different payment processors, including banks and credit-card companies. ACI’s revenue rose 22.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2011, to $113.4 million from $92.4 million a year earlier. The company earned $9.8 million, or $0.29 a share, compared to a loss of $150,000, or nil per share, a year earlier. The company holds cash of $170.8 million, or $4.98 a share....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $23 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 123.4 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) has been chosen by Charles Schwab Corp. (Nasdaq symbol SCHW) to help operate a new online service that will let Schwab’s customers trade stocks and currencies in 12 foreign markets. Schwab plans to launch this service next year. Broadridge will provide the technology to process the currency trades, and handle accounting and reporting. Schwab is the world’s largest online brokerage firm. Broadridge could benefit further as Schwab expands its services for investing in international markets....

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORP., $32.96, symbol CHK on New York, will invest up to $1 billion over the next ten years in companies that are developing ways to replace gasoline and diesel with cleaner-burning natural gas. Chesapeake is the second-largest natural-gas producer in the U.S., after Exxon Mobil. The company will make these investments through a new fund, Chesapeake NG Ventures Corp. It will start by investing $305 million in two firms: First, it will invest $155 million in Sundrop Fuels Inc. That will give it a 50% interest in the company. Sundrop plans to build a plant that makes transportation fuel from plant fibre and agricultural waste. This plant, which is scheduled to start up in 2013, will be able to produce 40 million gallons of fuel a year....

SYMANTEC CORP. $18.59 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 789.3 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; No dividends paid) sells Internet security technology, including anti-virus and email filtering software. It also sells software and services for backing up and archiving data. Demand for data-security products is rising, particularly as more businesses switch to cloud computing. That’s where data and software are kept on remote servers. Users access these servers over the Internet. To meet this demand, Symantec plans to spend as much as $1.25 billion to buy other software firms this year, especially those that add to its cloud computing expertise....