Visa Inc.

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $53 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $95.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) recently agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to department store operator Nordstrom (New York symbol JWN) for its U.S. credit card portfolio. These loans total $2.2 billion U.S.; TD expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

Separately, TD has agreed to become the exclusive issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and privatelabel credit cards.

Under the deal, which is similar to the bank’s March 2013 purchase of Target’s credit card portfolio, Nordstrom will keep receiving most of the earnings from its card operations. However, TD will also get a share, and it stands to benefit as more Nordstrom shoppers adopt the cards.

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Adding strength with timely U.S. acquisitions, Royal Bank and TD Bank bolster their status as solid blue chips stocks in a sluggish economy.

These two banks are making timely acquisitions south of the border. We feel these purchases will help both profit from an improving U.S. economy, while the lower Canadian dollar enhances these businesses’ revenue and profits. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $76 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $106.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) continues to sell its less promising overseas operations as it shifts its international focus to the U.S., U.K. and Asia. For example, it recently sold its retail banking business in the country of Suriname, South America....

Two questions—on Greek recovery and a tech ETF—bring our response on the risks and rewards of profiting from market trends through ETFs.

PFIZER INC., $36.07, New York symbol PFE, rose 5% this week after reporting better-than-expected results. It also raised its revenue and earnings forecast for all of 2015. Before unusual items, the company earned $3.5 billion in the three months ended June 30, 2015, down 6.5% from $3.8 billion a year earlier. Pfizer spent $6.0 billion on share buybacks during the first half of 2015. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 3.4%, to $0.56 from $0.58, though that still beat the consensus forecast of $0.52. Revenue declined 7.2%, to $11.9 billion from $12.8 billion, but that was also ahead of the consensus forecast of $11.4 billion. Without the negative impact of currency rates, revenue rose 1%....

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF, $41.91, symbol XLK on New York (Units outstanding: 316.2 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; www.spdrs.com), aims to track the S&P Technology Select Sector Index, which consists of tech stocks in the S&P 500 Index. The fund’s MER is just 0.15%. The fund’s top 10 holdings are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, IBM, Cisco Systems, Facebook, AT&T, Visa and Oracle. The fund is broken down by segment as follows: technology, hardware, storage and peripherals, 21.6%; software, 17.2%; information technology services, 16.5%; Internet software and services, 16.4%; semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, 9.9%; diversified telecommunication services, 9.8%; communications equipment, 6.9%; and electronic equipment, instruments and components, 1.7%....

NORDSTROM INC., $72.64, New York symbol JWN, has formed an alliance with Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto symbol TD), a recommendation of The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on conservative Canadian stocks. Under the deal, TD will purchase Nordstrom’s credit card loans, which total $2.2 billion. To put that in perspective, Nordstrom’s market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares) is $14.0 billion. Nordstrom will still get part of the revenue from these credit cards and will keep managing their related loyalty plans. The companies expect to complete the deal in the second half of 2015. Separately, TD has agreed to become the exclusive issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private-label credit cards....

CAE INC., $14.85, Toronto symbol CAE, earned $64.1 million, or $0.24 a share, in its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, which ended March 31, 2015. That’s up 6.8% from $60.0 million, or $0.23, a year earlier. The latest earnings matched the consensus forecast. Revenue rose 9.7%, to a record $631.6 million from $575.7 million, beating the consensus estimate of $627.2 million. CAE gets 58% of its revenue by selling flight simulators and pilot-training services to airlines, and this business’s revenue rose 13.6% during the quarter. CAE sold 10 simulators during the period, bringing the full-year total to 41; it sold a record 48 simulators in fiscal 2014....

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $43 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 70.2 million; Market cap; $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. homecapital.com) provides mortgages to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Clients include self-employed people and recent immigrants with limited credit histories.

Low interest rates continue to fuel mortgage demand. As a result, Home Capital’s revenue rose 47.6%, from $687.2 million in 2010 to $1.01 billion in 2014. Earnings jumped 86.4%, from $154.8 million to $288.4 million, while per-share profits gained 84.2%, from $2.22 to $4.09. In the first quarter of 2015, the company’s revenue rose 0.5%, to $249.2 million from $247.9 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 3.7%, to $72.3 million, or $1.03 a share, from $69.7 million, or $1.00.

Humans beat computers

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Giving mortgages to borrowers the banks won’t touch may seem risky, but this firm’s disciplined approach puts it among our top stock picks.