Visa Inc.
HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $38.39 (Toronto symbol HCG; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-990-7881; www.homecapital.com; Shares outstanding: 34.5 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion) is a federally regulated trust company offering residential first mortgages to small business owners, the self-employed and others who don’t meet the stricter criteria of larger, traditional lenders. Home Capital reports that revenues rose 31% in the three months ended March 31, 2007, to $81.7 million from $62.4 million. Total assets increased 25.3%, to $4.2 billion from $3.3 billion. Earnings per share rose 47.6% in the latest quarter, to $0.62 from $0.42. The company’s shares now yield 1.0%. Results in the latest quarter included a contribution of $4.7 million from the company’s consumer lending services. These services include Home Trust’s VISA card, which lets cardholders borrow against the equity in their homes....
FEDEX CORP. $91.71, New York symbol FDX, fell 9% after it warned that higher fuel costs would cut its earnings in the current quarter to $1.50 a share from earlier forecasts of $1.70 a share. However, in the past FedEx has successfully passed along its higher fuel charges to its customers, and will probably do so again. The stock now trades at just 14.0 times its likely fiscal 2008 earnings of $6.55 a share, which is cheap in light of FedEx’s leading market position and expanding international operations, particularly in Asia. FedEx is a buy....
ACCORD FINANCIAL CORP. $7.90 (Toronto symbol ACD; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-961-0007; www.accordfinancial.com; Shares outstanding: 9.4 million; Market cap: $74.3 million) is in the factoring business in Canada and the U.S. Factoring is the purchase of a company’s accounts receivable at a discount. Accord profits by collecting the receivables. Accord can also handle a company’s credit-checking, record-keeping and collections. Most of its customers fail to meet bank lending standards. In Canada, the company focuses on textiles, footwear and other “soft goods” industries. In the U.S. it services a wider range of industries. Besides factoring, Accord and its subsidiaries also offer asset-based lending services. In the three months ended September 30, 2006, Accord’s revenues rose 4.5%, to $7 million from $6.7 million. Earnings rose 45.6%, to $1.5 million or $0.15 a share, from $1 million or $0.10 a share. Cash flow rose 31.6%, to $2.4 million or $0.25 a share, from $1.8 million or $0.18 a share. Accord’s shares yield 2.8%....
BARNES & NOBLE, INC. $39 (New York symbol BKS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; WSSF Rating: Average) is the largest bookseller in the United States, with 680 Barnes & Noble superstores, and 120 mall-based B. Dalton stores. It also sells books and other products over the Internet. In its first fiscal quarter ended April 29, 2006, profits rose to $0.14 a share from $0.13 a year earlier. Sales crept up to $1.11 billion from $1.10 billion. Same-store sales at Barnes & Noble stores fell 0.3%, while same-store sales at B. Dalton fell 1.8%. The first quarter is typically the slowest for Barnes & Noble, as publishers save their best titles for the busy summer and Christmas holiday buying seasons....