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More Americans own pets than ever before, and the trend looks set to keep rising. That should continue to increase the earnings of leading companies in the business. Today we examine whether PetSmart can continue the success it has enjoyed in recent years....

SYMANTEC CORP., $24.35, Nasdaq symbol SYMC, sells computer-security technology, including anti-virus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter, which ended March 29, 2013, Symantec’s revenue rose 4.0%, to $1.75 billion from $1.68 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus revenue estimate of $1.73 billion. The company is doing a good job of selling its products as ongoing subscriptions instead of one-time purchases. Subscriptions now account for 44% of Symantec’s sales to consumers and 14% of its sales to businesses. Earnings rose 11.0%, to $314 million from $283 million. Symantec spent $125 million on share repurchases in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 15.8%, to $0.44 from $0.38. These figures exclude costs related to the company’s plan to lay off 30% to 40% of its managers and streamline its product lines. On that basis, the latest earnings exceeded the consensus estimate of $0.38 a share. Symantec continues to spend around 15% of its revenue on research....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on stock market investing and other questions on investment and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week, an Inner Circle member asked about the prospects for one of Canada’s leading natural gas processors and distributors. AltaGas profits from a number of fixed long-term contracts, but it is also growing by acquisition and diversifying into new sources of energy. Pat looks at the company’s ability to manage this added risk going forward....

KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC. (Nasdaq symbol KRFT; www.kraftfoodsgroup.com) makes a variety of grocery products, including Kraft macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O desserts and Miracle Whip salad dressing. In October 2012 Kraft broke itself up into two companies, spinning off Mondelez (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ), which makes cookies, biscuits, gum and beverages and does over 80% of its business outside North America....

DIEBOLD INC., $29.66, New York symbol DBD, makes automated teller machines (ATMs), vaults and building-security systems. This week, the company announced a major new restructuring plan, including job cuts, selling certain plants and merging customer service activities. These moves should cut its annual costs by $100 million to $150 million by the end of 2015. The lower costs will make Diebold more profitable, particularly as the uncertain economy prompts banks to cut spending on new ATMs. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Diebold’s revenue fell 9.3%, to $633.5 million from $698.5 million a year earlier....

LOBLAW COMPANIES $42.01 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 281.8 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.1%; www.loblaw.ca) started selling its popular Joe Fresh clothing and accessories in its supermarkets in 2006. It has also opened 20 stand-alone Joe Fresh stores in Canada and the U.S.

Sales of Joe Fresh products should rise sharply now that J.C. Penney (New York symbol JCP) has opened Joe Fresh boutiques inside nearly 700 of its 1,100 department stores in the U.S. (J.C. Penney is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks.) Penney will also sell Joe Fresh products through its website.

Loblaw is a buy.
...

MCKESSON CORP. (New York symbol MCK; www.mckesson.com) is the largest wholesale drug distributor in the U.S. and Canada. It also owns 49% of Mexico’s largest drug distributor. McKesson’s clients include 40,000 pharmacies, as well as doctor’s offices, hospitals and clinics. It also sells surgical tools and health and beauty products....

APPLE INC., $417.20, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, earned $9.5 billion, or $10.09 a share, in three months ended March 30, 2013. That’s down 17.9% from $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, a year earlier. Even so, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $9.98 a share. Sales rose 11.3%, to $43.6 billion from $39.2 billion. That also beat the consensus estimate of $42.3 billion. The company sold 37.4 million iPhones, up 6.7% from a year earlier, and 19.5 million iPads, up 65.1%. It also sold 4.0 million Mac computers (down 1.6%) and 5.6 million iPods (down 26.6%). Apple recently launched a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad, called the iPad mini. It has also cut the selling price of older iPhones to help boost sales in developing markets. As a result, gross margin (gross profits as a percentage of sales) fell to 37.5% from 47.4%....

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $190.00, New York symbol IBM, reported lower-than-expected earnings and revenue for the latest quarter. That’s why the stock fell 8% on Friday. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, the company earned $3.03 billion. That’s down 1.1% from $3.07 billion a year earlier. IBM spent $2.6 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 3.4%, to $2.70 from $2.61. Without unusual items, such as costs to integrate recently purchased companies, IBM’s earnings per share would have risen 7.9%, to $3.00 from $2.78. The gain was mainly the result of the company’s ongoing efforts to cut costs and improve productivity. Still, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $3.05 a share....

These two leading mining stocks reported lower earnings for 2012. But they’re both working on important projects that they expect to boost their earnings in 2013 and beyond. Here’s our report from the latest edition of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. NEWMONT MINING (New York symbol NEM; www.newmont.com) gets 90% of its revenue from gold mines in the U.S., Australia and Peru. Copper, zinc and other metals supply the remaining 10%....