wall street

Supervalu Inc., New York symbol SVU operates 2,394 company-owned and franchised supermarkets. The Wall Street stock’s major banners include Save-A-Lot, Albertsons and Jewel-Osco. Supervalu gets 77% of its revenue from its retail stores. It gets the remaining 23% by supplying food to 1,900 independent grocery stores. The company continues to focus on its core business of food retailing, and has stopped selling other items, such as automotive goods and perfumes, in its stores. In its fiscal 2011 ended February 26, 2011, the Wall Street stock’s sales fell 7.5%, to $37.5 billion from $40.6 billion in fiscal 2010. Same-store sales fell 6.0%. The company closed underperforming stores, and was forced to cut its prices due to stronger competition from discount retailers, including Wal-Mart, which is selling more groceries in its stores....

Alcoa Inc., symbol AA on New York, is one of the world’s largest aluminum producers. The U.S. stock’s customers are mainly in the aerospace, automotive, construction and beverage industries. Alcoa operates in 31 countries. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the U.S. stock’s sales rose 21.9 %, to $6.0 billion from $4.9 billion a year earlier. Even so, the latest sales fell short of the consensus estimate of $6.1 billion. Alcoa earned $309 million, or $0.27 a share. If you exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate firms Alcoa recently bought, it would have earned $0.28 a share. On that basis, the U.S. stock’s latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.27 a share. A year earlier, Alcoa lost $194 million, or $0.19 a share....

Cintas Corp., Nasdaq symbol CTAS, designs, makes and sells uniforms to about 800,000 business, mainly in North America. Cintas also offers related services, including office cleaning and document shredding. Cintas is one of the U.S. stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. In the three months ended February 28, 2011, the company’s sales rose 8.8%, to $937.8 million from $861.8 million a year earlier (all figures in U.S. dollars). Earnings rose 20.6%, to $59.1 million from $49.0 million. Earnings per share rose 28.1%, to $0.41 from $0.32, on more shares outstanding. The latest earnings easily beat the consensus estimate of $0.36 a share....

There’s no limit to the types of investment questions Inner Circle members can ask me and my team of investment experts. Members often ask us about the best ways to profit from specific trends in society. For example, we’ve gotten more questions from members about green energy stocks as concern for the environment has risen. An Inner Circle member recently asked for our recommendation on Electrovaya Inc. This green energy stock’s lightweight batteries can be used in renewable-energy projects and hybrid cars. To give you a sense of how the Inner Circle works, I’d like to share this question, and our answer, with you. I hope you enjoy and profit from it. Q: Hello Mr. McKeough: Recently there has been interest in Electrovaya Inc., which has signed an agreement to provide batteries to Chrysler. What is your opinion on this stock? Regards....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. 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: “The top 3 ways to earn higher profits in world stock market investing” High-quality foreign stocks are a great way to diversify your portfolio. Moreover, many fast-growing markets, like China and India, have positive outlooks. That’s because their people are generally younger than North Americans, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class....

McCormick & Co. Inc., New York symbol MKC, makes spices, herbs, seasonings, specialty foods and flavours, and markets them to the food industry. In addition to North America and Europe, the company operates in Mexico, Central America, Australia, China, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa. The U.S. stock’s brands include McCormick, Old Bay, Thai Kitchen and Billy Bee. In the three months ended February 28, 2011, earnings rose 13.1%, to $76.8 million from $67.9 million a year earlier. The company spent $50.3 million on share buybacks during the quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 11.8 %, to $0.57 from $0.51. That beat the consensus earnings estimate of $0.54 a share. Sales rose 2.4%, to $782.8 million from $764.5 million a year earlier. Strong sales in China, India and Mexico offset weak or flat sales elsewhere. The company also raised its prices to offset the higher ingredient costs....

Over 400 investors are now following our TSI Network Facebook page. If you haven’t yet visited the page — www.tsinetwork.ca/facebook — you really should. By joining these 400 investors and “liking” our page (more on how to do that below), you’ll give yourself even better access to our free, risk-cutting investment advice. I guarantee it will make you a better investor. Here’s what you get when you “like” our page:...

Adobe Systems Inc., symbol ADBE on Nasdaq, makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use the technology stock’s software to create print publications and web pages. We analyze Adobe in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on stocks in the U.S. market. The company also makes Adobe Flash, which lets web site developers make web pages more interactive by adding animation and video. Computer users can download the technology stock’s Flash Player viewer for free....

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RESEARCH IN MOTION INC., $55.78, Toronto symbol RIM, reported better-than-expected earnings this week. However, the stock fell 11%. That’s because the company’s sales forecast for the current quarter fell short of the consensus estimate. In its 2011 fiscal year, which ended February 26, 2011, RIM’s earnings rose 38.8% to $3.4 billion from $2.5 billion in fiscal 2010 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Earnings per share rose 47.1%, to $6.34 from $4.31, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus estimate of $6.29 a share. The company shipped a record 52.3 million BlackBerry smartphones in fiscal 2011, up 43% from the prior year. That’s why revenue rose 33.1%, to $19.9 billion from $15.0 billion....