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VERIGY LTD. $14 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 60.7 million; Market cap: $849.8 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.verigy.com) jumped to $29 in its first year following its spinoff from Agilent in 2006. However, it has not rebounded as strongly from the recession as its former parent. That’s why Verigy is now a takeover target. In November 2010, Verigy agreed to acquire LTX-Credence Corp. (Nasdaq symbol LTXC), a rival maker of computer-chip testing equipment. However, in December 2010, Japan-based Advantest Corp. (New York symbol ATE) offered to buy Verigy for $15.00 a share. Advantest is the world’s largest maker of chip-testing equipment....

FedEx Corp., symbol FDX on New York, delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries and territories. Its fleet of 80,000 trucks and 684 aircraft delivers over eight million packages a day. In its fiscal 2011 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2011, FedEx earned $231 million or $0.73 a share. That’s down 3.3% from $239 million, or $0.76 a share, a year earlier. The decline was mainly the result of $43 million in one-time costs associated with the combination of the blue chip stock’s FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL (less than truckload) divisions into a single business unit. The company also paid more for fuel and reinstated merit salary increases. As well, bad winter weather in the U.S. increased its aircraft-maintenance costs. Revenue rose 11.0%, to $9.7 billion from $8.7 billion, as the improving economy continues to spur demand for delivery services....

The Money Game, a 1968 mega bestseller about investing, was an eye-opener for a generation of investors, myself included. The author, George Goodman, wrote under the pseudonym Adam Smith. It takes a lot of chutzpah for a writer to name himself after the 18th century Scottish father of modern economics, but Goodman/Smith pulls it off. In his book, Smith introduced a number of key investing concepts that go to the heart of our Successful Investor stock investment advice. Smith has a genius for encapsulating his ideas in anecdotes, and here’s one that jumps out. It concerns the need to invest opportunistically, rather than emotionally. The story concerns a group of portfolio managers on a tour of troubled factories in the U.S. northeast. When passing by one facility, the tour’s broker-organizer commented, “I understand this company has thousands of drug addicts among its employees in that facility alone.”...

J.C. Penney, symbol JCP on New York, operates 1,100 department stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It also sells its goods over the Internet. In its 2010 fiscal year, which ended January 29, 2011, the U.S. stock pick’s sales rose 1.2%, to $17.8 billion from $17.6 billion in 2009. Its same-store sales increased 2.5%. The company launched a number of new brands in 2010. As well, online sales rose 4.4%, to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion. The stock pick’s earnings per share jumped 48.6%, to $1.59 from $1.07 in 2009. Penney is doing a good job of managing its inventories. That cuts the need for costly clearance sales. It is also renovating about a third of its stores, including building more in-store boutiques devoted to specific brands....

Our TSI Network rating system is a key guide we use to find the top stocks to recommend in our newsletters and investment services, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on top-quality U. S. stocks.

Top stocks: Now is a great time to add high-quality U.S. companies to your portfolio

We continue to recommend that Canadian investors hold 25% to 30% of their portfolios in well-established U.S. companies. What’s more, today’s low U.S. dollar provides you with a rare opportunity to add the top stocks in the U.S. markets to your portfolio at bargain prices....

Macy’s Inc., symbol M on New York, operates 850 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores in 45 states, as well as in District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. It also sells goods over the Internet. Macy’s is one of the U.S. stock market investments we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Macy’s makes a point of tailoring its lines to regional tastes. It also emphasizes its exclusive brands, which account for 43% of its sales....

The seeming attraction of wind power stocks is obvious — these companies operate (or make parts for) wind turbines, which offer a source of clean, renewable energy that can replace fossil fuels like oil and coal. However, like many alternative-energy stocks, wind power’s potential has risk to match. For example, the government of Ontario’s recent decision to put a moratorium on offshore wind farms illustrates the mounting political opposition to new wind developments. (Our Special Report, “3 Little-Known Alternative Energy Companies that Could Double or Triple During the Obama Administration,” covers all you need to know to find the profit-making opportunities in wind power stocks. You get this Special Report at no cost when you take a one-month free trial to our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Read on for further details. If you’re already a Wall Street Stock Forecaster subscriber or Inner Circle member, click here to access this report right away.)...

Cedar Fair L.P., symbol FUN on New York, owns and operates 11 amusement parks including Knott’s Berry Farm in California and Canada’s Wonderland, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. For 2010, the U.S. stock’s revenue jumped 6.7%, to $977.6 million from $916.1 million in 2009. Park attendance rose 7.8%, and revenue from the company’s hotels rose 6.1%. Per-guest spending slipped less than 1% despite higher sales of season passes, which typically decrease the amount spent per visit. Even so, the partnership lost $31.6 million, or $0.57 a unit, in 2010, compared to earnings of $35.4 million, or $0.63 a unit, in 2009....

Nvidia Corp., Nasdaq symbol NVDA, designs graphic chips that make computer games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike. In its 2011 fiscal year, which ended January 30, 2011, Nvidia earned $253.1 million. It lost $68.0 million in 2010. Earnings per share jumped to $0.43 from a loss of $0.12. Excluding one-time items, the technology stock’s earnings per share rose 160.0%, to $0.65 from $0.45. Nvidia spent 24.0% of its sales on research in fiscal 2011, so it’s more profitable than it seems. Sales rose 6.5%, to $3.5 billion from $3.3 billion. That’s largely due to strong demand for the technology stock’s new Tegra chips, which greatly enhance displays on cellphones and other mobile devices. The company is also seeing strong interest from computer makers for its chips that can process data as well as display graphics....

Campbell Soup Co., symbol CBB on New York, is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Prego canned pasta and sauces, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. The company gets 19.8% of its sales from international markets. Its biggest foreign markets are Australia and Europe. In the three months ended January 30, 2011, company’s sales fell 1.2%, to $2.13 billion from $2.15 billion. Soup sales fell 4.0% in the U.S. The company continues to face strong competition from generic brands. In response, it ran promotions that discounted the prices of some of its brands, particularly ready-to-serve soups. Earnings fell 7.7%, to $239.0 million from $259.0 million a year earlier. The company spent $417 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 4.1% to $0.71 from $0.74. The lower sales and higher advertising spending were the main reasons for the decline....