Here’s our Pick of the Month

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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $97.34 New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 116.6 million; Market cap: $11.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. Investor communications makes up 72% of its overall revenue. Securities processing and transaction clearing make up the remaining 28%. In the fiscal 2018 second quarter, ended December 31, 2017, revenue rose 13.5%, to $1.01 billion from $892.6 million a year earlier. Excluding onetime items, the company earned $94.7 million, or $0.79 a share. That’s up 102.4% from $46.8 million, or $0.39 a share. Much higher fee revenues—from processing an increased volume of proxy voting by mutual fund managers and other investors—drove the earnings jump. That extra business made use of Broadridge’s existing systems, rather than forcing the company to create new ones. As a result, it greatly enhanced profitability in the quarter. The stock currently trades at 24.2 times Broadridge’s forecast 2018 earnings of $4.02…