Growth Stocks
Although growth stock picks can be highly volatile, they can make good long-term investments. They may be well-known stars or quiet gems, but they do share one common attribute—they are growing at a higher-than-average rate within their industry, or within the market as a whole, and could keep growing for years or decades.
And keep in mind that we focus on growth stocks, which have a good long-term history and favourable prospects. We downplay momentum stocks that tend to attract many investors simply because they are moving faster than the market averages, but are liable to fall sharply when their momentum fades.
There’s room for growth stock investing in your portfolio, but make sure you follow our TSI Network three-part Successful Investor strategy for your overall portfolio:
- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
Make better stock picks when you read this FREE Special Report, Canadian Growth Stocks: WestJet Stock, RioCan Stock and More.
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Growth Stocks Library Archives
The oil-price plunge continues to weigh on these two producers, but their recent asset sales will help them weather the downturn. We still prefer Chevron, as cheaper oil enhances its refineries’profits. CHEVRON CORP. $73 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $138.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron.com) has sold $11 billion worth of less important businesses since 2014. It should reach its goal of selling $15 billion of assets by 2017. Even with the sales, the company’s oil output will likely average 3.1 million barrels a day in 2017, up 19.2% from 2.6 million in the second quarter of 2015....
NEWMONT MINING CORP. $16 (New York symbol NEM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 529.1 million; Market cap: $8.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newmont.com) has purchased the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in Colorado for $820 million. Cripple Creek will produce 350,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold a year once it completes its current expansion in 2016. To put that in context, Newmont expects to produce 4.6 million to 4.9 million ounces in 2015. The mine should last until at least 2026. The company feels it can cut Cripple Creek’s operating costs by 10%. However, like most gold firms, Newmont’s shares will need a gold-price recovery to move significantly higher. Newmont is still a hold.
The low Japanese yen makes products from Canon and Sony cheaper outside of Japan. But their sales and earnings will remain under pressure as they adjust to changing consumer tastes. CANON INC. ADRs $30 (New York symbol CAJ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $33.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canon.com) gets over half of its revenue by making office equipment, mainly printers and copiers. Other products include digital cameras and parts for TVs and medical gear. Businesses continue to buy more of Canon’s copiers and laser printers, but consumers are taking more pictures with smartphones. That’s hurting the company’s camera sales....
MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $42 (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $67.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) makes cookies and biscuits (Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz), chocolate bars (Cadbury, Toblerone), gum and candy (Trident, Chiclets) and Halls cough drops. The stock gained 10% recently on news that activist investment firm Pershing Square Capital now owns 7.5% of the company. Pershing will likely pressure Mondelez to improve its profitability, instead of trying to break it up or merge it with another food maker. However, the stock is expensive at 23.6 times the company’s projected 2015 earnings of $1.78 a share. Mondelez is a hold.
PEPSICO INC. $92 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $138.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) has suffered lately as a more health-conscious population consumes fewer soft drinks. Sales of its low-calorie sodas have also fallen on concerns over the long-term health effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame. In 2014, total U.S. diet soda sales declined 5.9%. In response, PepsiCo has replaced the aspartame in Diet Pepsi with Splenda, a low-calorie sweetener made from regular sugar. The switch will likely boost sales, as the company has launched a new marketing campaign and promotions that will likely encourage consumers to try the new drink. Even so, PepsiCo’s overall sales will likely stay weak for the rest of 2015. PepsiCo is a hold....
BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS INC. $52 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 118.2 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. Without one-time items, the company earned $171.5 million in its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2015. That’s up 18.6% from $144.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 20.7%, to $1.40 from $1.16, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 4.9%, to $929.6 million from $885.9 million. Broadridge continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones. Recurring fee revenue rose 7% in the latest quarter and accounted for 65% of the total....
MICROSOFT CORP. $43 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 8.0 billion; Market cap: $344.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.microsoft.com) is the world’s largest software company. Its Windows operating system powers about 90% of the world’s personal computers. Microsoft’s other main product— its Office suite, which includes a word processor (Word) and spreadsheet program (Excel)— controls 90% of this market. Over the past few years, Microsoft has expanded into computer-hardware products, including its Xbox video game console and Surface tablet computer....
BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $69 (www.buckeye.com) earned $0.71 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2015, up 34.0% from $0.53 a year earlier. Many oil producers are opting to store their crude instead of selling it at today’s depressed prices, which has spurred demand for Buckeye’s oil-storage terminals....
WAL-MART STORES INC., $66.56, New York symbol WMT, fell 8% this week after reporting lower-than-expected earnings. But that’s partly because it’s investing heavily in its websites and hiring more workers to speed up checkout lines. It has also raised wages. In the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended July 31, 2015, Wal-Mart’s earnings fell 11.4%, to $3.5 billion from $3.9 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share declined 10.7%, to $1.08 from $1.21, on fewer shares outstanding, missing the consensus forecast of $1.12. Overall sales gained 0.1%, to $120.2 billion from $120.1 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $119.7 billion. Excluding the high U.S. dollar’s impact on the company’s overseas operations, revenue gained 3.6%. Online sales jumped 16%....
SIERRA WIRELESS, $27.31, symbol SW on Toronto, makes modules and software that connect products—including smart electricity meters and vehicles—to the Internet. This is known as machine to machine, or more generally as the Internet of Things. In the three months ended June 30, 2015, the company’s revenue rose 17.0%, to a record $158.0 million from $135.0 million a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Sierra continues to add new clients. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $8.6 million, or $0.26 a share, compared to just $2.6 million, or $0.08, a year earlier. Sierra sold more high-margin cloud-based services to large customers during the latest quarter. It also cut costs....