AT&T INC. $34 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.2 billion; Market cap: $176.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) is the largest wireless provider in the U.S., with 120.6 million subscribers. Wireless accounts for 55% of AT&T’s revenue and 75% of its earnings. The remaining 45% of revenue and 25% of earnings comes from its wireline division, which sells phone services, television packages and high-speed Internet access to 34.4 million customers.

Shift to wireless fuelled sales

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NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $40 (www.newellrubbermaid.com) continues to benefit from its ongoing cost-control plan, as well as its recent purchases of smaller firms that make premium baby strollers, reusable water bottles and thermal mugs. It now expects to earn between $2.10 and $2.18 a share in 2015, up from $2.00 in 2014. Newell also increased its dividend by 11.8%. The new annual rate of $0.76 a share yields 1.9%. Best Buy. SNAP-ON INC. $148 (www.snapon.com) makes tools for auto mechanics and sells them through a fleet of franchised vans that visit garages. It also makes specialized tools for industrial customers. In 2014, Snap-On’s revenue rose 7.2%, to $3.3 billion from $3.1 billion in 2013. Thanks to a cost-cutting plan, earnings per share jumped 20.4%, to $7.14 from $5.93. Snap-On’s 2015 earnings should improve to $7.82 a share, and the stock trades at 18.9 times that estimate. That’s a high multiple for a company that serves the cyclical automotive industry. Hold. GENUINE PARTS CO. $97 (www.genpt.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 7.0%, to $0.615 a share from $0.575. The new annual rate of $2.46 yields 2.5%. The company has now raised its dividend for 59 straight years. As well, earnings rose 10.0%, to a record $4.61 a share in 2014 from $4.19 in 2013. Buy.

WAL-MART STORES INC., $84.30, New York symbol WMT, reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings this week. However, the stock fell 2% as sales missed the consensus forecast. The company also plans to boost its U.S. workers’ pay. In the fourth quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2015, Wal-Mart’s earnings rose 14.2%, to $5.2 billion, or $1.53 a share. A year earlier, it earned $4.5 billion, or $1.34. Without unusual items, such as costs to close some less profitable stores in Japan, the company’s earnings rose 0.6%, to $1.61 a share from $1.60. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.54....

MENTOR GRAPHICS CORP., $25.30, symbol MENT on Nasdaq, makes hardware and software for improving the design of electronic products and speeding up their development. For example, Mentor’s software lets automakers use less wiring in a car, identify potential safety issues and minimize electromagnetic effects on sensitive components. In the quarter ended October 31, 2014, Mentor’s revenue rose 6.2%, to $292.7 million from $275.6 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share gained 6.3%, to $0.34 from $0.32....

MENTOR GRAPHICS CORP. $24.74 (Nasdaq symbol MENT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (503-685-7000; www.mentor.com; Shares outstanding: 115.1 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%) makes hardware and software for improving the design of electronic products and speeding up their development. For example, Mentor’s software lets automakers use less wiring in a car, identify potential safety issues, and minimize electromagnetic effects on sensitive components. The company sells its products and services worldwide, mainly to large firms in the communications, technology, military and transportation industries....

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $72.00 (Toronto symbol FSV; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960- 9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 34.5 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Div. yield: 0.7%) plans to spin off its Colliers International business into a new firm called Colliers International Group. FirstService will hand out Colliers shares to its own investors. Colliers is one of the world’s top three commercial real estate firms, offering a range of services around the globe. In 2014, it had revenue of $1.7 billion U.S. After the spinoff, FirstService will carry on with residential property management and improvement, which had $1.1 billion U.S. of revenue in 2014. FirstService shareholders won’t pay income taxes on the transaction until they sell shares of the new FirstService or Colliers International....

CAMECO CORP. $19.80 (Toronto symbol CCO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (306-956-6200; www.cameco.com; Shares outstanding: 395.8 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Dividend yield 2.0%) is the world’s largest uranium producer. It supplies 16% of global mine production and has large, high-grade reserves, low-cost operations, significant market share and many mines. Cameco is also one of the western world’s largest converters of enriched uranium for use in nuclear reactors. In addition, it owns NUKEM, a nuclear-fuel trader and broker. In the three months ended December 31, 2014, Cameco’s revenue fell 9.0%, to $889 million from $977 million a year earlier. It sold more uranium at higher prices in the latest quarter. However, the yearago quarter included revenue from the company’s 31.6% stake in Ontario’s Bruce Power partnership, which it sold in early 2014....

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $81.96 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 31.4 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. Fair Isaac also sells software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended December 31, 2014, Fair Isaac’s revenue rose 2.8%, to $189.6 million from $184.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 6.8%, to $0.68 from $0.73. Fair Isaac spent more on research and marketing, and that hurt profits....

COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $12.73 (Toronto symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-531-1300; www.cmgl.ca; Shares outstanding: 78.6 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Dividend yield: 3.1%) sells software and consulting services that help conventional oil and gas producers create complex 3D models of reservoirs. That lets them squeeze more out of those reservoirs using advanced recovery techniques such as injecting steam or chemicals. Typically, only 25% to 30% of oil and gas is recovered during primary production. Unconventional producers, using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of oil and gas-bearing shale, can also use Computer Modelling’s software to determine optimal drilling locations and depths. In the three months ended December 31, 2014, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 31.1%, to $25.2 million from $19.2 million a year earlier. Software licensing revenue (92% of the total) rose 34.8%, and consulting and professional services revenue (8%) was virtually unchanged....

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $3.50 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 191.5 million; Market cap: $735.5 million; No dividends paid) will cut its 2015 exploration and development spending by 33.3%, to $200 million from $300 million in 2014, in response to low oil and gas prices. However, Bellatrix can still draw on $85 million from its joint venture partners, bringing total spending to $285 million this year. As a result of the spending cut, the company now expects to produce an average of 43,000 to 44,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2015. That’s down from its original forecast of 47,000 to 48,000 but about 14% higher than its 2014 average production of 38,100 barrels a day....