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
BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $55 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $88.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) still plans to spin off its aluminum, manganese, nickel and silver operations, as well as some coal mines, into a separate company in the first half of 2015. After the spinoff, BHP will focus on four main commodities: metallurgical coal, iron ore, copper and oil. In all, they account for 96% of its earnings. Prices of these commodities have declined in the past few months, mainly due to slowing growth in China, Japan and Europe. In response, the company is laying off workers and making its main properties more productive....
Technology stocks tend to be riskier than other manufacturing firms. That’s because demand for their products is cyclical, and they must spend heavily on research and development. Even then, there’s no guarantee their efforts will boost their sales or protect them from start-ups with better technology. All four of these techs lead their niche markets, and they all have strong balance sheets. These factors temper their risk, but we still think they’ll make little progress in the next few months. APPLE INC. $119 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.9 billion; Market cap: $702.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) continues to profit from strong demand for its iPhone smartphone, which accounts for 56% of its sales. Other products include Mac computers (16%), iPad tablets (13%) and iPod music players and other services (15%)....
INTEL CORP. $37 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.9 billion; Market cap: $181.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) expects its revenue to rise by about 5% in 2015, compared to the consensus forecast of a 3.4% increase. That’s because businesses are replacing their older computers more quickly than expected. Intel only recently started making chips for mobile devices, so it offered manufacturers special discounts to encourage them to switch over. However, it expects to cut these subsidies, as it will soon launch a new mobile chip that combines a processor with a wireless modem. That cuts the need for two separate chips. The company has also raised its dividend by 6.7%. The new annual rate of $0.96 a share yields 2.6%....
INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $100 (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.0 million; Market cap: $8.1 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) makes over 36,000 compounds that improve the taste of food and the smell of consumer products. In the third quarter of 2014, IFF’s sales rose 4.3%, to $773.8 million from $742.3 million a year earlier. That’s partly due to Israel-based Aromor Flavors and Fragrances, which IFF bought for $102.5 million in January 2014. Stronger demand in developing countries also contributed to the gain. Earnings improved 8.4%, to $107.4 million from $99.0 million. Per-share earnings rose 9.2%, to $1.31 from $1.20, on fewer shares outstanding. Excluding unusual items, such as costs to integrate Aromor, earnings per share gained 8.2%, to $1.32 from $1.22. IFF spends over 8% of its sales on research, so it’s more profitable than it appears....
TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $66 (New York symbol TUP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 50.4 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.tupperwarebrands.com) makes household goods, mainly plastic food and beverage containers, as well as cosmetics and fragrances. The stock is down 32% from its peak of $97 in December 2013. That’s mainly because the company gets 75% of its sales from outside North America, and the recent rise in the U.S. dollar has hurt the contribution of its overseas operations. In the quarter ended September 27, 2014, Tupperware’s sales fell 2.4%, to $588.7 million from $603.2 million a year earlier. But if you exclude the negative impact of currency rates, sales rose 4%. Gains in emerging nations like Indonesia and Brazil offset declines in established markets, particularly Germany....
Windstream is spinning off some of its real estate assets, while Frontier (see box) recently expanded by acquisition. Both approaches should let these telecoms maintain their above-average dividend yields. However, their heavy focus on rural areas, plus the rising cost of expanding and upgrading their networks, limits their growth prospects. WINDSTREAM HOLDINGS INC. $10 (Nasdaq symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 602.8 million; Market cap: $6.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 10.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.windstream.com) gets 73% of its revenue by selling high-speed Internet and other communication services to 357,700 businesses....
FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORP. $7.06 (Nasdaq symbol FTR; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 5.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.frontier.com) recently paid $2.0 billion for AT&T’s traditional phone business in Connecticut. The company now has 3.0 million residential and business customers in 28 states. Excluding acquisition-related costs, Frontier earned $47.7 million, or $0.05 a share, in the third quarter of 2014. That’s down 15.6% from $56.5 million, or $0.06 a share, a year earlier. Even with the AT&T operations, revenue fell 3.7%, to $1.14 billion from $1.19 billion, as lower telephone revenue offset higher sales of Internet services. The company borrowed most of the cash it needed for this purchase, which increased its long-term debt to $9.2 billion, or 1.3 times its market cap....
DIEBOLD INC. $36 (New York symbol DBD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 64.6 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. diebold.com) aims to save a total of $150 million by the end of 2015, mainly through layoffs and plant closures. In the third quarter of 2014, the company earned $33.0 million, or $0.51 a share, up from a year-earlier loss of $21.7 million, or $0.34. Without unusual items, earnings per share fell 3.6%, to $0.54 from $0.56. Sales gained 8.9%, to $768.0 million from $705.4 million. Stronger demand for automated teller machines in Europe and Asia offset slower sales in North America and Latin America. Diebold also sold more security systems....
BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $72 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 542.0 million; Market cap: $39.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) earned $1.35 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.9% from $1.24 a year earlier. Sales rose 13.1%, to $4.2 billion from $3.7 billion. Baxter’s medical products business (60% of total revenue) reported 17.2% higher sales, thanks to Gambro, a dialysisequipment maker the company bought for $3.9 billion in September 2013. Without Gambro, medical product sales rose 5%. Sales at the BioScience division (40% of the total) gained 7.5%, mainly due to stronger demand for its Advate hemophilia drug....
VISA INC. $257 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 620.0 million; Market cap: $159.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.8; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network, through which it processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions. Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges the card issuers and merchants that use its network. It bases these fees on transaction volumes and other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa. Thanks to the continued growth of online shopping, which has encouraged more credit and debit card use, Visa’s revenue rose 57.5%, from $8.1 billion in fiscal 2010 to $12.7 billion in 2014 (fiscal years end September 30)....