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
AEROPOSTALE $3.55 (New York symbol ARO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (646-485-5410; www.aeropostale.com; Shares outstanding:78.5 million; Market cap: $277.6 million; No dividends paid) reported better-than-expected earnings this week. However, the high teenage unemployment rate is still weighing on its sales. In the three months ended May 3, 2014, Aeropostale’s sales fell 12.5%, to $395.9 million from $452.3 million a year earlier. Samestore sales declined 13%. The company is now closing all 125 of its mall-based P.S. from Aeropostale stores. If you exclude closure and other costs, it lost $0.52 a share. That was better than the consensus forecast of a $0.72-a-share loss. A year earlier, Aeropostale lost $0.16 a share....
COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP $14.88 (Toronto symbol CMG; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-531-1300; www.cmgroup.com; Shares outstanding: 78.6 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) (all figures split 2-for-1) sells software and consulting services that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their wells. It has customers in over 50 countries and offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Caracas, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. In the quarter ended March 31, 2014, Computer Modelling’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $20.0 million from $19.3 million a year earlier. Software licence sales (89% of total revenue) rose slightly, but consulting and professional services (11%) jumped 39.1%, thanks to new projects and a large consulting agreement. Earnings gained 6.7%, to $7.7 million from $7.25 million. Per-share earnings jumped 18.8%, to $0.095 from $0.08, on fewer shares outstanding....
BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $14.75 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating:Speculative) (403-261-6401;www.birchcliffenergy.com; Units outstanding: 145.0million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; No dividends paid) reports that its daily production rose 21.6% in the three months ended March 31, 2014, to 31,749 barrels of oil equivalent from 26,108 a year earlier. Cash flow per share jumped 122.2%, to $0.60 from $0.27, on the increased production and higher oil and gas prices. The company plans to spend $291 million on exploration and development this year, which should boost its 2014 output to a record 34,000 barrels a day. Birchcliff expects to generate full-year cash flow of $331 million, or $2.30 a share, so it can comfortably afford these outlays. Birchcliff Energy is still a buy.
ACI WORLDWIDE $55.40 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 37.9 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; No dividends paid) makes software that processes transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. Its products also help cut fraud. The company has added another major client for its Postilion retail point-to-point encryption (PSPE) software. This technology encrypts credit card numbers and other sensitive information from the point of entry (card swipe) at the merchant to the other end (issuing bank or other payment processor). The client is Ecentric Payment Systems, South Africa’s leading payment processor. Ecentric processes nearly 400 million transactions a year for retailers. This number should rise as African markets continue to develop and South African retailers expand into other countries on the continent....
STUART OLSON INC. $10.79 (Toronto symbol SOX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-454-3667; www.stuartolson.com; Shares outstanding: 24.9 million; Market cap: $270.0 million; Dividend yield: 4.4%) is the new name for The Churchill Corp. (old symbol CUQ). Stuart Olson provides building construction, commercial and industrial electrical contracting, earth moving and industrial insulation services to government and private sector clients, mainly in Western Canada. In the three months ended March 31, 2014, the company lost $614,000, or $0.02 a share. That’s an improvement from a loss of $1.2 million, or $0.05 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 15.9%, to $274.6 million from $236.8 million, thanks to rising construction activity in Western Canada....
FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $55.55 (Toronto symbol FSV; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 34.7 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%) serves the following areas of the real estate market: commercial real estate, residential property management and property improvement....
HILLSHIRE BRANDS CO., $61.82, New York symbol HSH, rose 5% this week in response to a new takeover offer. The company makes a variety of packaged meat products. Its main brands include Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages and Hillshire Farm deli meats. Other foods include Sara Lee frozen desserts and Chef Pierre pies. This week, Tyson Foods (New York symbol TSN) offered to buy the company for $63.00 a share. That topped an earlier $55.00-a-share bid by Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq symbol PPC). Pilgrim’s Pride has now withdrawn its offer....
AMAZON.COM INC., $326.27, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has launched Prime Music, a music-streaming service that’s now bundled with a $99-a-year Amazon Prime subscription. This is the fourth part of the Amazon Prime service. The other three are unlimited shipping, a Kindle e-book library and Prime Instant Video (streaming movies and TV shows). Amazon’s music service will start off with just over a million songs, with no ads and no limit on how much users can listen. It will also offer playlists curated by music experts Amazon will hire....
HILLSHIRE BRANDS CO., $58.92, New York symbol HSH, continues to attract new takeover offers. The company makes a variety of packaged meat products. Its main brands include Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages and Hillshire Farm deli meats. Other foods include Sara Lee frozen desserts and Chef Pierre pies. The stock jumped 11% this week after Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq symbol PPC) offered to buy the company for $55.00 a share. That topped last week’s $50.00-a-share bid by Tyson Foods (New York symbol TSN)....
ENERFLEX LTD., $18.86, symbol EFX on Toronto, rents and sells equipment and services for natural gas production, including compression and processing plants, refrigeration equipment and power generators. The stock jumped over 12% this week after Enerflex announced that it will acquire two businesses owned by privately held Axip Energy Services LP: an international contract compression and processing subsidiary and a division that provides aftermarket services. Enerflex will pay $430 million U.S. in cash. The agreement includes operations in Mexico, South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, but not Axip’s U.S. business. The major assets that Enerflex will receive include a 448-unit compression fleet totalling about 285,000 horsepower, all of which are operating under long-term rental contracts. This equipment is currently 90% utilized and has an average age of 5.5 years. Enerflex also gets gas-treating facilities in Mexico, Argentina and Peru....