CEDAR FAIR L.P. $25 (New York symbol FUN; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Units outstanding: 55.4 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 6.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cedarfair.com) had a record 23.4 million visitors at its amusement parks, water parks and hotels in 2011. That’s up 2.6% from 22.8 million in 2010. As a result, the partnership estimates that its revenue increased 5.4% in 2011, to $1.03 billion from $977.6 million in 2010. Thanks to its improving outlook, the partnership expects to pay distributions of $1.60 a unit in 2012 (for a 6.4% yield). That’s up 60.0% from $1.00 in 2011. Cedar Fair is a buy.

WELLS FARGO & CO. $30 (New York symbol WFC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 5.3 billion; Market cap: $159.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.wellsfargo.com) earned $15.0 billion in 2011. That’s up 29.2% from $11.6 billion in 2010. Earnings per share rose 27.6%, to $2.82 from $2.21, on more shares outstanding. More clients are repaying their loans on time. As a result, loan-loss provisions fell 49.9%, to $7.9 billion from $15.8 billion. This was the main reason for earnings gain. Revenue fell 5.0%, to $80.9 billion from $85.2 billion. Demand for mortgages and credit cards is rising. However, the bank is getting less interest income from borrowers due to today’s low interest rates. Wells Fargo is still a hold....

NEWMONT MINING CORP. $60 (New York symbol NEM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 493.1 million; Market cap: $29.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newmont.com) expects its overall copper production will fall to around 160 million pounds in 2012 from 206 million pounds in 2011. That’s because the operators of its 44.56%-owned Batu Hijau open-pit copper mine in Indonesia need time to clear out waste material so they can reach lower depths with higher grades of copper. As well, Newmont expects its copper production costs to jump to between $1.80 and $2.20 per ounce in 2012 from $1.26 in 2011. The company also expects to produce 5.0 million to 5.2 million ounces of gold in 2012, which is comparable to the 5.2 million ounces it produced in 2011. However, due to rising power and labour costs at its Australian mines, its gold-production costs will jump to between $625 and $675 an ounce from $592 in 2011. Newmont’s long-term outlook remains bright. Concerns over European sovereign debt should continue to spur gold prices. Copper prices should also rebound in 2012, as global consumption will probably exceed production....

CAMPBELL SOUP CO. $32 (New York symbol CPB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 318.7 million; Market cap: $10.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.campbellsoupcompany.com) is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Prego canned pasta and sauces, Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. The company’s sales rose 1.7%, from $7.9 billion in 2007 to $8.0 billion in 2008 (fiscal years end July 31). Sales fell to $7.6 billion in 2009, but rose to $7.7 billion in 2011.

Erratic earnings set to stabilize

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STATE STREET CORP. $40 (www.statestreet.com) earned $1.85 billion, or $3.73 a share, in 2011. That’s up 9.6% from $1.7 billion, or $3.40 a share, in 2010. Revenue rose 9.0%, to $9.5 billion from $8.7 billion. The company continues to win new orders from institutional investors for its security-custody and pricing services. Assets under custody rose 1.3%, to $21.8 trillion from $21.5 trillion. Buy. NVIDIA CORP. $15 (www.nvidia.com) has agreed to supply its new Tegra 3 video chips to German carmaker Audi, which will use them to power in-car information and entertainment systems. Deals like this make Nvidia less reliant on selling chips to makers of computers and video-game consoles. Buy. LIMITED BRANDS INC. $42 (www.limitedbrands.com) reported that its same-store sales rose 7% in December 2011 compared with December 2010. Same-store sales rose 11% at Victoria’s Secret (lingerie) and 4% at Bath & Body Works (personal-care products). Same-store sales at the La Senza lingerie chain were flat. Buy.

PLEASE NOTE: In next week’s Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline, we’ll reveal our #1 U.S. pick for 2012. GOOGLE INC., $586.00, Nasdaq symbol GOOG, fell 8% on Friday after the Internet-search specialist reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Google’s revenue rose 25.4%, to $10.6 billion from $8.4 billion. If you exclude commissions that Google pays to its marketing partners, revenue would have increased by 28% to $8.1 billion. That fell short of the consensus revenue estimate of $8.4 billion....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $29.85, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, is our “Stock of the Year” for 2012. Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on high-quality U.S. stocks, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. We’ve had great success with Alimentation Couche-Tard since we recommended it in our December 2008 issue at $15.50. That’s a gain of 92.6% in just over three years. We said then that the company’s growth-by-acquisition strategy was risky, but Couche-Tard lowered its risk by aiming to acquire profitable, well-managed chains with room for expansion and profit improvement....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.55 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. The company sells fuel at 72% of its stores. Couche-Tard’s revenue continues to rise rapidly. Revenue jumped 86.7% between 2006 and 2010, to $19.0 billion from $10.2 billion (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Much of the rise comes from a steady stream of acquisitions. But the company was also able to boost profits with those acquisitions. Earnings per share jumped 106.2% over the same five years, to $2.00 from $0.97. Revenue will likely reach almost $24 billion this year. Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9% in the three months ended October 9, 2011, to $0.62 from $0.58. Sales rose 24.1% to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from a rise in fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales....

WESTJET AIRLINES $11.55 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 139.4 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) was our “#1 Stock of the Year” for 2010 and 2011. WestJet’s revenue rose 3.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $775.3 million from $684.1 million a year earlier. Demand for the company’s flights remained strong....

SYMANTEC CORP. $16.55 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-408-517-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 751.0 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; No dividends paid) makes computer-security software, including the popular Norton antivirus program. It also sells products and services for email filtering, data backup and other business-related uses. In addition, Symantec offers data-archiving software that helps its clients meet increasingly strict regulatory and compliance standards. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Symantec’s earnings rose 33.8%, to $182 million from $136 million a year earlier. Earnings per share jumped 41.2%, to $0.24 from $0.17, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, mainly asset writedowns and restructuring costs, earnings per share would have risen 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34. That matched the consensus earnings estimate. Sales rose 13.6%, to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion. The company gets 52% of its sales from overseas. If you disregard the positive impact of exchange rates, sales would have risen 9% in the latest quarter....