TENNANT CORP. $37 (New York symbol TNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 18.8 million; Market cap: $695.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tennantco.com) now gets around 20% of its sales from its environmentally friendly floor scrubbers, which use electricity to make tap water act like a detergent. Thanks to strong demand for these products, Tennant’s sales rose 10.9% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $187.0 million from $168.6 million a year earlier. Earnings jumped 33.2%, to $9.7 million from $7.3 million. Per-share earnings rose 31.6%, to $0.50 from $0.38, on more shares outstanding. The stock has gained 20% in the past year, and now trades at a high 20.8 times the $1.93 a share Tennant will probably earn in 2011. That increases the risk of sudden drop if Tennant’s earnings growth slows, particularly if businesses put off buying new cleaning equipment because of the uncertain economy....

Encana (which focuses on natural gas) and Cenovus (which focuses on oil) took their present form in December 2009 following the breakup of the old EnCana Corp. New shale gas discoveries have pushed down gas prices. That has hurt the new Encana. Cenovus has fared better, due to stronger oil prices. We still see both as buys due to their their high-quality reserves and strong cash flows. ENCANA CORP. $18 (New York symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 735.4 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to sell some of its natural gas properties in northern Texas for $975 million. The sale is part of the company’s ongoing plan to focus on its main properties in Alberta, B.C., Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. Including this sale, Encana will have sold $1.7 billion of properties in 2011. That’s within its original target of $1 billion to $2 billion....

BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs $64 (New York symbol BHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; ADRs outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $172.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bhpbilliton.com) plans to spend $4.5 billion in 2012 to develop its North American shale gas properties. This spending will rise to $5.5 billion a year by 2015, and to $6.5 billion a year in 2020. BHP can easily afford these outlays; its cash flow was $30.1 billion, or $10.92 per ADR, in the year ended June 30, 2011. These investments will help BHP profit as more coal-burning power plants in the U.S. convert to natural gas. As well, the company plans to export liquefied natural gas to Europe and Asia. BHP Billiton is a buy.

WESTERN UNION CO. $16 (New York symbol WU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 619.1 million; Market cap: $9.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.westernunion.com) earned $249.4 million in the three months ended September 30, 2011. That’s up 0.6% from $247.9 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 8.1%, to $0.40 from $0.37. These figures exclude costs related to a recent restructuring, which mainly involved laying off workers and closing unneeded facilities. Revenue rose 6.1%, to $1.4 billion from $1.3 billion. In November 2011, the company completed its $945-million purchase of the business-payments division of U.K.-based Travelex Holdings Ltd. This company processes payments for 35,000 businesses in 14 countries. Integration costs will hurt Western Union’s 2012 earnings, but the purchase should add $0.04 a share to its 2013 earnings. Western Union is a buy....

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $49 (Nasdaq symbol TROW; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 252.6 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.7; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.troweprice.com) saw the value of mutual funds and other assets it manages fall 5.9%, to $453.5 billion on September 30, 2011, from $482.0 billion at the start of the year. The uncertainty over European sovereign debt and a slowing global economy cut stock prices and spurred investors to redeem their mutual fund units. Most of these redemptions were made by institutional investors. However, the company saw strong demand for its target-date retirement funds for individuals. As a result, T. Rowe Price’s revenue rose 15.9% in the third quarter of 2011, to $679.4 million from $586.1 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 9.6%, to $184.6 million, or $0.71 a share, from $168.4 million, or $0.64 a share. T. Rowe Price is a buy.

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $33 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.7 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 0.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fairisaac.com) sells products and services that help businesses around the world make better decisions on customer creditworthiness. The company is best known for its FICO credit scores, which creditors use to decide if they should give a customer a mortgage, a credit card or any other type of loan. Fair Isaac also makes software that helps credit-card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. Banks and insurance companies provide 78% of Fair Isaac’s revenue. ...

FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORP. $5.35 (www.frontier.com) earned $0.05 a share in three months ended September 30, 2011. That’s down 37.5% from $0.08 a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual costs related to Frontier’s July 2010 purchase of 4 million regular phone, or landline, accounts from Verizon. Revenue fell 8.0%, to $1.3 billion from $1.4 billion. Strong sales of high-speed Internet and video services continues to offset slower sales of landlines and related services. Hold. SNAP-ON INC. $48 (www.snapon.com) earned $1.16 a share in the third quarter of 2011, up 45.0% from $0.80 a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.9%, to $729.9 million from $670.3 million, mainly due to favourable foreign exchange rates and better results from the automotive tool maker’s finance division. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 6.3%, to $0.34 a share from $0.32. The new annual rate of $1.36 yields 2.8%. Snap-On has maintained or increased its dividend since 1939. Buy. BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $63 (www.buckeye.com) has raised its quarterly distribution for the 30th consecutive quarter, to $1.025 a unit from $1.0125. The new annual rate of $4.10 yields 6.5%. However, Buckeye continues to expand its oil pipelines and storage operations through acquisitions. That adds risk. Hold.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $185.24, New York symbol IBM, rose initially in response to news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (New York symbol BRK.A) now owns 5.4% of IBM. However, the stock fell 1% for the week. This is Mr. Buffett’s first major investment in a technology company. IBM’s revenue and earnings growth has slowed recently, due to the weaker global economy, but its long-term outlook remains strong. The company continues to benefit from strong growth in emerging markets, like Russia and Brazil. Strong business growth in these countries is spurring demand for reliable computer services. By 2015, IBM feels these markets will supply 30% of its revenue, up from 23% now....

INTACT FINANCIAL CORP., $56.68, symbol IFC on Toronto, is Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance, based on premiums. Its brands include Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink, belairdirect and Grey Power. The company recently completed its purchase of AXA Canada from Paris-based ASX Group for $2.6 billion. To put that in context, Intact’s market cap is $6.3 billion. Intact plans to look for more casualty and property insurers to buy in Canada. That includes other subsidiaries of European insurers, many of which are struggling. Intact estimates that as much as 30% of the Canadian property and casualty market is controlled by foreign-owned insurers....

STANTEC INC. $24.89 (Toronto symbol STN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (780-917-7288; www.stantec.com; Shares outstanding: 45.7 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; No dividends paid) sells a range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services. The company’s clients operate in a wide variety of markets, including industry, environment, transportation and construction. Stantec has over 11,000 employees in 170 locations throughout North America. It also has four international offices. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the company’s revenue rose 11.3%, to $430.4 million from $386.7 million a year earlier. That partly reflects contributions from companies Stantec recently bought. In addition, the company is working on a number of new projects for customers in a range of industries, including mining and oil and gas. Before one-time items, earnings rose 13.8%, to $28.9 million, or $0.63 a share, from $25.4 million, or $0.55 a share. Stantec continues to grow by acquisition. For example, in October 2011 it bought Entran Inc., a Lexington, Kentucky-based consulting and engineering firm with about 115 employees. Entran specializes in transportation planning, including designing roads and bridges....