EUROPEAN GOLDFIELDS, $13.65, symbol EGU on Toronto, jumped 36.5% this week. That’s because Greece’s Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change said it will grant the company a permit to build new mines on two of its mineral deposits in Greece: The Olympias mine could start up later this year, followed by a new mine at Skouries in 2012. The two mines should boost the company’s gold output from 70,000 ounces per year to over 420,000 ounces. European Goldfields has faced delays in getting the appropriate permits. It submitted an environmental-impact study last year, but the Greek government delayed approval of the study. That was partly due to local opposition, but also to make sure the project would not pollute groundwater deposits in the area....

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, July 8, 2011. STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC., $72.05, New York symbol SWK, has agreed to buy Sweden’s Niscayah Group AB. Niscayah designs and installs security systems, including surveillance cameras and fire alarms, for a wide variety of businesses. This is a big purchase for Stanley, which will pay $1.2 billion for Niscayah, including assumed debt. That’s 94% more than the $619.3 million, or $4.12 a share, that Stanley earned in 2010. The company holds cash of $1.9 billion, so it can easily pay for this purchase without having to sell shares, which would dilute the ownership of existing shareholders....

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, July 8, 2011. IAMGOLD CORP., $18.14, symbol IMG on Toronto, has now sold its 18.9% stake in the Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana to South African mining giant Gold Fields Ltd. IAMGold received cash of $667 million U.S. for these interests. The company now holds over $1.1 billion U.S. in cash and gold bullion. That gives it lots of options to spur its share price: it could raise exploration spending; make an acquisition; pay dividends; or buy back shares....

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, June 30, 2011. FEDEX CORP., $91.78, New York symbol FDX, delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 countries and territories. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2011, FedEx’s revenue rose 13.2%, to $39.3 billion from $34.7 billion in 2010. The company earned $1.45 billion, or $4.57 a share, up 22.6% from $1.2 billion, or $3.76 a share. If you exclude unusual items, FedEx earned $4.90 a share in 2011. That matched the consensus estimate....

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, June 30, 2011. WESTJET AIRLINES, $14.69, symbol WJA on Toronto, is now in the process of upgrading its “interline” agreement with Delta Air Lines to a full “code sharing” arrangement. Delta is the second-busiest U.S. airline carrier by traffic, behind United Airlines. WestJet signed an interline agreement with Delta in February 2011. Under these agreements, two airlines co-operate on flights and baggage handling. WestJet has similar deals with Air France-KLM, China Airways of Taiwan, and Hong Kong-based Dragonair. As well, the company recently signed interline agreements with Australia’s Qantas Airlines and Japan Airlines Corp....

It pays to be skeptical of companies that mainly grow through acquisitions. That’s because many purchases come with hidden problems that can hurt the buyer’s future earnings. The buyer can also weaken its balance sheet with excessive debt if it borrows heavily to fund an acquisition. However, we like AT&T’s recent purchase of rival U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile. The company’s extra wireless frequencies (or “spectrum”) are a hidden asset that will help AT&T handle rising demand for wireless data as more people access the Internet with mobile devices, like smartphones. As well, AT&T has a long history of integrating new businesses. That cuts the risk of this purchase. AT&T INC. $31 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth & Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.9 billion; Market cap: $182.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) gets 50% of its revenue from its wireless division, which has 97.5 million customers in the U.S. The wireline division, which supplies 48% of AT&T’s revenue, sells traditional landline phone services to 40.6 million customers in 22 states. It gets the remaining 2% by selling ads in phone directories....

PFIZER INC. $20 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.9 billion; Market cap: $158.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is a major pharmaceutical maker. It also makes hospital and consumer products, and animal-health drugs. Pfizer sells its products in more than 150 countries; overseas sales account for about 57% of Pfizer’s total sales. Pfizer has a lot in common with AT&T. It, too, is facing falling sales in its older businesses, as patents on its top-selling drugs, such as Lipitor (for high cholesterol) expire. Like AT&T, Pfizer has used acquisitions to fuel its growth. That includes its big, $68-billion purchase of rival drug maker Wyeth in 2009, which gave it a number of promising new drugs, including Enbrel (psoriasis) and Zosyn (bacterial infections)....

On January 4, 2011, shareholders of the old Motorola Inc. received one share of Motorola Mobility for every eight Motorola shares they own. Following the distribution, the old Motorola changed its name to Motorola Solutions. It also consolidated its shares on a 1-for-7 basis, as many pension plans and institutional investors avoid stocks that trade below a certain price. Breakups like this help unlock hidden value, and generally lead to above-average results over time. We initially saw both stocks as buys, but we now prefer Motorola Solutions to Motorola Mobility. MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. $46 (New York symbol MSI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 339.5 million; Market cap: $15.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.motorolasolutions.com) makes specialized equipment, such as bar-code scanners, and radios for police and fire vehicles....

WAL-MART STORES INC. $53 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio: Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.5 billion; Market cap: $185.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) has convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a class-action lawsuit that accused the retailer of paying female employees less than male workers. The ruling means that these claims can only proceed as individual cases, not as a single class-action lawsuit. That greatly reduces any possible damages that Wal-Mart might have to pay. Wal-Mart is a buy.

These three beverage makers face rising ingredient costs. However, all three have restructured their operations, and the resulting savings have put them in a better position to face these challenges. As well, their strong brands will help them pass higher costs on to their customers. Moreover, all three are expanding in fast-growing overseas markets. PEPSICO INC. $69 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $110.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) is the world’s second-largest soft-drink maker, after Coca-Cola. It also makes other products, such as Frito-Lay snack foods, Tropicana fruit juices and Quaker Oats. Last year, PepsiCo bought its two main bottling firms, Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. and PepsiAmericas Inc., for $7.8 billion in cash and shares. Starting in 2012, the company should save $550 million a year by merging plants and administrative functions....