LIMITED BRANDS INC. $13 (New York symbol LTD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 321 million; Market cap: $4.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Average) earned $0.01 a share in its first fiscal quarter, which ended May 2, 2009. That was better than analysts expectations of a loss of $0.04 a share. In the year-earlier quarter, the clothing retailer earned $0.11 a share. That figure excludes a gain on the sale of its stake in a joint venture and a writedown of its investment in another joint venture. Sales fell 10.4%, to $1.7 billion from $1.9 billion. Overall same-store sales fell 7%, consisting of a 10% drop at the Victoria’s Secret and La Senza lingerie chains and a 3% drop at its Bath & Body Works personal-care products stores. The company continues to lower its costs. These measures, which include cutting its head office staff by 10%, freezing salaries and opening fewer stores, should improve its profitability when sales rebound. Limited Brands is a buy....

WESTERN UNION CO. $17 (New York symbol WU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 701.3 million; Market cap: $11.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; WSSF Rating: Above Average) will buy Custom House, Ltd., a Canadian company that provides business-to-business payment services to over 40,000 small- and medium-sized companies. The purchase reduces Western Union’s reliance on consumer-to-consumer transactions, which account for about 85% of its business, and should add $100 million a year to its revenue. The deal should close by September 30. To put the $370 million all-cash purchase price in context, Western Union earned $223.9 million in the first quarter of 2009, up 8.1% from $207.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 18.5%, to $0.32 from $0.27, on fewer shares outstanding. However, the year-earlier earnings included a $24-million pre-tax restructuring charge, mainly caused by the closure of its San Francisco facility. Without this expense, its latest earnings grew 1%. Revenue fell 5.1%, to $1.2 billion from $1.3 billion. Over 80% of Western Union’s agents are outside the United States, so the higher U.S. dollar hurts their contribution. Excluding foreign currency effects, revenue was flat. Western Union is a buy.

BECKMAN COULTER INC. $53 (New York symbol BEC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 63.4 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; WSSF Rating: Average) makes lab equipment that doctors and medical researchers use to detect substances in blood and other bodily fluids. These systems are designed to simplify and speed up complex tests. Beckman has installed more than 200,000 systems in over 130 countries. Hospitals and clinics account for about 85% of Beckman’s revenue. It gets the remaining 15% from universities and medical research labs.

Supplies and services cut its risk

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BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $42 (New York symbol BPL) earned $53.8 million in the three months ended March 31, 2009, up 25.7% from $42.8 million a year earlier. The gain was largely due to acquisitions in 2008, including a natural gas storage facility in northern California. Buckeye issued new units to pay down the debt it took on to pay for these purchases. As a result, earnings per unit rose 20.8%, to $0.87 from $0.72, on more units outstanding. Buckeye also raised its quarterly distribution by 1.4%. The new annual rate of $3.60 yields 8.6%. Buy. TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $24 (New York symbol TUP) earned $0.41 a share in the first quarter of 2009, down 19.6% from $0.51 a year earlier. Sales of plastic containers and beauty products fell 14.8%, to $462.8 million from $543.4 million. Overseas markets account for 80% of its total sales, and the higher U.S. dollar hurt their contribution. If you exclude foreign currency, earnings climbed 18% and sales rose 1%. Buy. AT&T INC. $24 (New York symbol T) is down 17% from the start of the year. The company is the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for Apple’s popular iPhone. This arrangement expires next year, and fears that Apple will let other wireless companies carry the iPhone have weighed on the stock. However, sales of other smartphones and netbooks (compact laptop computers designed for Internet use) remain strong. These devices should continue to lift AT&T’s wireless revenue. Buy.

BANK OF AMERICA CORP., $11.07, New York symbol BAC, fell 4% this week after it announced that it had sold $13.5 billion worth of new common shares since May 8. The average price of the new shares was $10.77 each. The bank generated an additional $7.3 billion by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank, China’s second-largest lender. This cut Bank of America’s interest to 11% from 17%. Together, these moves raised $20.8 billion, or 61% of the $33.9 billion in additional capital that Bank of America needs to satisfy government regulators. To put these figures in perspective, the bank’s market cap is $70.9 billion. Bank of America will probably make up the shortfall by selling more businesses, and contributing some cash flow from its operations over the next few months. This should let it avoid converting the U.S. government’s $45 billion worth of preferred shares into common shares, which would give the government more control over the bank....

INTERNATIONAL ROAD DYNAMICS, $0.72, symbol IRD on Toronto, has resumed trading after the Toronto exchange lifted its cease-trading order. International Road has filed its financial statements for its fiscal year, which ended November 30, 2008. It has also filed its statements for the quarter ended February 28, 2009. In the latest quarter, revenue rose 58.7%, to $11 million from $6.9 million a year earlier. Saskatoon-based International Road has customers all over the world; the company reported higher sales in all regions, and across most of its product lines. Earnings were $0.02 a share, compared to a loss of $0.02. International Road makes products and systems that manage highway traffic. These include automated toll-road and weigh-station systems for trucks. International Road’s weigh-in-motion system weighs trucks while they’re moving, rather than at less-efficient roadside weigh stations. The company also makes advanced traffic control systems, driver-management systems and data-collection systems....

INTUITIVE SURGICAL $150.66 (Nasdaq symbol ISRG; SI Rating: Average) (515-507-5000; www.intuitivesurgical.com; Shares outstanding: 37.9 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion) makes the “da Vinci,” a computerized surgical system. Intuitive’s shares trade at a high price, but you can buy as few as 10 through any broker. Guided by a miniature camera connected to a 3-D monitor, surgeons use the da Vinci to operate by remotely manipulating tiny robotic arms. This is safer and far less invasive than regular surgical techniques, and helps cut a patient’s recovery time and post-operative discomfort. It also reduces scarring and infection risk. To date, Intuitive has sold 1,171 da Vinci systems. In the three months ended March 31, 2009, Intuitive earned $28.1 million, or $0.72 a share. That was down 37.2% from $44.8 million, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier, because of higher stock-option costs....

The p/e ratio (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings) is one of many handy investing tools. The concept seems straightforward: A high p/e means a stock is expensive, a low one means it’s cheap. If only it was so simple. The problem is with the “e”. Reported earnings are an accounting assessment. Projected earnings are an outsider’s guess. Stocks rise and fall on vastly more information than that. Some investors refuse to buy stocks that trade above a certain p/e, often as low as 20.0-to-1. But all the market’s great successes go through lengthy periods when they trade at much higher p/e’s, often 50.0-to-1 or higher....

ACCORD FINANCIAL CORP. $6.19 (Toronto symbol ACD; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-961-0007; www.accordfinancial.com; Shares outstanding: 9.4 million; Market cap: $58.2 million) is in the factoring business in Canada and the U.S. Factoring is the purchase of a company’s accounts receivable at a discount. Accord profits by collecting these, though it also assumes the risk. Accord can also handle a company’s credit-checking, record-keeping and collections. Most of its customers don’t meet bank lending standards. Besides factoring, Accord provides loans that are based on a client’s assets. These include financing tangible assets, such as inventory, equipment and real estate. It also offers purchase order financing (or financing based on valid purchase orders). In the three months ended March 31, 2009, Accord’s revenue fell 18.3%, to $6.1 million from $7.4 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 14%, to $1.3 million, or $0.14 a share, from $1.5 million, or $0.16....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $13.27 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: SI Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couche-tard.com; Shares outstanding: 193.1 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion) has agreed to buy 450 On the Run convenience stores in the U.S. from Exxon-Mobil. It will also convert 43 locations in Phoenix, Arizona, to its Circle K brand. Couche-Tard minimizes the risk of its growth-by-acquisition strategy by looking for profitable, well-managed chains that have room to grow. The company does a good job of integrating new acquisitions, and it could buy more of the 2,100 On the Run stores that ExxonMobil still owns. Alimentation Couche-Tard is still a buy.