BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $43 earned $40.9 million in the second quarter of 2008, up 18.6% from $34.5 million a year earlier. Per-unit earnings were unchanged at $0.70 due to more units outstanding. Acquisitions pushed revenue up to $492.5 million from $125.0 million. Buckeye also increased its quarterly distribution by 1.5%. The new annual rate of $3.45 yields 8.0%. Buy. H.J. HEINZ CO. $52 reported higher earnings in its first fiscal quarter ended July 30, 2008, mostly due to strong sales in emerging markets such as India and Indonesia. Earnings in the quarter grew 14.3%, to $0.72 a share from $0.63 a year earlier. Sales rose 15.6%, to $2.6 billion from $2.25 billion. Buy. WINDSTREAM CORP. $12 continues to lose telephone customers to cable companies. However, the rate is slowing. Meanwhile, the company continues to sign up new high-speed Internet customers. Just 44% of its residential telephone customers have high-speed service, so there’s plenty of room to grow. The company also plans to cut its capital spending, which will free up cash for its $1.00 dividend (8.3% yield). Cash from the upcoming sale of wireless operations in North Carolina will also help support the dividend. Buy.

APPLE INC. $175 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 885.9 million; Market cap: $155.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes computers and consumer electronic devices. Unlike other computer makers, Apple’s products use only the company’s own operating system (called Mac OS). That gives Apple more control over the final product. The company prefers to focus on design, and contracts out most of its manufacturing. Apple currently spends around 3% of its revenue of $34.25 a share on research.

Music supplies nearly half of revenue

Apple has strong history of innovative, easy-to-use products. A top example is the iPod music player. Launched in 2001, the iPod now has roughly 70% of the digital player market. The iPod (along with Apple’s iTunes music download service) accounts for around 45% of Apple’s total revenues. As well, the popularity of the iPod has helped spur sales of Apple’s Mac computers....

NVIDIA CORP. $13 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 556.6 million; Market cap: $7.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) lost $0.22 a share (total $120.9 million) in the three months ended July 27, 2008. That’s mainly because Nvidia had to expand its provision for warranty costs due to defects with certain graphic chips. These chips use older technology than Nvidia’s newer models, so these problems should not affect future earnings. If you exclude all non-recurring items, Nvidia would have earned $0.13 a share ($74.5 million) in the latest quarter. That’s 61.8% less than the $0.34 a share ($198.1 million) it earned in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue fell 4.6%, to $892.7 million from $935.3 million, mainly due to weaker demand for desktop computers. Nvidia continues to spend about 20% of its revenue on research. This will help it maintain its leading share of the graphic chip market. It also plans to buy back $2.7 billion worth of its shares....

MTS SYSTEMS CORP. $41 (Nasdaq symbol MTSC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & industry sector; Shares outstanding: 17.0 million; Market cap: $697.0 million; WSSF Rating: Average) has sold its Nano Instruments division for a gain of $2.5 million. This business makes products that accurately measure the thickness and hardness of adhesives, coatings and other thin films. The sale will help fund MTS’s recent purchase of a Chinese company that makes testing equipment. Meanwhile, MTS’s earnings in its third fiscal quarter ended June 28, 2008 rose 17.0%, to $11.0 million from $9.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share grew 23.1%, to $0.64 from $0.52, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales rose 11.1%, to $116.9 million from $105.2 million. MTS Systems is a buy....

HARTE-HANKS INC. $12 (New York symbol HHS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 63.2 million; Market cap: $758.4 million; WSSF Rating: Average) has struggled in the past year, as weaker demand for advertising has hurt earnings at its direct marketing operations (66% of revenue) and its shopper newspapers in California and Florida (34% of revenue). In the three months ended June 30, 2008, earnings fell 20.5%, to $18.2 million from $22.9 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings fell 6.5%, to $0.29 from $0.31, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell 5.3%, to $274.8 million from $290.1 million. Revenue at the newspaper division fell 20.0%. However, direct marketing revenue grew 4.4%. Direct marketing revenues should continue to rise, particularly as these services help its clients expand sales in a slowing economy. Recent cost cuts should help offset the lower revenues, and expand profits quickly when the economy rebounds. Harte-Hanks recently suspended its share repurchase plan. But that will let it keep paying its $0.30 dividend (2.5% yield)....

AUTODESK INC. $37 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 224.0 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) continues to profit from strong international demand (66% of total revenue) for its software products, which engineers and architects use to design machinery, buildings and so on. The company is also doing a good job getting its customers to upgrade from its traditional 2D software to 3D, which speeds up the design process. In its second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2008, earnings before unusual items rose 20.2%, to $130.3 million from $108.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 27.3%, to $0.56 from $0.44, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue grew 17.8%, to $619.5 million from $525.9 million. Autodesk now trades at just 16.3 times this year’s forecast earnings of $2.27 a share. That’s reasonable in light of its growth prospects, and its high research spending (25% of revenue)....

Slowdowns at their customers continue to hurt Broadridge, Fair Isaac and Cintas. However, all three offer services that help their clients save money, comply with regulations and strengthen customer loyalty. That gives them long-term appeal. All three of these companies are also attractive in relation to their earnings and revenue. We continue to view them as buys. BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS INC. $20 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 140.3 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) offers services to the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications; securities processing; and transaction clearing. These services help financial services institutions and public companies improve their efficiency and customer service....

WAL-MART STORES INC. $59 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $230.1 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) earned $0.86 a share in its second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2008, up 14.7% from $0.75 a year earlier. If you exclude one-time gains in the year-earlier quarter, earnings grew 21.1%. Sales rose 10.4%, to $102.7 billion from $93.0 billion. Same-store sales at its U.S. locations rose 4.5%. Due to rising fuel prices and a slowing economy, more people are cutting back on vacations. That helped spur sales of home entertainment items, such as big-screen TV sets and video games. Government stimulus checks also contributed to the higher sales. The company warned that sales growth could slow in the second half of fiscal 2009. However, Wal-Mart’s low prices should continue to attract cost-conscious shoppers away from other retailers....

J.C. PENNEY CO. INC. $38 (New York symbol JCP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 222.1 million; Market cap: $8.4 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) continues to do a good job controlling its inventories and other costs in the face of weaker consumer spending. In the three months ended August 2, 2008, earnings per share fell 33.3%, to $0.52 from $0.78 a year earlier. However, the latest earnings exceeded consensus forecasts of $0.50 a share. Sales fell 2.3%, to $4.3 billion from $4.4 billion, while same-store sales fell 4.3%. The stock fell below $28 in July 2008, but has gained 30% since. It now trades at 11.0 times the $3.44 a share it will probably earn in its current fiscal year. The company’s success in keeping its costs down should also let it keep paying its $0.80 dividend (2.1% yield). J.C. Penney is a buy.

The slowing economy has hurt sales of new clothing. This has in turn hurt earnings at these three apparel- focused companies. However, all three are aggressively cutting their costs, which will help them stay profitable during this slump. Lower costs will also help them quickly expand earnings as the economy rebounds. We still see all of them as buys for long-term gains. LIMITED BRANDS INC. $20 (New York symbol LTD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 340.3 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) operates two main retail chains: Victoria’s Secret (lingerie) and Bath & Body Works (soaps and bath oils). It also operates the La Senza (lingerie) chain, in Canada and 44 other countries....