TEMPUR-PEDIC $33.54 (New York symbol TPX; SI Rating: Speculative)(800-878-8889; www.tempurpedic.com; Shares outstanding: 79.3 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion) makes and distributes Swedish Mattresses and Neck Pillows made from its proprietary Tempur pressure-relieving material. Tempur-Pedic’s shares fell recently on worries that lower consumer confidence may result from higher energy prices and a slowdown in the U.S. housing market. That could hurt mattress and pillow sales. Approximately 75% of mattress sales are replacements, so buyers can postpone their purchases if they choose. Despite the possibility that the economy will slow down, we still like the company’s prospects....

YAMANA GOLD $13.43 (Toronto symbol YRI; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-815-0220; www.yamana.com; Shares outstanding: 617.4 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion) has acquired over 78% of the outstanding shares of Meridian Gold and can now complete its takeover bid. Yamana will also acquire all the outstanding shares of NORTHERN ORION RESOURCES $7.25 (Toronto symbol NNO; SI Rating: Extra risk) (604-689-9663; www.northernorion.com; Shares outstanding: 154.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion) for 0.543 of a Yamana common share and $0.001 in cash. That’s a gain of 135.2% since we first recommended Northern Orion as our Pick of the Month in June, 2004 at $3.10. The Meridian and Northern Orion purchases will give Yamana gold production of between 1 million and 1.5 million ounces in 2009, and 2.2 million ounces by 2012. The company could generate more than $2 billion in cash flow annually by 2010....

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $44.38, New York symbol VZ, is starting to enjoy the benefits of its massive FiOS (Fiber-Optic Service) project, which will eventually replace the copper wires in its network with fiber optic cable lines all the way to its customers’ homes. This lets Verizon offer customers a wider variety of services, such as digital TV, and helps it compete with cable companies. Thanks to strong demand for FiOS and wireless services, Verizon’s third quarter earnings before unusual items rose 14.5%, to $0.63 a share from $0.55 a year earlier. Revenue grew 5.8%, to $23.8 billion from $22.5 billion. Besides the improving earnings, the stock moved up this week on speculation that 55%-owned Verizon Wireless plans to launch a new mobile phone that uses software from Internet search company Google Inc. That would help Verizon expand revenues from the wireless advertising market, which is still in its infancy. It would also help it compete with Apple’s iPhone....

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $33.56 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.6 million; Market cap: $958.8 million) operates in the rapidly growing service sector, providing services in the following areas: commercial real estate; residential property management; integrated security services; and property improvement services. The company continues to expand profitably through acquisitions and internal growth. Both avenues still offer lots of potential for expansion in the fragmented service sector. Firstservice reports 28.8% higher revenues in its first quarter ended June 30, 2007, to $419.3 million from $325.5 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) Earnings per share rose 29.8%, to $0.61 from $0.47....

NOVATEL INC. $49.74 (Nasdaq symbol NGPS; SI Rating: Speculative) (403-295-4500; www.novatel.com; Shares outstanding: 8.6 million; Market cap: $428.7 million) is now the subject of a friendly $50 U.S. per share cash takeover bid from Swedish technology group Hexagon AB. Hexagon is a global technology group with strong market positions in measurement technologies and polymers. NovAtel has supplied Hexagon subsidiary Leica Geosystems with satellite navigation systems since 2002. We first recommended NovAtel in the June 2001 issue of Stock Pickers Digest at $1.62 U.S. That’s a gain of 2,986.4% over the past six years....

TRIMBLE NAVIGATION $42.26 (Nasdaq symbol TRMB; SI Rating: Speculative) (408-481-6914; www.trimble.com; Shares outstanding: 120.2 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion) makes GPS devices and technology for four main markets: 1) Engineering and construction is the biggest contributor to revenue for Trimble, at 68% of revenues. 2) Agriculture GPS products (15% of sales) let farmers cut costs and increase yields by, say, precisely plowing, seeding or fertilizing fields, even at night....

GARMIN $113.20 (Nasdaq symbol GRMN; SI Rating: Speculative) (913-397-8200; www.garmin.com; Shares outstanding: 216.6 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion) makes portable and fixed-mount GPS products in four major areas: automotive and mobile, outdoor and fitness, marine and aviation. Its products include both portable and dash-mounted navigation systems for automobiles, cell phones, sea craft and aircraft. Consumer products account for 80% of Garmin’s sales. It sells these products through 3,000 independent dealers and distributors in 100 countries. They include major U.S. retailers Wal-Mart, Target, Bass Pro Shops, Boaters World and Best Buy. The company also sells products to the aviation industry. Garmin’s sales rose 71.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2007, to $742.5 million from $432.5 million. Earnings per share rose 73.7%, to $0.99 from $0.57. Garmin has cash of $815.1 million or $3.77 a share, and no long-term debt....

We’ve had great success with the four Global Positioning System (GPS) stocks we first recommended in our June, 2001 issue. Trimble Navigation (see below) acquired @Road, another of the four picks, earlier this year for a 264% gain. Trimble itself is up 755.5%. Garmin (see below) has gained 884.4%. NovAtel is now the subject of a takeover bid for a 2,986.4% gain. We still think there’s room for growth at both Trimble and Garmin. Both are industry leaders, and continue to capitalize on expanding sales of GPS devices to the aviation, agriculture, engineering and construction industries, as well as to retail consumers. TRIMBLE NAVIGATION $42.26 (Nasdaq symbol TRMB; SI Rating: Speculative) (408-481-6914; www.trimble.com; Shares outstanding: 120.2 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion) makes GPS devices and technology for four main markets:...

Hexagon AB’s $50 U.S. bid for NovAtel gives us a gain of 2986.4% since we first recommended the stock in June, 2001. It’s what successful investors might call a ’28-bagger’. That beats our other recent successes such as Aur Resources (a 12-bagger) and Home Capital (a 10-bagger). However, it doesn’t quite measure up to Janna Systems, a software stock we recommended in November, 1998. In January 2001, we advised selling Janna for a 4,111.0% gain. Readers often ask how we come up with winners like these, while generally avoiding the total wipe-outs that plague most aggressive- stock advisors....

TUCOWS INC. $0.92 (Toronto symbol TC; SI Rating: Speculative) (1-800-371-6992; www.tucowsinc.com; Shares outstanding: 73.8 million; Market cap: $67.9 million) provides domain name registrations and other services to more than 9,000 Web-hosting companies, Internet service providers (ISPs) and others in 100 countries. These companies then resell the services to their customers. Tucows provides registration for such top domains as .com, .net, and .org, as well as 17 country-code domains, including .ca, .us and .uk. The company also maintains a library of over 40,000 “freeware” and “shareware” software programs at its www.tucows.com download site. Tucows sells advertising and generates fees from software companies promoting their products on that download site. The majority of Tucows’ revenue comes from its over 8 million domain name registrations under management. It also provides billing and customer service software, hosted email, anti-spam services, blogware and website building tools to Internet service providers. As well, it sells services directly to individuals, including domain registration, email, personalized email through its portfolio of surname-based domain names, blogware, and website hosting and creation....