Hot Canadian Companies To Watch In Right Now

Recently, not just one, but three major retail outlets announced disappointing third quarter sales numbers, and MoneyShow's Jim Jubak, also of Jubak's Picks, wonders if this might be indicating shoppers' sentiment this holiday season.

Nobody expects Sears Holdings (SHLD) to report earnings growth��nd the company didn't disappoint last Thursday, when it announced a $534 million loss for the three months that ended on November 2 and a 3.1% drop in same store sales.

But last Thursday, Target (TGT) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) also reported disappointing third quarter sales.

Which certainly suggests that the better-than-expected retail sales growth for October, reported by the Census Bureau earlier last week, is going to turn out��t best��o be very spotty indeed. At 0.4% growth in October, this isn't a tide running strong enough to lift all boats.

Target, at least, has a one-time excuse. The company's expansion into Canada is proving to be really, really rough going. Costs for expanding into Canada, and discounts Target had to offer to move excess inventory at its 124 Canadian stores, took 29 cents a share out of earnings for the quarter.

Top Construction Stocks To Invest In 2015: Ingram Micro Inc. (IM)

Ingram Micro Inc. distributes information technology (IT) products; and provides supply chain solutions, mobile device lifecycle services, and logistics solutions worldwide. The company�s IT peripherals include printers, scanners, displays, projectors, monitors, panels, mass storage, and tape; large format LCD and plasma displays, enclosures, mounts, media players, content software, and content creation and hosting; mobile phones, digital cameras and video disc players, game consoles, televisions, audio, media management, and home control products; barcode/card printers, AIDC scanners and software, and wireless infrastructure products; IP video surveillance, security and fire alarm systems, and access control smart cards; processors, motherboards, hard drives, and memory products; and ink and toner supplies, paper, carrying cases, and anti-glare screens. It also provides various systems, including rack, tower, and blade servers; desktops; portable personal computers and t ablets; and software products, such as business application, operating system, entertainment, security, storage, and virtualization software products, as well as middleware and developer software tools. The company�s networking products comprise switches, hubs, routers, wireless local area networks, wireless wide area networks, network interface cards, cellular data cards, network-attached storage, and storage area networks; voice over Internet protocol, communications, modems, phone systems, and video/audio conferencing; and firewalls, virtual private networks, intrusion detection, and authentication devices and appliances. In addition, it provides integration, technical support, training, financial and credit, marketing, predictive analytics, eCommerce, reseller community hosting, managed, cloud, managed print, and professional services. The company sells its products to resellers through sales representatives. Ingram Micro Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Computers Wholesale: This industry moved up 2.38% by 10:30 am. The top performer in this industry was Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM), which gained 6.4%. Ingram Micro reported Q3 earnings of $0.62 per share on revenue of $11.20 billion.

• [By Keith Speights]

  My take is that Qualcomm has rapidly established itself as the de facto standard for connecting with medical devices. The company isn't doing it alone, though. It teamed with Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM  ) , the world's largest technology distributor, to support the implementation, logistics, and financial services related to the 2net hub and platform. This partnership should help propagate Qualcomm's technology more effectively than the company could have done on its own.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The first list of 24/7 Wall St. stocks under book value for the month of August are Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. (NYSE: FDP), Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW), Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU). We generally have�focused on net asset values and tangible book values, as well as forward price-to-earnings multiples, share price performance, analyst expectations via the Thomson Reuters consensus price target and more.

Hot Canadian Companies To Watch In Right Now: Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (BPO)

Brookfield Properties Corporation is a publicly owned real estate investment firm. The firm engages in the ownership, development, and management of premier commercial properties. It also provides ancillary real estate service businesses, such as tenant service and amenities. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States with a focus on North American cities, including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Calgary, Denver, and Minneapolis. It primarily invests in properties and development sites predominantly office buildings. The firm operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. It was formerly known as Carena-Bancorp Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Le Holding Carena-Bancorp Inc. in 1978. The company further changed its name to Carena-Bancorp, Inc. in 1985; to Carena Developments Limited in 1989; and to Brookfield Properties Corporation in 1996. Brookfield Properties was founded in 1923 and is based in New York, New York wi th an additional office in Toronto, Canada

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Luke Jacobi]

  Brookfield Office Properties (NYSE: BPO) got a boost, closing up 13.71 percent to $19.07 after Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY) proposed to acquire Brookfield Office Properties for $19.34 per share.

• [By Mike Arnold]

  Brookfield's public assets include a 21% stake (and potentially more given certain warrants held by Brookfield) in General Growth Properties (GGP), a 51% stake in Brookfield Office Properties (BPO), a 36% stake (again, more if certain warrants are exercised) in Rouse Properties (RSE) and 21% stake in Canary Wharf Group Plc, which is majority owned by Songbird Estates Plc (SBEPF.PK).

Hot Canadian Companies To Watch In Right Now: Abbott Laboratories(ABT)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. The company offers adult and pediatric pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, and Crohn's disease; dyslipidemia; HIV infection; prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and anemia caused by uterine fibroids; respiratory syncytial virus; adult males who have low or no testosterone; secondary hyperparathyroidism; hypothyroidism; and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, as well as anesthesia products. It also provides diagnostic products, such as immunoassay systems; chemistry systems; assays used for screening and/or diagnosis for drugs of abuse, cancer, therapeutic drug monitoring, fertility, physiological, and infectious diseases; instruments that automate the extraction, purification, and preparation of DNA and RNA from patient samples, and detect and measure infections agents; genomic-b ased tests; hematology systems and reagents; and point-of-care diagnostic systems and tests for blood analysis. In addition, the company offers a line of pediatric and adult nutritional products. Further, it provides coronary, endovascular, vessel closure, and structural heart devices, such as drug-eluting stent systems, coronary metallic stents, balloon dilatation products, coronary guidewires, vessel closure devices, carotid stent systems, percutaneous valve repair systems, and drug eluting bioresorbable vascular products. Additionally, the company provides blood glucose monitoring meters, test strips, data management software, and accessories for people with diabetes; and medical devices for the eye, including cataract surgery, lasik surgery, contact lens, and dry eye products, as well as branded generic pharmaceutical products. Abbott primarily serves retailers, wholesalers, hospitals, and health care facilities. Abbott was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ovenerio]

  The company has a current ROE of 15.24% which is higher than the industry median. Also, it is higher than the ones exhibit by Abbott (ABT) and Stryker (SYK). In general, analysts consider ROE ratios in the 15-20% range as representing attractive levels for investment. So, for investors looking at those levels, Medtronic and Baxter (BAX) also could be good options. It is very important to understand this metric before investing, and it is important to look at the trend in ROE over time.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Investors looking to find out how well Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT  ) performed in the second quarter had reason to be confused this morning. One headline stated that "Abbott's quarterly profit rises" while another said that the company's "second-quarter profit falls." Which headline was correct? Actually, both were. Let's look at Abbott's financial results to find out how and why.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  ��Drug manufacturer Abbott Laboratories (ABT) reported revenue growth that was below expectations due to its exposure to the slower growth economies in Europe and the emerging markets. Despite the recent weakness, Abbott is a high-quality company with shares that we believe to be attractively priced. In addition, its management team has a strong record of investing capital prudently.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Don't look now, but Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT  ) is about to buy itself a bit more growth.

  Simultaneous with its announcement of a $310 million acquisition in the vascular stent space Monday, Abbott also announced that it will be spending a further $250 million -- and perhaps as much as $400 million with subsequent milestone payments -- to acquire privately held cataract surgical equipment maker OptiMedica.

Hot Canadian Companies To Watch In Right Now: Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund(CFP)

Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund is a closed-ended equity fund of fund launched and managed by Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. The fund invests funds investing in the public equity markets of the United States. It invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund was formed on April 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But you can see in several places the consequences of the stampede toward high yield. Here are just a few:

  Closed-end funds Cornerstone Progressive (NYSEMKT: CFP  ) and Pimco High Income (NYSE: PHK  ) both make fixed payments back to fund shareholders on a monthly basis, and their distribution yields are truly extraordinary, at about 17% and 12%, respectively. Those dividends have enticed shareholders to pay $1.30 to $1.40 or more for each $1 of assets in the funds. Yet during most months, a substantial portion of those distribution payments has simply been a return of investor capital rather than true income from the funds' investments. A recent study discussed in The Wall Street Journal found that returns on a portfolio with a combined value and dividend-income strategy outperformed a strategy focused more exclusively on maximizing dividends by an average of 1.7 percentage points per year, a huge edge in long-run returns. In the dividend ETF arena, most funds tend to focus on maximizing yield. Although the popular Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) ETF bucks the trend by screening first for consistent dividend growth and only then looking at yield as a factor, many rival ETFs start with high-yielding stocks as their baseline and only then consider other desirable traits. Others focus solely on high-dividend niches of the market, such as iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage-Plus (NYSEMKT: REM  ) and its concentration on high-yield mortgage REITs.

  When dividend stocks get too popular, their prices get out of line with both their dividend income and the fundamentals of the businesses that underlie those stocks. In simpler terms, when dividend stocks become bad values, it's time to consider looking elsewhere for a margin of safety.

Hot Canadian Companies To Watch In Right Now: PPL Corporation(PPL)

PPL Corporation, an energy and utility holding company, generates and sells electricity; and delivers natural gas to approximately 5.3 million utility customers primarily in the northeastern and northwestern U.S. The company operates in four segments: Kentucky Regulated, International Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Supply. The Kentucky Regulated segment engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity; and the distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.3 million customers in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The International Regulated segment owns and operates electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom that deliver electricity to 7.7 million customers. The Pennsylvania Regulated segment delivers electricity to approximately 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The Supply segment owns and operates power plants to generate electricity using coal, uranium, natural gas, oil, and water res ources; markets and trades electricity and other purchased power to wholesale and retail markets; and acquires and develops domestic generation projects. It controls or owns a portfolio of generation assets of approximately 11,000 megawatts in Montana and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s distribution system included 649 substations with a capacity of 25 million kVA, 28,838 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 24,131 cable miles of underground conductors in the United Kingdom. It also operated 377 substations with a capacity of 31 million kVA, 33,122 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 7,368 cable miles of underground conductors in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Some companies even make their regular dividend payments by raising capital, either from debt offerings or by selling new shares. Utilities PPL (NYSE: PPL  ) and Southern� (NYSE: SO  ) have used this strategy for years, as capital-intensive operations often make it necessary for utilities to find sources of cash elsewhere in order to give investors the dividends they've come to rely on.

• [By Maria Armental and Anna Prior]

  Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings downgraded PPL Energy (PPL) after parent company PPL Corp. said it would spin off the power-generation business to its shareholders.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Since 2008, sales have fallen nearly 20%, while diluted EPS is down 83%. Southern, a slightly larger company, has seen sales drop 3% while diluted EPS headed 19% higher. PP&L (NYSE: PPL  ) , a slightly smaller utility than Dominion, has managed to boost revenue over 50%, but diluted EPS is just 5% above its 2008 level.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Bucks from the Brits
  PPL (NYSE: PPL  ) managed to wow investors in 2011 when the company beat analyst estimates for four straight quarters. When it did it again in 2012, it was really only a matter of time until its shares hit a new 52-week high, now up 17.7�% in the last year. With 85% of 2013 earnings per share (EPS) originating from regulated business, the utility has taken a tried-and-true page out of Ameren's book. PPL boasts a friendly and diverse regulatory environment across three states and the United Kingdom, and its 4.7% yield is above average for utilities dividend stocks.