Break Out Stocks 2007 Q1 Review

Once again we are conducting our quarterly review and re-evaluating the stocks on our Watched List to see if we want to keep following them.

We sometimes err in our recommendations and sometimes circumstances change and a stock that had been behaving well starts to  head south.

We're also looking for ways to improve our selection and culling criteria and you'll find a review of our previous paring jobs elsewhere. For this effort we are following much the same plan, dropping stocks that meet both of the following three criteria:

And we are dropping any stocks we've had for over a year that have failed to grow by 25% or have had for two years and have failed to grow by 50%. We are making exceptions for stocks that are in a current up trend or are growing earnings. Since it's the year end, we will also drop any stocks that have lost ground over the full year unless they have strong earnings growth or are in a current up trend.

The table below gives the complete picture. We're dropping Zargon Energy Trust whose profits dropped more than 50% this quarter and has been sliding for over a year. Much as I think gold will continue to advance, Goldcorp profits fell over 50% in the last quarter as well and it's chart has been wavering for almost a year. Pacific and Western Credit has had two consecutive quarters of falling profits and has not done well since we profiled it last August. Although I like to keep stocks in the Watched List at least a year, the sliding profitability has led me to drop it. Vicwest Income Fund also had two consecutive quarters of falling profits but the trend is currently sideways and it is up almost 8% for the quarter so we will keep it a bit longer.

It should be noted, of course, that because we are dropping them from our Watched List doesn't necessarily mean they are poor stocks.  We've dropped stocks before only to see them catch fire and soar subsequently. It just means that I no longer consider the upside odds very good. I may add one or more back in at a later date.

Note: T = turnaround from loss to profit, L means the company had a loss in the most recent quarter, * means quarterly earnings per share not available.

Name Symbol Date
Featured
Price Then Price
End Q4
Change
Q4
Change
YTD
Change
Since
Profiled
Recent
Trend
QEPS
Change
Status

Alimentation Couche-Tard

ATD.B

Dec. 4/00

$2.88

$24.14

-4.77%

-4.77%

739.65%

i -18.52% Keep

Stantec Inc.

STN

Apr. 20/01

$4.13

$31.75

25.74%

25.74%

669.70%

h +100.00% Keep

ZCL Composites

ZCL

June 20/04

$2.05

$13.70

32.37%

32.37%

568.29%

g +40.00% Keep

SNC-Lavalin Group

SNC

Mar. 23/01

$5.42

$33.06

5.05%

5.05%

509.96%

i +13.79% Keep

Zargon Energy Trust

ZAR.UN

Jan. 29/01

$4.70

$25.91

4.52%

4.52%

451.28%

g -59.43% Drop

Niko Resources

NKO

Nov. 17/02

$22.20

$83.94

0.71%

0.71%

278.11%

h L Keep

Trican Well Service

TCW

Apr. 18/04

$6.08

$22.85

12.45%

12.45%

275.82%

g -28.57% Keep

CCS Income Fund

CCR.UN

May 18/03

$10.15

$36.66

-2.89%

-2.89%

261.36%

i -30.43% Keep

Goldcorp Inc.

G

May 25/01

$7.83

$27.71

-16.31%

-16.31%

253.90%

i -63.33% Drop

Richelieu Hardware

RCH

Dec. 4/00

$7.00

$23.40

-3.47%

-3.47%

234.29%

g +13.04% Keep

Finning International

FTT

May 11/01

$16.40

$53.26

11.45%

11.45%

224.76%

h +47.50% Keep

AlarmForce

AF

Sept. 21/03

$1.92

$5.75

12.75%

12.75%

199.48%

h +150.00% Keep

Sino-Forest Corporation

TRE

Dec. 18/05

$4.40

$13.10

67.31%

67.31%

197.73%

h +50.00% Keep

Fortis Inc.

FTS

Mar. 16/01

$9.50

$28.01

-5.91%

-5.91%

194.84%

h +50.00% Keep

Contrans Income Fund

CSS.UN

Oct. 12/01

$3.63

$10.40

-13.48%

-13.48%

186.50%

i +3.03% Keep

Aur Resources

AUR

Oct. 16/05

$8.57

$24.30

0.16%

0.16%

183.55%

h +59.09% Keep

BMTC Group

GBT.A

Aug. 20/02

$6.98

$19.50

10.73%

10.73%

179.57%

g +50.00% Keep

Steepleback Industrial Group

SID

Jan. 18/04

$2.95

$8.05

11.03%

11.03%

172.88%

h +400.00% Keep

Cameco Corp.

CCO

Nov. 19/04

$18.44

$47.30

0.21%

0.21%

156.58%

h -47.62% Keep

CML Healthcare Income Fund

CLC.UN

Apr. 12/02

$5.85

$14.35

2.87%

2.87%

145.30%

g +22.73% Keep

TSX Group

X

Jan. 18/04

$22.50

$49.25

5.66%

5.66%

118.89%

g +27.50% Keep

Stella-Jones Inc.

SJ

Feb. 19/06

$15.75

$33.70

-2.32%

-2.32%

113.97%

g +46.43% Keep

Pason Systems

PSI

May 16/04

$7.50

$14.32

7.99%

7.99%

90.93%

g -13.64% Keep

Research In Motion

RIM

Sept. 19/04

$94.82

$157.50

5.70%

5.70%

66.10%

g 890.00% Keep

Gildan Activewear

GIL

Sept. 18/05

$42.01

$68.00

24.79%

24.79%

61.87%

h +3.57% Keep

Garda World Security

GW

Aug. 21/05

$12.15

$19.10

-12.55%

-12.55%

57.20%

g +53.85% Keep

Potash Corporation

POT

June 19/05

$119.85

$184.10

10.24%

10.24%

53.61%

g +59.63% Keep

Dynatec

DY

Dec. 20/06

$2.21

$3.34

56.81%

56.81%

51.13%

h -58.21% Keep

Le Chateau

CTU.SV.A

June 19/05

$39.06

$56.50

-5.83%

-5.83%

44.65%

i +33.98% Keep

Teck Cominco

TCK.B

Dec. 18/05

$57.75

$80.49

-8.43%

-8.43%

39.38%

g +60.80% Keep

Hammond Power Systems

HPS.A

Jan. 22/07

$7.49

$9.95

32.84%

32.84%

32.84%

g +184.62% Keep

WFI Inc.

WFI

May 19/06

$16.80

$21.99

-15.42%

-15.42%

30.89%

h -25.93% Keep

Inmet Mining

IMN

Oct. 16/06

$50.85

$63.50

1.75%

1.75%

24.88%

h +112.63% Keep

Logibec Groupe Informatique

LGI

Nov. 20/06

$16.25

$19.75

19.34%

19.34%

21.54%

h +18.75% Keep

Ritchie Brothers

RBA

Mar. 19/06

$59.30

$67.48

7.99%

7.99%

13.79%

h -31.71% Keep

Parkland Income Fund

PKI.UN

Sept. 18/06

$31.94

$34.75

-9.72%

-9.72%

8.80%

g +86.44% Keep

FirstService Corporation

FSV

Feb. 19/06

$29.50

$31.80

17.78%

17.78%

7.80%

h +30.43% Keep

Silver Wheaton

SLW

July 17/06

$10.40

$10.93

-10.56%

-10.56%

5.10%

g +175.00% Keep

Computer Modelling Group

CMG

Feb. 19/07

$12.89

$13.30

3.18%

3.18%

3.18%

h +100.00% Keep

Golf Town Income Fund

GLF.UN

Mar. 19/07

$14.02

$14.40

2.71%

2.71%

2.71%

h T Keep

COM DEV International

CDV

Sept. 18/06

$5.73

$5.80

-10.22%

-10.22%

1.22%

i +14.29% Keep

Carfinco Income Fund

CFN.UN

Aug. 21/06

$3.88

$3.85

6.94%

6.94%

-0.77%

g +28.57% Keep

RDM Corporation

RC

Dec. 20/06

$4.20

$4.16

0.48%

0.48%

-0.95%

g T Keep

Foremost Income Fund

FMO.UN

June 16/06

$17.15

$16.65

6.39%

6.39%

-2.92%

h +26.42% Keep

General Donlee Income Fund

GDI.UN

Mar. 19/07

$9.85

$9.50

-3.55%

-3.55%

-3.55%

g +84.78% Keep

Ensign Energy Services

ESI

Nov. 20/05

$20.12

$19.35

5.22%

5.22%

-3.83%

g +7.89% Keep

GMP Capital Trust

GMP.UN

June 16/06

$22.50

$21.52

-1.28%

-1.28%

-4.36%

h +108.70% Keep

MacDonald Dettwiler

MDA

April 16/06

$50.40

$47.94

12.01%

12.01%

-4.88%

g +4.08% Keep

Paladin Labs

PLB

Nov. 20/06

$11.52

$10.80

1.89%

1.89%

-6.25%

g +11.11% Keep

Aber Diamonds

ABZ

Jan. 15/06

$46.77

$43.05

0.12%

0.12%

-7.95%

h +80.77% Keep

HudBay Minerals

HBM

Feb. 19/07

$23.90

$20.34

-14.90%

-14.90%

-14.90%

g +174.47% Keep

Commercial Solutions

CSA

May 21/06

$7.09

$5.99

-23.69%

-23.69%

-15.51%

g -22.22% Keep

Pacific & Western Credit

PWC

Aug. 21/06

$12.95

$10.10

-12.17%

-12.17%

-22.01%

i -41.67% Drop

Wajax Income Fund

WJX.UN

May 19/06

$41.79

$32.31

-5.66%

-5.66%

-22.68%

g +14.74% Keep

Vicwest Income Fund

VIC.UN

June 16/06

$15.98

$10.95

7.56%

7.56%

-31.48%

g -15.38% Keep

Dropped in Q1 (with YTD and Total Gain in brackets) are Zargon Energy Trust (4.52%, 451.28%), Goldcorp (-16.31%, 253.90%), Pacific & Western Credit (-12.17%, -22.01%)

The information in this table was derived using the Portfolio Tracking feature at globeinvestor.com