When we’re picking stocks to recommend in our newsletters, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our publication that covers the U.S. markets, we like to see companies that benefit from steady revenue streams from high-quality assets, long-term contracts or other reliable sources.

That’s because this type of revenue helps cut a stock’s risk. It also cuts its exposure to the ups and downs of the economic cycle.

This Wall Street stock’s shift has helped steady its revenue

International Business Machines Corp. (symbol IBM on New York) provides an example of such a company. Moreover, it just signed a long-term alliance with another firm that could further add to its appeal. That’s why we updated our buy/sell/hold advice on IBM in a recent Wall Street Stock Forecaster hotline.

At first glance, you may not think of IBM as a company that benefits from long-term contracts. After all, it’s best known for making large mainframe computers and other hardware.

However, in the past few years IBM has steadily moved away from these products and toward providing computer services and selling software. These activities generate higher profit margins, and help businesses cut costs and improve productivity. As a result of this shift, software and services now account for more than 80% of IBM’s revenue and earnings.

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IBM recently formed a long-term alliance with Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (symbol BR on New York), another stock we cover in Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

Broadridge serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company mails and processes 70% of all proxy votes.

Under the terms of the 10-year deal, IBM will assume responsibility for all of Broadridge’s computer networks. IBM’s expertise will help Broadridge make its transaction-processing services more efficient. This alliance will also make it easier for Broadridge to develop new services.

Wall Street stocks are among the best cross-border deals

With the Canadian dollar now hovering near parity with the U.S. dollar, there’s never been a better time to add high-quality Wall Street stocks to your portfolio. If you’re a conservative investor, you could choose from the 49 companies we recommend in Wall Street Stock Forecaster’s Conservative Growth Portfolio.

We continue to recommend that you maintain a reasonable portion of your portfolio in well-established Wall Street stocks. That’s because, as IBM demonstrates, the U.S. market features major multinational opportunities that simply aren’t available anywhere else. Moreover, many U.S. firms are unique world leaders.

Of course, no one can consistently predict foreign-exchange rates, and no one knows how long the Canadian dollar will remain at its current high level. But if you’re thinking of adding more U.S. stocks to your portfolio, now is a great time to get started.

We’ll continue to monitor IBM’s ongoing shift and update our buy/sell/hold advice accordingly in Wall Street Stock Forecaster. We’ll also keep you up to date on the very best U.S. investment opportunities for Canadian investors. Best of all, you get one month of Wall Street Stock Forecaster free when you subscribe today. Click here to learn how.