Nordstrom increased its revenue in the last quarter despite a dip in same-store sales. Its strong brand is also helping to protect its dividend as consumers do more online shopping.
The rise in online shopping has weighed on the stock price of this high-end retailer, but its well-known brand should continue to pay off.
NORDSTROM INC. (New York symbol JWN; www.nordstrom.com) owns and operates 329 stores in the U.S. and Canada, which mainly sell upscale clothing and footwear.
In its fiscal 2017 first quarter, which ended April 30, 2016, revenue (including credit card fees) rose 1.1%, to $3.25 billion from $3.22 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales fell 1.7%, as declines at its full-price stores largely offset gains at its discount outlets.
Earnings fell 64.1%, to $46 million from $128 million; due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 60.6%, to $0.26 a share from $0.66. That’s mainly due to fraudulent credit card charges and severance costs related to a restructuring plan. The job cuts should save it $60 million this year.
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Many large clothing retailers are struggling as shoppers buy goods online instead visiting their stores. As a result, Nordstrom now expects flat same-store sales growth for all of fiscal 2017, down from its earlier forecast of 0.0% to 2.0%.
It also cut its 2017 full-year earnings outlook, to $2.60 a share from $3.23. The stock trades at 15.8 times the new estimate. That’s reasonable in light of Nordstrom’s strong brand and potential for international expansion. The $1.48 dividend yields 3.6%.
Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: BUY.
Fortis is one of those companies that seem to successfully expand through acquisition. The utility’s recent purchases have helped to diversify its geographical presence while also limiting its risk.
FORTIS INC. (Toronto symbol FTS; www.fortisinc.com) began supplying electricity to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1885. The company is now the main power utility in Newfoundland and PEI.
To cut its reliance on Atlantic Canada, Fortis paid $1.5 billion for regulated power companies in Alberta and B.C. in 2004. It later acquired Terasen (now called Fortis BC Energy), which distributes natural gas to 1.2 million customers in B.C. Fortis paid $3.7 billion for this business.
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The company is also using acquisitions to expand outside of Canada. In June 2013, it paid $1.5 billion U.S. for CH Energy Group, which distributes electricity and gas in New York State’s Mid-Hudson River Valley. In August 2014, Fortis purchased UNS Energy for $4.5 billion. This firm operates power plants and distributes electricity and gas in Arizona.
Thanks to these new operations, Fortis’s revenue jumped 79.5%, from $3.7 billion in 2011 to $6.7 billion in 2015.
Earnings rose 12.4%, from $347.0 million in 2011 to $390.0 million in 2013. The company typically sells new shares to pay for its acquisitions. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share declined 6.3%, from $1.74 to $1.63.
Costs to integrate these new businesses cut Fortis’s earnings to $1.39 a share (or $374.0 million) in 2014. However, earnings rebounded to $2.59 a share (or $728.0 million) in 2015. If you disregard unusual items, earnings per share rose 20.6%, from $1.75 in 2014 to $2.11 in 2015.
In February 2016, Fortis announced its largest acquisition to date. It is paying $6.9 billion U.S. in cash and shares for ITC Holdings Corp. (New York symbol ITC).
This firm owns 25,100 kilometres of high-voltage power lines in the U.S. Midwest. Including ITC’s $4.4-billion U.S. debt, the total purchase price is $11.3 billion U.S.
Following the acquisition, ITC shareholders will own 27% of the combined company. Fortis will continue to trade on the TSX, but will also be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company will issue $2 billion U.S. in new bonds to help pay for ITC. The move will add to its long-term debt of $11.0 billion as of March 31, 2016. That’s a high 87% of its market cap.
However, high debt levels are common for utility companies. Their rate-regulated operations, like ITC, give them steady cash flows to service their debt and invest in new projects. Moreover, Fortis is selling 19.9% of ITC to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $1.2 billion U.S.
ITC shareholders have already voted in favour of the deal. If regulators also approve, Fortis expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2016.
Big acquisitions like this add risk. However, the combined company will be among the top 15 power utilities in North America. ITC’s transmission lines also complement Fortis’s power plants and related operations in Arizona and New York State.
In addition, the purchase will help Fortis profit from the U.S. government’s plan to encourage new wind farms and other renewable-energy projects. That should spur demand for new transmission lines, particularly in the U.S. Midwest.
Fortis also recently paid $266 million U.S. for a 93.8% stake in the Aitken Creek underground natural gas storage facility in northeastern B.C.; BP Canada owns the remaining 6.2%.
This purchase will let Fortis benefit from expanding gas production in the Montney region. It would also help the company profit from plans to construct terminals on B.C.’s Pacific coast in order to export liquefied natural gas to Asia. If built, these new plants will likely need facilities to store their unprocessed gas and avoid supply disruptions.
In addition to acquisitions, Fortis continues to upgrade its existing operations. Over the next five years through 2020, it expects to spend $9 billion on these improvements. Regulators will probably let the company pass along most of these costs to its customers in the form of higher power rates.
Excluding ITC, Fortis will probably earn $2.16 a share in 2016. The stock trades at 20.8 times that estimate. ITC should lift its 2017 earnings to $2.49 a share, and the stock trades at a more reasonable 18.1 times that forecast.
The company has increased its dividend for 42 consecutive years; the current annual rate of $1.50 a share yields 3.3%. The additional earnings from ITC will help Fortis meet its goal of raising the dividend by 6% each year through 2020. Recommendation in The Successful Investor: BUY
Pat McKeough recently replied to a member of his Inner Circle looking for an opinion on this leading coffee chain. While its brand and growth potential are strong, the stock is expensive, says Pat.
Q: Pat: Can I have your opinion on Starbucks? Is it a buy? Thanks.
A:STARBUCKS CORP. (symbol SBUX on Nasdaq; www.starbucks.com) is a leading seller and roaster of specialty coffee. Starbucks has 12,444 company-operated stores and 11,477 licensed outlets in 72 countries. That’s a total of 23,921.
Stores in the Americas supply 69% of its sales, followed by China and the Asia-Pacific region (14%), and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (5%). It gets a further 9% of its sales by selling coffee and other beverages through supermarkets and 3% from online sales and other activities.
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In its fiscal 2016 second quarter, which ended March 27, 2016, the company’s sales rose 9.4%, to $4.99 billion from $4.56 billion a year earlier. That’s partly because it opened 350 stores, net of closures, during the quarter. On a same-store basis, sales rose 6% thanks to an increase in the number of transactions and the selling prices.
Earnings gained 16.0% in the quarter, to $575.1 million from $494.9 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 18.2%, to a record $0.39 from $0.33 (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in April 2015).
For all of fiscal 2016, the company expects to open 1,800 new stores. China and other parts of Asia will account for 50% of those outlets, followed by the Americas (39%) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (11%).
Starbucks can easily afford to keep investing in its business: it holds cash of $1.4 billion, or $0.93 a share, and its long-term debt is just $2.5 billion, or 3% of its market cap.
The company’s mobile order and payment system has been a big plus. Its usage has doubled over the last year, and the system now processes eight million transactions per month. Mobile order and pay is not only speeding up transaction times—it’s also encouraging customers to buy pastries and sandwiches with their beverages. That’s part of the reason why food sales are up 16% over the last year. More specifically, sales of Bistro Boxes (lunches) went up 18%, while breakfast sandwiches jumped nearly 30%.
Mobile order and pay is also attracting more customers to the company’s loyalty plan. There are now 12 million active members in the U.S. alone. In total, they have a whopping $1.2 billion loaded on to their cards.
Starbucks’ new stores, the company’s mobile order and pay system, and the successful introduction of a range of cold drinks should raise its earnings this year to $1.90 a share. The stock trades at 30.2 times that forecast. That’s a high p/e ratio for a coffee-shop operator, but it’s still reasonable in light of the company’s strong brand and potential in overseas markets such as India and China. Both of these countries have a growing number of young, affluent consumers.
Transcontinental has increased its dividend by 8.8% on the strong contributions of its new businesses, which are outside of the media industry and unaffected by cyclical advertising sales.
TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. (Toronto symbol TCL.A; www.tctranscontinental.com) is Canada’s leading printer of flyers, magazines, newspapers and books. Commercial printing supplies 73% of its revenue.
The remaining 27% of sales comes from publishing 185 weekly newspapers in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The company’s media division also helps its clients create and manage their direct mail and online marketing campaigns.
Due to acquisitions of printing plants and an online advertising firm, revenue rose 6.2%, from $1.99 billion in 2011 to $2.11 billion in 2012 (fiscal years end October 31). Lower advertising revenue and the sale of assets cut overall revenue to $2.10 billion in 2013, and to $1.99 billion in 2014. Revenue then rose to $2.00 billion in 2015.
The company’s earnings declined from $1.92 a share (or a total of $155.3 million) in 2011 to $1.85 a share (or $149.4 million) in 2012. Overall earnings fell again to $148.3 million in 2013, but per-share earnings improved to $1.90 on fewer shares outstanding. Earnings turned around in 2014 to $2.11 a share (or $164.7 million), and grew again to $2.39 a share (or $186.7 million) in 2015.
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Transcontinental’s recent gains came mainly from acquisitions aimed at cutting its reliance on cyclical advertising. These include its $146.1 million purchase of U.S.-based Capri Packaging, a maker of plastic bags and pouches for dairy products. Capri contributed $99.3 million to Transcontinental’s 2015 revenue, and $23.6 million to its gross profits.
The company also paid $115.2 million for Brooklyn, New York-based Ultra Flex Packaging. This firm makes flexible plastic packages for candy, coffee and other foods.
In addition, Transcontinental continues to consolidate its newspaper operations. As part of this plan, it acquired 74 weekly newspapers in Quebec from Sun Media for $78.8 million. The purchase should add $20 million to its annual gross profits.
The company’s balance sheet remains sound. As of April 30, 2016, its long-term debt of $347.6 million was a moderate 25% of its market cap. It also held cash of $42.9 million, or $0.55 a share.
Weak advertising revenue will probably cut Transcontinental’s earnings in fiscal 2016 to $2.28 a share. The stock trades at a low 7.9 times that forecast.
Despite the lower earnings forecast, the company recently raised its dividend by 8.8%; the new annual rate of $0.74 yields 4.1%. In the latest quarter, dividends accounted for just 18% of Transcontinental’s free cash flow (cash flow less capital expenditures), so the current rate seems safe.
Recommendation in The Successful Investor: BUY
For our advice on how to identify real value and avoid misleading indicators, readHow to avoid “value traps”.
Pat McKeough recently replied to an Inner Circle member looking for an opinion on Cominar REIT. The large commercial landlord has sold non-core properties to pay down its debt. But it still faces risk, says Pat.
Q: Hi Pat: What is your opinion on Cominar REIT?
A: COMINAR REIT (symbol CUF.UN on Toronto; www.cominar.com) is Quebec’s largest owner of commercial buildings.
In all, the trust holds 542 properties—134 office buildings, 173 shopping malls and 235 industrial and mixed-use buildings. These holdings contain a total of 45.0 million square feet of leasable space in Montreal (56% of the total), Quebec City (23%), Ontario (13%), the Atlantic provinces (6%) and Western Canada (2%). Cominar’s occupancy rate is 92.5%.
The trust continues to grow by acquisition. Revenue jumped 179.8%, from $317.7 million in 2011 to $889.2 million in 2015.
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Cominar’s earnings rose from $2.74 a unit (or a total of $177.5 million) in 2011 to $3.13 a unit (or $342.2 million) in 2012. Due to higher depreciation charges and other costs, earnings then fell to $2.03 a unit (or $255.0 million) in 2013, and to $1.47 a unit (or $199.5 million) in 2014. However, earnings rebounded to $1.62 a share (or $272.4 million) in 2015.
Cash flow per unit declined from $1.56 in 2011 to $1.55 in 2012, but rose to $1.58 in 2013 and to $1.66 in 2014. Cash flow then fell to $1.60 a unit in 2015.
As part of a new strategy, Cominar is selling some of its less-important properties. In the three months ended March 31, 2016, the trust sold 24 retail properties in Quebec for a total of $71.7 million. After the quarter, it sold five more retail properties for $39.3 million.
Due to these sales, the trust’s revenue in the quarter fell 3.5%, to $221.4 million from $229.4 million a year earlier. Earnings declined 4.3%, to $68.1 million from $71.2 million. With more units outstanding, per-unit earnings fell 7.0%, to $0.40 from $0.43. Cash flow per unit also declined 7.0%, to $0.41 from $0.44.
Cominar is using the cash from its asset sales to pay down its debt, which totaled $4.4 billion as of March 31, 2016. That’s a high 1.5 times its market cap. The trust also held cash of $3.5 million.
The REIT pays monthly distributions of $0.1225 per unit, for an 8.6% annualized yield. It paid out 89.6% of its cash flow as distributions in the latest quarter.
Cominar’s concentration in Quebec makes it riskier than the REITs we recommend as buys in our newsletters. They are more widely diversified across Canada. If you hold units in the trust, you can offset that risk by limiting your Quebec exposure elsewhere in the portfolio.
Tesla Motors saw sales jump 22% in the last quarter, but its losses nearly doubled compared to a year ago. Still, plans to step up production of its electric cars continue to drive interest and growth in its share price.
TESLA MOTORS (symbol TSLA on Nasdaq; www.teslamotors.com) develops and builds fully electric vehicles. The company operates its own sales and service network in North America, Europe and Asia.
Tesla currently makes two models, the Model S sedan and the Model X sport utility vehicle (SUV). Tesla started deliveries of the Model S in June 2012. In the first quarter of 2016, it produced 12,851 of those sedans. Model X deliveries started in the third quarter of 2015. The company produced 2,659 of those SUVs in the first quarter of 2016.
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To support its expanding fleet of vehicles, Tesla operates 615 Supercharger stations in North America, Europe, and Asia. It also works with a wide variety of hospitality locations, including hotels and popular destinations, to offer an additional charging option for its customers. There are now over 2,200 of these locations around the world.
The company’s sales keep growing, but its losses continue to rise as well. In the three months ended March 31, 2016, Tesla’s sales rose 22.0%, to $1.1 billion from $939.9 million. The company lost $282.3 million, or $2.13 a share, in the latest quarter, compared to a loss of $154.2 million, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier.
Tesla recently unveiled its long-awaited Model 3. This vehicle continues to get a lot of media attention. That’s because the sedan’s projected base price of $35,000 U.S (before government incentives and subsidies) should significantly broaden Tesla’s market. Even though the Model 3 is still in the prototype stage, and is not yet in production, the company has received more than 325,000 reservations for the Model 3(at $1,000 per deposit).
Initial shipments of the Model 3 are expected late next year. However, there is considerable uncertainty over how the company will fund such an ambitious project. Tesla has also announced that it’s looking to manufacture a total of 500,000 cars in 2018, two years earlier than its original target. But that will require huge amounts of capital—and a lot of engineering and manufacturing hurdles to overcome.
Tesla is also investing considerable amounts to become a major electric-vehicle battery maker. Construction at the company’s $5 billion Gigafactory battery plant is ahead of schedule. The Nevada facility began producing battery packs in October, beating its January 2017 target. The Gigafactory is targeting full capacity by 2020, after which it could produce more lithium ion batteries than the current worldwide output.
Tesla’s long-term operational success depends on its ability to maintain production on its growing fleet of vehicles, continue to build its international network of charging sites, and successfully profit in the fickle and continually evolving battery market.
So far, the company has lost money. It could lose as much as $5.50 a share this year, and $2.85 a share in 2017. Costs related to the company’s growth (its expanded sales team, higher production expenses and so on) will likely continue to generate losses for some time.
The market for electric cars may never move beyond a niche segment where buyers are willing to overlook cost and performance limitations. This already small pool of buyers could shrink if government support for plug-in cars is reduced or removed altogether. Tesla may move higher as short-term traders buy the widely followed stock on the latest upswing. But the shares are overvalued at today’s price, and its $29.2-billion market cap discounts considerable future success.
Newmont Mining Corp. has seen its stock climb 144% as it cut its costs and increased its production.
In response to lower prices, this industry leader has aggressively cut its operating costs. It’s also bought properties to boost its production. Those moves put Newmont Mining in a strong position to spur its long-term earnings when gold prices recover long term. However, its progress may be slow in the next few months.
NEWMONT MINING CORP. (New York symbol NEM; www.newmont.com) is one of the world’s largest gold and copper producers, with major mines in the U.S., Peru, Suriname, Australia, Ghana and Indonesia.
Gold peaked at just over $1,900 an ounce in 2011, but fell to around $1,050 in 2015. Prices have since rebounded to around $1,300.
In response to lower gold prices, Newmont focused on improving its efficiency. In the quarter ended March 31, 2016, its operating costs per ounce fell 29.7%, to $828 from a recent peak of $1,177 in 2012.
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In addition, the company took advantage of low gold prices to buy attractive properties. These include its August 2015 purchase of the Cripple Creek & Victor mine in Colorado for $821 million. This project will produce 350,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold a year once the company completes the mine’s current expansion in 2016.
Thanks to this purchase, Newmont’s gold production in the first quarter of 2016 rose 3.6%, to 1.23 million ounces from 1.19 million a year earlier. That pushed up its revenue by 3.0%, to $2.03 billion from $1.97 billion.
However, earnings fell 20.5%, to $182 million from $229 million. That’s due to higher depreciation charges and taxes. Per-share earnings fell 26.1%, to $0.34 from $0.46.
Newmont’s balance sheet remains strong. As of March 31, 2016, it held cash and investments of $2.5 billion, or $4.69 a share. Its long-term debt of $5.4 billion is a moderate 28% of its market cap.
The company’s expansion projects will increase its gold production for 2016 to as much as 5.45 million ounces. Output could rise to as high as 5.7 million ounces in 2017.
The stock has moved up along with gold prices. It now trades at 29.5 times the $1.22 a share that Newmont will likely earn in 2016. The $0.10 dividend yields 0.3%.
Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: BUY, but only for investors who want to own a gold stock.
Sun Life Financial has increased its quarterly dividend following the acquisition of Assurant Inc. That U.S. provider has also expanded the insurer’s offerings in key growth areas
SUN LIFE FINANCIAL (Toronto symbol SLF; www.sunlife.ca) sells life insurance, savings, retirement and pension products to individuals and corporations. The company has $861.5 billion of assets under management and mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. It’s also expanding in Asia.
In the three months ended March 31, 2016, Sun Life’s earnings per share rose 13.1%, to $0.95 from $0.84.
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The company continues to diversify in the U.S. At the same time, it is focused on highly profitable niche markets with low capital requirements.
Its latest move was last year’s purchase of the U.S. employee benefits unit of Assurant Inc. for $975 million U.S. It nearly doubles the size of Sun Life’s U.S. benefit business, to $4.0 billion worth of policies for over 64,000 employees of small, medium and large businesses. The company is now the sixth-largest U.S. benefits provider by revenue, up from ninth.
Dividend Stocks: Sun Life Financial dividend now yields 3.8%
The acquisition also adds leading dental and vision insurance products to Sun Life’s lineup, letting it cross-sell them to its existing clients. As well, Assurant has invested heavily in an advanced online enrollment and customer-service system. Sun Life can extend this system to its entire benefits business.
The stock trades at just 11.3 times the company’s forecast 2016 earnings of $3.74 a share. Sun Life raised its quarterly dividend by 3.8% with the June 2016 payment, to $0.405 from $0.39. The stock yields a high 3.8%.
Pat McKeough recently replied to a member of his Inner Circle looking for an opinion on Ag Growth International Inc. This leading producer of crop-harvesting equipment continues to expand by buying related businesses, says Pat.
Q: Hi: Just wondering about Ag Growth. As the world population grows, I see the farming service industry as highly important. Ag Growth offers an interesting investment opportunity as it is focused on grain storage and handling solutions in markets (Canada and the U.S.) where demand for planting acreage is growing. Thanks.
A: AG GROWTH INTERNATIONAL INC. (symbol AFN on Toronto; www.aggrowth.com) is a leading maker of portable and stationary grain-handling, storage and processing equipment.
Based in Winnipeg, the company sells its products through dealers and distributors in Canada and the U.S., as well as in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere overseas. In 2015, 42% of its sales came from customers in the U.S., followed by Canada (31%) and international markets (27%).
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Ag Growth started out as an income trust. In May 2004, it first sold units to the public at $10 each and began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In June 2009, it switched to a corporation and changed its name from Ag Growth Income Fund to Ag Growth International.
The company’s main brands include: Batco (crop conveyor belts), Wheatheart Manufacturing (grain-handling equipment), Westfield Industries (portable augers to transfer grain), Grain Guard and Keho (aeration and grain-drying equipment), Twister (grain bins), and Mepu (grain-drying systems).
Ag Growth has a history of expanding through acquisition. For example, in May 2015, it paid $221.5 million for Winnipeg-based Westeel. This firm makes grain-storage equipment and also has operations in Europe.
Thanks to its new businesses, the company’s overall sales rose 57.6%, from $301.0 million in 2011 to $474.3 million in 2015.
Due to the cost of integrating those new operations, Ag Growth’s profit is more erratic. Its earnings fell from $1.95 a share in 2011 to $1.37 a share in 2012. Earnings then rebounded to $1.77 a share in 2013. They rose further to $2.64 in 2014, but dipped to $2.18 in 2015.
The company has completed more acquisitions since the start of 2016. These include NuVision, a manufacturer of fertilizer blending and handling equipment. Depending on this business’s future earnings, Ag Growth may end up paying as much as $26 million for the purchase. That’s because the seller is entitled to a higher sales price if the business meets its profit targets.
Ag Growth also paid roughly $9 million for Entringer. This Brazilian firm makes grain bins, bucket elevators, dryers and cleaners.
As a result, total sales jumped 25.0% in the three months ended March 31, 2016, to $117.8 million from $87.6 million a year earlier. Without restructuring costs, earnings fell 22.2%, to $5.8 million from $7.4 million. Earnings per share declined 30.4%, to $0.39 from $0.56, on more shares outstanding.
Last year’s drought in Western Canada hurt crop production, as well as demand for Ag Growth’s grain-handling equipment. Lower international sales also reduced its earnings.
As of March 31, 2016, the company’s long-term debt was $312.1 million, or a high 53% of its market cap. It also held cash of $35.5 million.
Ag Growth’s business depends on crop conditions and harvest yields, which vary from year to year based on rainfall and other factors. However, today’s farms tend to have higher acreage and higher crop yields per acre. That’s because they manage their land better and seed technology has improved. This expands the company’s market.
As well, as agriculture expands and becomes more sophisticated, farmers are storing more of their crops on their properties. This helps Ag Growth benefit from its well-established position as a niche supplier of grain-handling equipment.
The company will probably earn $2.42 a share in 2016, and the stock trades at 16.3 times that estimate.
Ag Growth pays a monthly $0.20 dividend, which yields 6.1% on an annualized basis. That dividend seems safe for now, and the company is forecast to pay out a manageable 83% of its 2016 cash flow as dividends.
State Street’s move to buy the asset management business of General Electric will expand its own assets under management by about 5%. At the same time, the financial services firm is streamlining its operations to cut costs.
STATE STREET CORP. (New York symbol STT; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to large institutional investors such as mutual funds and pension plans.
State Street recently agreed to buy General Electric’s asset management business for $485 million. This operation manages pension plans and other portfolios for over 100 institutional investors.
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The purchase will add $100 billion to the company’s $2.3 trillion in assets under management (as of March 31, 2016). Its income rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it manages.
In addition, State Street is currently restructuring its operations by cutting jobs and outsourcing some of its computer systems. The plan should cut $100 million from its annual costs by the end of 2016.
These factors should increase its 2016 earnings per share by 6.5%, to $4.76. The stock trades at a low 12.2 times that forecast. The $1.36 dividend yields 2.3%.
The company provides specialized services to banks and other large financial institutions. Long-term relationships with its clients make it difficult for new competitors to enter its market.
Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: BUY
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Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way through sign-up forms or ordering forms for publications and services. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our services and features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing your web browsing experience for you, improving our website, and communicating with you.
Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses TSI Network.
Information from Other Sources: For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (for example, providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you), we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. We also sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources so that we can correct our records and deliver your next purchase or communication more easily.
We do reserve the right, however, to collect and perform statistical analyses of the internet traffic to our website for our internal use. However, information collected does not allow us to identify any individual, and will not collect any personal information of the visitor. Furthermore, we do not sell, rent or loan to any outside parties the information collected and analyzed.
Although you may be able to access some of our websites without being required to register or provide personal information, certain websites and sections of our websites may require registration. In addition, if you choose to contact us to ask a question, we will collect your personal information so that we can respond to your question.
To make the visitor’s experience on our website easier, we may use per-session “cookies” (session identifiers) to track the state of the visitor session. This “cookie” is destroyed when your session with our website is over.
Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide features like "Remember Me" for our paying subscribers. Cookies are also used during the ordering process to help ensure your order is handled correctly. We do not extract any information about individual users or their computers as a part of this process.
The "Help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies allow you to take full advantage of some of TSI Network's most useful features, and may be required to access certain areas of our website.
Internet Protocol (or IP) addresses are collected for all visitors to this site. This information is used for the purposes of traffic analysis.
Does TSI Network Use the Information It Receives?
"Contact Us" and Comment Features: TSI Network encourages visitors to its websites to contact us with questions and comments. Email addresses and other information of persons using these features may be collected in order to facilitate our responses to those inquiries.
Purchases of Merchandise: TSI Network websites may offer individuals the opportunity to purchase branded or other merchandise online. In connection with those purchases, customers may be asked to submit personal information, such as shipping addresses and credit card information, which is required to complete the transaction. TSI Network may also offer a Membership program, through which purchasers of its products may receive discounts on their online purchases. Membership registration may involve the submission of personal information to TSI Network and assignment of a user ID and password.
Agents: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending postal mail and email, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments and providing customer service. They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
Promotional Offers: We may make our postal mailing list available to organizations offering products or services that might interest you. If you prefer NOT to receive these offers, please send an email with your name and address to service@tsinetwork.ca with "Do Not Rent Name" in the subject line. We do NOT make our email list available outside our organization.
Protection of TSI Network and Others: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law; enforce the terms of the Legal notices that accompany this policy; or protect the rights, property or safety of TSI Network, our users or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
In addition to these limited disclosures of personal information, TSI Network may provide its affiliates or unaffiliated third parties with aggregate information about visitors to our sites. For example, we might disclose the median ages of visitors to our websites, or the numbers of visitors to our websites that come from different geographic areas. Such aggregate information will not include information of any individual visitors to our websites.
TSI Network may provide personal and other information to a purchaser or successor entity in connection with the sale of TSI Network, a subsidiary or line of business associated with TSI Network, or substantially all of the assets of TSI Network or one of its subsidiaries, affiliates or lines of business.
With Your Consent: Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when information about you might go to third parties, and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.
Except as provided herein, TSI Network will not sell or rent personal information about you to unaffiliated third parties.
We may disclose personal information you have provided through our websites, for the above purposes, to persons or companies that we retain to carry out and other activities for which you have registered or in which you have otherwise asked to participate. In particular, we may for these purposes transfer information to any country (including the USA and other countries which may not offer the same level of data protection as Canada). We also will disclose personal information if required by law, including compliance with warrants, subpoenas or other legal processes.
TSI Network requires persons and companies to which it discloses personal information to restrict their use of such information to the purposes for which it has been provided by TSI Network, to adequately protect the information, and not to disclose that information to others. TSI Network cannot be responsible, however, for any damages caused by the failure of unaffiliated third parties to honour their privacy obligations to TSI Network. Similarly, TSI Network is not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other websites that are linked to our websites.
COMMENTS: TERMS OF USE
We’re always happy to receive feedback, comments and ideas from TSI Network visitors, and we encourage you to add your perspective to any issue by leaving your comments on the site.
To make sure users get the most out of the site’s comments function, we’ve provided a few guidelines:
Do not post threatening, harassing, defamatory, or libelous material.
Do not intentionally make false or misleading statements.
Do not offer to sell or buy any product or service.
Do not post material that infringes copyright.
Do not post information that you know to be confidential or sensitive or otherwise in breach of the law.
TSI Network will not accept responsibility for information posted in the comments.
Please note that we reserve the right to delete or edit all comments. As well, we may close posts to further comments at our discretion. If a user repeatedly abuses our comment policy, we may also revoke that user’s access to our comments section.
By commenting on TSI Network, you agree that you retain all ownership rights in what you post on the site, and that you will relieve us from any and all liability that may result from those postings.
Special Note for Parents
TSI Network does not sell products for purchase by children. If you are under 18, you may use TSI Network's site only with involvement of a parent or guardian
How do we protect your personal information?
TSI Network does everything possible to prevent unauthorized intrusion to its websites and the alteration, acquisition or misuse of personal information by unauthorized persons. Notably passwords submitted by users of our websites are encrypted using encryption mechanisms. However, TSI Network cautions visitors to its websites that no network, including the Internet, is entirely secure. Accordingly, we cannot be responsible for loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition of personal information provided to our websites, or for any damages resulting from such loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition.
How do we maintain the integrity of your personal information?
TSI Network has procedures in place to keep your personal information accurate, complete and current for the purposes for which it is collected and used. You may review the information that you have provided to us and where appropriate you may request that it be corrected. If you wish to review your personal information please send a request to: service@tsinetwork.ca.
How do I withdraw my consent to use Personal Information? Access, Correction, Inquiries and Complaints
If you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information in our custody or control, or find out how we've used or disclosed that information, please make your request in writing to us. We may need to verify your identity before searching for or providing you with personal information. In some circumstances, we may not be able to provide access to your personal information, for example if it contains the personal information of other persons, if it constitutes confidential commercial information, or if it is protected by solicitor-client privilege. If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct, your personal information, we will advise you of the reasons for this refusal.
If you do not want to receive promotional offers, please notify TSI Network by sending an email to service@tsinetwork.ca.
How can you ask questions about our Privacy Policy and access your personal information?
The provision of information by you is entirely voluntary and you have the right not to provide information. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to receive certain information as to whether or not personal information relating to you is held by TSI Network and to obtain a copy of such information that is sought. You may also have the right to require information, where appropriate, to be erased, blocked or made anonymous or to have data updated or corrected. If you do not wish TSI Network to hold information about you or if you wish to have access to information, modify information, or object to any processing of information or if you have questions please contact us.
What Choices Do I Have?
As discussed, you can always choose not to provide information even though it might be needed to make a purchase or to take advantage of TSI Network features.
You can add or update certain information as explained in the section "How Can I Change My Information?"
If you do not want to receive email or other mail from us, please notify TSI Network by sending an email to service@tsinetwork.ca.
The "Help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. However, you will not be able to use important features of TSI Network sites if you do not use cookies.
Changes to this Policy
This Policy is the sole authorized statement of TSI Network's practices with respect to the collection of personal information through TSI Network's websites and the subsequent use and disclosure of such information. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon TSI Network, shall not be relied upon in substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.
TSI Network may revise this Policy from time to time.
Legal Notices and Disclaimers
The contents of this web site and our publications are based upon sources of information believed to be reliable, but no warranty or representation, expressed or implied, is given as to their accuracy or completeness. Any opinion reflects the Successful Investor’s judgment at the date of publication and neither the Successful Investor, nor any of its affiliated companies, nor any of their officers, directors or employees, accepts any responsibility in respect of the information or recommendations contained in the publications or on this web site. Moreover, the information or recommendations are subject to change without notice.
Information presented on this web site or contained in our publications is not an offer, nor a solicitation, to buy or sell any securities referred to on the web site or in the publications. The material is general information intended for recipients who understand the risks associated with an investment in any securities referred to in the publications or on this web site. The Successful Investor has made no determination regarding whether an investment, course of action, or associated risks are suitable for the recipient.
