Here’s our Pick of the Month – May 2010

Article Excerpt

FORTRESS PAPER $23.45 (Toronto symbol FTP; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (1-888-820-3888; www.fortresspaper.com; Shares outstanding: 10.2 million; Market cap: $240.0 million; No dividends paid) is a Canadian specialty paper producer. Fortress has plants in Germany and Switzerland. The company gets 62% of its sales by making high-quality wallpaper-base products, as well as high-grade graphic papers and other specialty papers. The remaining 38% of its sales comes from security paper used in banknotes, passports and visas. In the three months ended December 31, 2009, sales rose 10.2%, to $51 million from $46.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share, excluding one-time items, rose 67.9%, to $0.47 from $0.28. The higher sales were part of the reason for the gain. Fortress also cut its costs. It holds cash of $33.2 million, or $3.25 a share, and has low debt. In January 2010, Fortress won a contract to make 2.5 million electronic passports with chips that hold personal data and other biometric information. Demand for these…