Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.
Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX: CP), whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
10 Best Net Payout Yield Stocks To Own 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 Max Macaluso, Ph.D.]
Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT ) may be up 10.7% since the start of 2013, but this stock has lagged behind the S&P 500 index and many of its health care peers, including Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX ) and�Johnson & Johnson. Abbott's next big catalyst will be its second-quarter results, which are set to be revealed tomorrow morning, but will earnings wow investors, or will they miss estimates and disappoint?
- [By Dan Carroll]
2013 has been a big year for Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT ) . The company's charged ahead into its new post-pharmaceutical future, and today's earnings report marked the first time that investors had a chance to see how well Abbott's adapting to the radical shake-up. Fortunately, Abbott performed well: The company's earnings per share minus one-time items just topped analyst expectations, and sales grew 2% year-over-year. The pharmaceuticals spinoff took its toll on Abbott's net profit, but that was to be expected.
- [By Keith Speights]
1. Medical device companies
Several medical device companies have already slashed jobs or are planning to do so because of Obamacare. Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT ) began shedding the first of 1,900 jobs a few years ago. The company attributed the cuts partially to new fees and pricing pressures resulting from the Affordable Care Act. - [By Dan Carroll and Max Macaluso, Ph.D.]
We're into the heart of earnings season, and several of the medical device industry's biggest players have already reported quarterly results. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) led off among the biggest players, with fellow diversified health care firm Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT ) and more concentrated company St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ ) following suit last week.
5 Best Canadian Stocks For 2014: Vanguard Natural Resources LLC(VNR)
Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. Its properties are located in the southern portion of the Appalachian Basin, primarily in southeast Kentucky and northeast Tennessee; the Permian Basin, primarily in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico; and south Texas. As of December 31, 2010, the company had estimated proved reserves of 69.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, as well as working interests in 2,270 net productive wells. Vanguard Natural Resources, LLC was founded in 2006 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Matt DiLallo]
Two-thirds of the reserves are located in the midcontinent, which are well-known for holding great MLP-type assets that have long life and low decline. Peers like LINN Energy (NASDAQ: LINE ) and Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR ) each has a substantial presence in the midcontinent region. Eagle Rock's reserves there have a heavy natural gas component; gas is 64% of these reserves. However, Eagle Rock has an exciting oil play in the region, which I'll get to in a moment.
- [By Tyler Crowe]
If you're looking for income investments, then it's awfully hard to argue with the massive distribution payments from LINN Energy (NASDAQ: LINE ) (NASDAQ: LNCO ) , Breitburn Energy Partners (NASDAQ: BBEP ) , and Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR ) . Thing is, though, income investments need both a decent yield and a level of certainty that it will keep that distribution going for many years to come. Other than being high-yielding investments, they are also all master limited partnerships, which means you need to look beyond just the operations to see how these companies will stand the test of time.
- [By Robert Rapier]
During this past week�� joint monthly web chat for subscribers of The Energy Strategist�and MLP Profits, we received several questions about Vanguard Natural Resources (Nasdaq: VNR). So let�� get to know this energy income play a little better.
- [By Matt DiLallo]
Among its peers in the MLP and LLC space, LINN by far hedges the most production. BreitBurn Energy Partners (NASDAQ: BBEP ) , for example, has hedged roughly 75% of its production through 2015, whereas LINN is 100% hedged through 2016. BreitBurn almost exclusively uses swaps as its hedge of choice. It's a similar story at Vanguard Natural Resources (NASDAQ: VNR ) , which also uses swaps to almost exclusively hedge natural gas while using three-way collars to hedge about a third of its oil production. While LINN could get more creative, one thing I'd be surprised to hear is that it's going to join these two peers and leave some of its production unhedged.
5 Best Canadian Stocks For 2014: Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)
Barrick Gold Corporation engages in the production and sale of gold, as well as related activities, such as exploration and mine development. The company has a portfolio of 25 operating mines and a pipeline of projects located in North America, South America, the Australia Pacific region, and Africa. It also produces copper and holds interests in oil and gas properties located in Canada. The company was founded in 1983 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Rival RioTinto (NYSE: RIO ) , for example, also suffered a mine collapse�at its�Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah�in April and it might not be back in operation till next year. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) says its shuttered Pascua Lama gold mine in Chile won't get back on track until the end of 2014 at the earliest even if environmental regulators there approve its plan to fix the project's�water management infrastructure.
5 Best Canadian Stocks For 2014: Cameco Corporation(CCJ)
Cameco Corporation operates as a uranium producer, supplier of conversion services, and fuel manufacturer. The company?s Uranium segment is involved in the exploration for, mining, milling, purchase, and sale of uranium concentrate. Its operating uranium properties include the McArthur River and Key Lake, and Rabbit Lake located in Saskatchewan, Canada; the Crow Butte located in Nebraska and the Smith Ranch-Highland located in Wyoming; and the Inkai uranium deposit located in Kazakhstan. Cameco Corporation?s Fuel Services segment engages in the refining, conversion, and fabrication of uranium concentrate; and the purchase and sale of conversion services. Its products include uranium trioxide, uranium hexafluoride, and uranium dioxide. This segment also manufactures fuel bundles, reactor components, and monitoring equipment to Candu reactors; and provides nuclear fuel and consulting services to Candu operators. The company?s Electricity segment engages in the generation and sale of nuclear electricity, through its 31.6% interest in Bruce Power L.P. This segment operates four nuclear reactors at the Bruce B generating station in southern Ontario, Canada. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, uranium producer Cameco (NYSE: CCJ ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, uranium producer Cameco (NYSE: CCJ ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
- [By Jim Wallingford]
Cameco (CCJ) was created in 1988 through the merger of two Canadian crown (government-owned) corporations. It's IPO debuted on the Toronto exchange in 1991 and a NYSE listing occurred in 1996. The McArthur River mine, the highest grade mine in the world (16.36% U3O8, 100 times the global average), began production in November 2000. Cameco's share of the proven and probable resources is 264 mil lbs. The mine has produced 230 mil lbs in the last 13 years. CCJ's current year share is over 13 mil lbs.
- [By Reuben Brewer]
Relatively weak demand for thermal coal in China has pushed coal prices lower in Australia. That's a problem for big miners like Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO ) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP ) , and Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU ) . However it could add to the allure of uranium miner Cameco (NYSE: CCJ ) .
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