The current world-wide fleet of Q400s includes 165 aircrafts serving such notable carriers as Horizon Air Industries Inc. in Seattle, Japan Air Commuter, Innsbruck-based Austrian Arrows, Flybe in Great Britain, and others. Until recently, the aircrafts, some of which are assembled at the Bombardier’s Downsview plant in Toronto, had been serving well. Interestingly enough, the landing gear for Q400s is not manufactured in Canada, but supplied by the US Goodrich Corporation located in North Carolina.

Bombardier, in conjunction with Transport Canada, has assessed the situations and insisted that the systemic landing gear of the turboprops has no defects and that the Q400 remains a reliable and safe plane. However, SAS officials from Stockholm allege that they have experienced “repeated quality-related problems” with the Q400.

Bombardier Corporation was pressed to pay about $77-million to compensate for two crash landings of its aircrafts that occurred in Europe earlier (in Denmark and Lithuania). Now, after the third crash landing, SAS says that the cost of Bombardier turboprops grounding will reach US$63M. In addition, as customers do not want any more to fly on the questionably safe Q400s and as air carriers do not wish to have this plane in their fleet any longer, the entire reputation of Canadian Bombardier Corporation can be put in question.

Thompson Corp., which operates from both Canada and USA, has its main office in Toronto and a headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and renders services to 37 countries. It supplies professionals with software tools and a whole range of information in the domains of scientific research and healthcare, as well as accounting, tax, law, and financial services. Currently, Thomson Corp. employs more than 32,000 workers.

By acquiring Prous Sciences, Thompson Corp. will be able to add this well-established and internationally-accepted brand to its own creativity, financial stability, and informational and technological base, in order to accelerate innovations and facilitate development in the sphere of pharmaceutics. It is expected that the strength of the two companies will be united to add value to drug research and healthcare, and to further benefit the global scientific community.

Spherion Corporation is the biggest recruiting company providing modern staffing solutions to meet the demands of both job candidates and companies seeking employees. Its positions include temporary and full-time types of employment and range from industrial and administrative jobs to professional opportunities in human resources, marketing, information technologies, accounting, and other high demand areas. Spherion Corporation is the largest employer in the United States and Canada. It works from 650 locations in North America and annually helps about 300,000 workers to find a satisfying job. To learn more about Spherion Corporation, visit Spherion website. To get updated information on career opportunities, employment trends, and job-searching methods, check Spherion Career Blog.

Memry Corporation is one of the biggest National companies that provide design, development, engineering, and manufacturing segments to the medical device and other industries that use nitinol and polymer components. The corporation was founded in 1983 in Stamford, Connecticut, with the aim to develop commercial applications for the emerging shape memory alloy business. From less than twenty employees in 1995, Memry Corporation today has expanded to more than two hundred and twenty employees working in their two basic locations – Bethel, Connecticut and Menlo Park, California. Currently, Memry’s products include stent and catheter components, guidewires, laparoscopic surgical devices, orthopedic instruments, and other high-tech medical equipment, devices, and instruments. It is also providing state-of-the-art design and other services of shape memory technology to the domains other than the medical industry, such as defence, telecommunications, and automobile markets.

More detailed information about Memry Corporation.
For those who are interested in the investment profile on Memry, please, visit Memry Profile.
Memry Corporation press-releases, current price quotes, and other valuable information for investors can be found at Hawk Associates Inc. or American Microcap Institute.
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Canadian companies and associations are subject to Canadian corporate income taxes, which may include federal and/or provincial business taxes. The amount is determined on the basis of general business income. Since 2001, the corporate tax in Canada has been reduced to 27%, with the subsequent annual reduction down to 21% during the five year period. To encourage small businesses, some types of Canadian corporations, such as CCPC (Canadian controlled private corporations) were granted even a lower tax rate.

Therefore, a great care should be exercised in the process of corporate tax planning and a prudent business person must seek an expert advice about financial and tax legislation in relation to corporate business in her state (if in U.S.) or a province (if in Canada).

Stocks of the leading technology names, such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and EMC, are enjoying a rising popularity among investors who seem to be shifting away from pumping their money into financial companies. In the opinion of Scott Kessler, head of the technology group at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, people seem to be more attracted to buying stocks of the reliable, familiar technology brands which were already popular in the late 90s. One of the reasons for this is that the well-known corporations can successfully combine solid fundamentals with providing the newest products and services, like, for example, Apple’s iPhone, Microsoft’s Vista and office software, or Oracle’s Fusion – a major 2008 development. Also, due to the fall of dollar, the growth and profit prospects of the leading technology corporations outside of the USA, where corporate tax rates are lower, look very promising.The following technology brands now appear to be in the “strong buy list”:
- Automatic Data Processing, the payroll processing company;
- EMC, the largest storage company in the world, a grand beneficiary of the VMware IPO;
- Corning, displaying a steady growth with its flat-panel TV, environmental and fibre businesses;
- IBM, with its inexpensive stocks and a solid position in the fields of software and services;
- Microsoft;
- Oracle;
- Seagate Technology, one of the biggest and most innovative companies in the space (the stock is at $25);
- Texas Instruments;
- NDS Group, based in London and partially owned by News Corp. Provides secure transactions’ technology.

More information on the subject can be found at “Tech Stocks: A Summer of Love”

Seagate (STX) is still among the least expensive stocks on a p-e and p-e-to-growth basis that we cover. The stock is at $25, and we figure the company will earn $2.13 in its June, 2008 fiscal year. Its p-e is 12, and we see growth of that level or higher. They’re the biggest and most innovative [company] in the space. Texas Instruments’ (TXN) chips power mobile offerings—the stock is attractively valued.

Do you like any smaller companies?

I’d highlight two names in the communications equipment area. The first is Arris Group (ARRS)—it’s a great play on continued adoption of both video-on-demand and VoIP services from cable companies. The stock sold off from highs earlier this year but we see it attractively valued. We see earnings per share of 83 cents this year. The stock is trading at $14.50 stock, so its p-e is 17 and the growth rate is about that level. So we like the trend and valuation.

NDS Group (NNDS) provides technology to enable the transmission of secure transactions over set-top boxes. It’s based in London and is majority owned by News Corp. (NWS). The growth driver is that everyone wants to deploy secure applications, such as games and interactive functionality, over set-top boxes. It has a great footprint with BSkyB and Sky Italia. I think the fundamentals are solid.

Citrix Systems (CTXS) is a midcap name. We like the theme of remote access that it’s centered on. The stock is attractively valued.