Topic: Growth Stocks

MACY’S INC. $40 – New York symbol M

MACY’S INC. $40 (New York symbol M, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 418.5 million; Market cap: $16.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.macysinc.com) continues to benefit from its My Macy’s plan to tailor its merchandise to local tastes. This strategy has attracted new shoppers to its department stores and encouraged repeat visits.

As a result, its same-store sales were 7.3% higher in March 2012 than in March 2011. Macy’s is also seeing strong sales growth at its websites: online sales jumped 39.0% from March 2011.

Macy’s is a buy.

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FORD MOTOR CO. $12 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.ford.com) is expanding its Chinese operations. Its plan involves spending $760 million to build a new car assembly plant and an additional $600 million to expand an existing facility. The total cost of $1.4 billion is equal to 23% of the $6.1 billion, or $1.51 a share, that Ford earned in 2011.

Chinese car sales are expected to rise to 30 million vehicles a year by 2020 from 18.5 million in 2011. Ford’s latest investments will help it take advantage of that trend.

Ford is a buy.

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