Stanley Black & Decker Inc., New York symbol SWK, makes power and hand tools and security devices. It took its current form on March 12, 2010. That’s when Stanley Works bought the Black & Decker Corp. for $3.5 billion in stock. Stanley shareholders own 50.5% of the combined company, and Black & Decker investors own the remaining 49.5%.

We analyze Stanley in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our investing newsletter that recommends stocks in the U.S. markets.

The company now expects efficiencies achieved by merging plants, distribution networks and purchasing systems will save it $450 million by the end of 2012.

In the three months ended June 30, 2011, the company earned $197.3 million, or $1.14 a share, up 330.8% from $45.8 million, or $0.28 a share, a year earlier. Excluding unusual items, earnings per share rose 17.7%, to $1.46 from $1.24. Sales in the quarter rose 10.9%, to $2.6 billion from $2.4 billion.

In July 2011, Stanley agreed to buy Sweden’s Niscayah Group AB for $1.2 billion. Niscayah designs and installs security systems, including surveillance cameras and fire alarms, for a wide variety of businesses. This will help Stanley expand in Europe’s growing electronic security systems market. The deal should close in the next few months.

The company feels it can cut its annual costs by $80 million, including $40 million in the first year, by combining plants and distribution networks.

Stanley is a dividend paying stock. Its annual rate of $1.64 a share yields 2.5%.

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