Savings fuel big earnings jump

Article Excerpt

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $87 is a buy. The company (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 154.4 million; Market cap: $13.4 billion; Dividend yield: 3.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools. With the September 2024 payment, Stanley increased your quarterly dividend by 1.2%, to $0.82 a share from $0.81. The annual rate of $3.28 yields 3.8%. The company has now raised the dividend each year for the past 57 years. Due to recent asset sales, including its Stanley Infrastructure business, which makes tools for industrial users, the company’s revenue declined 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024, to $3.72 billion from $3.74 billion a year earlier. Excluding divestitures and currency movements, sales increased by 3% in the quarter. Thanks to savings from a cost-cutting plan, the company earned $1.49 a share (or a total of $226.0 million), up 62.0% from $0.92 a share (or $138.0…