Steady growth on the horizon

Article Excerpt

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $130 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.5 million; Market cap: $19.7 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools. Its top brands include Stanley, Black & Decker and DeWalt. The company last raised its quarterly dividend in September 2018 by 4.8%. Stanley’s new annual rate of $2.64 a share yields 2.0%. It has now raised that annual rate each year for the past 51 years. Stanley expects its sales for the next three years will rise between 4% and 6% annually (excluding acquisitions). That’s due to increasing e-commerce sales and rising demand in emerging markets. Earnings per share should also increase 7% to 9% annually over that time. Stanley Black & Decker is a buy. buy…