Acquisition Starts To Pay Off

Article Excerpt

SNAP-ON INC. $55 (New York symbol SNA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 58.0 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) recently acquired the Business Solution division of ProQuest Co. This business helps car dealers cut down on errors by helping them electronically access the latest service bulletins and other data. Services like this now account for 30% of Snap-On’s profits. Thanks the new operations and a successful cost-cutting plan, Snap-On’s profits from continuing operations in the three months ended June 30, 2007 rose 50%, to $0.90 a share from $0.60 a year earlier. Sales grew 14.5%, to $711.9 million from $621.7 million. The latest quarterly earnings exceeded earlier forecasts of $0.74 a share, and the stock jumped 10%. It now trades at 19.8 times the $2.78 a share it should earn in 2007. That’s reasonable in light of Snap-On’s brand and loyal clientele. Snap-On is a buy. buy…