Big acquisitions boost Stanley

Article Excerpt

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $62 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 170.9 million; Market cap: $10.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools for consumers. Its top-selling brands include Stanley, Black & Decker, FatMax and Powerlock. This business supplied 51% of Stanley’s 2011 sales and 46% of its earnings. The company’s building-security division makes locks, automatic doors and gates. It also monitors properties for its clients, typically through closed-circuit audio and TV systems. This division accounts for 25% of Stanley’s sales and 27% of its earnings. The remaining 24% of sales and 27% of earnings comes from selling specialized tools to industrial users, such as auto mechanics and construction firms. Purchases helped turn results around Stanley’s sales fell 16.7%, from $4.5 billion in 2007 to $3.7 billion in 2009, as falling housing prices and the recession cut demand for home-improvement…