Stanley makes acquisitions work

Article Excerpt

It pays to be wary of companies that use acquisitions to expand instead of internal growth. This strategy can work well at times, but one bad takeover can wipe out gains from a dozen good ones. Stanley Black & Decker is a good example of a company that grows by acquisition without taking on excessive risk. That’s because it has a long history of successfully merging new businesses and boosting their profits. That cuts the risk of a large writedown. Even though the stock has doubled since Stanley bought Black & Decker in 2010, we feel it still has plenty of gains ahead. STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $109 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 149.7 million; Market cap: $16.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) started up in 1843 and has since become one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools for…