Updating PFIZER INC., MCDONALD’S CORP., LIMITED BRANDS INC. and NEWMONT MINING CORP.

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC. $18 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 7.8 billion; Market cap: $140.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) has extended the patent on Viagra, its popular erectile-dysfunction drug, to October 2019. That will block rival Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq symbol TEVA) from selling a generic version. Pfizer gets $2 billion a year from Viagra, or 3% of its annual sales of $67 billion. Pfizer is a buy. MCDONALD’S CORP. $90 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $90.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mcdonalds.com) saw its overall same-store sales rise 5.1% in July 2011. That’s down from a 7.0% sales gain in July 2010. Much of the gain was due to a 5.3% rise in European sales, thanks to new premium beef and chicken items. Sales gained 4.4% in the U.S., because the company introduced new drinks,…