Updating Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Diageo PLC ADRs

Article Excerpt

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $108 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.7 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) continues to upgrade its operations following several years of growing through acquisitions, including its largest, the March 2010 purchase of rival toolmaker Black & Decker for $4.5 billion in stock. The efficiency improvements are freeing up cash for dividends: Stanley recently raised its payout by 5.8%. The new annual rate of $2.20 yields 2.0%. Stanley is a buy. WAL-MART STORES INC. $72 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio: Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $230.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) has paid an undisclosed sum for the 49% of Chinese e-commerce website Yihaodian.com it didn’t already own. To spur the growth of online retail, the Chinese government recently relaxed foreign ownership restrictions on…