Hello Pat: Thank you for your insights. Could I have your thoughts please on Avon Products? The stock price is up over 50% since March 2009. Is this a well-run company? Is there still growth in this stock over the next few years, or is it already too expensive? Thank you for your consideration.
Avon Products Inc., $33.21, symbol AVP on New York (Shares outstanding: 427.5 million; Market cap: $14.2 billion) is one of the world’s largest makers of beauty and related products.
Avon’s products fall into three categories: “Beauty,” which supplied 72% of the company’s 2009 sales, consists of cosmetics, fragrances and toiletries; “Fashion” (17% of 2009 sales) consists of jewellery, watches, clothing and accessories; and “Home” (11% of sales) consists of home products, gifts, decorations and candles.
Instead of stores, Avon mainly sells its products through 6.2 million independent sales representatives in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific region and Europe. The company gets over 80% of its sales and 90% of its earnings from its foreign operations. Avon also sells its products over the Internet.
The company began a multi-year restructuring plan in 2005. Under this plan, Avon cut jobs, discontinued certain unprofitable product lines, shifted more manufacturing to low-cost countries and outsourced financing, computer services and other administrative functions. In all,…
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