Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, can I have your recommendation on CCL Industries? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: CCL Industries Inc., $58.88, symbol CCL.B on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 177.0 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; www.cclind.com), mainly makes packaging products for the food, health-care, automotive and personal-care industries. Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson are among its major customers. CCL also makes radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and banknotes. The company has four main businesses: CCL (64% of total revenue) makes pressure-sensitive labels for plastic bottles and other forms of packaging. This division also makes aluminum aerosol cans, beverage bottles and flexible plastic tubes. Avery (15%) makes labels, binders, dividers, sheet protectors and writing instruments. Checkpoint Systems (14%) makes RFID tags. Those products help retailers prevent theft and manage their inventories. Innovia (7%) makes polymer banknotes for central banks. The U.S. supplies 40% of the company’s revenue, followed by Europe (34%), Asia (17%), Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina (6%) and Canada (3%). The company has a long history of expanding through acquisitions. Notably, in July 2013, it paid $486.7 million…