Lower costs set them up for future gains

Article Excerpt

These three makers of industrial tools and consumer appliances are aggressively cutting their operational costs in response to rising input costs and slowing customer spending on non-essential items. That will help drive their earnings as inflation and interest rates ease. For now, though, we see only one of them as suitable for new buying. STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $86 is a buy. The company (New York symbol SWK; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.9 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools. In addition to its brands Stanley, and Black & Decker, it also offers top-selling brands DeWalt, Lenox, Irwin and Craftsman. In the three months ended March 30, 2024, Stanley’s revenue declined 1.6%, to $3.87 billion from $3.93 billion a year earlier. Lower demand from do-it-yourself consumers offset stronger sales at its DeWalt and engineered fastening businesses. The company is currently restructuring…