Updating your Conservative stocks: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Diageo PLC ADR and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co.

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $105 (www.iff.com) is still a buy. The company plans to merge with the nutition and biosciences business of DuPont (New York symbol DD). DuPont shareholders will own 55.4% of the combined company, with IFF shareholders owning the rest. As part of the transaction, DuPont investors as a group will receive a $7.3 billion special dividend once it closes in early 2021. That’s a high 68% of IFF’s depressed market cap of $10.8 billion. However, the company and DuPont expect the merger will deliver $300 million in annual cost savings by the third year. DIAGEO PLC ADR $118 (www.diageo.com) is still a hold. The U.K. company is a leading maker of premium alcoholic beverages, including Guinness beer, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch and Bailey’s liqueur. The COVID-19 outbreak will probably cut sales in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, by between 225 million and 325 million British pounds (1 pound=$1.67 Canadian). To put those figures in context, the company’s sales totalled 7.2…