Updating Alcoa Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Idexx Laboratories Inc.

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ALCOA INC. $13 (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $15.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alcoa.com) has agreed to buy RTI International Metals (New York symbol RTI), which makes titanium components for airplanes, armoured vehicles, oil and gas machinery and other industrial products. RTI’s investors will exchange their holdings for Alcoa common shares. If you include RTI’s cash balances and debt, the deal is worth $1.5 billion. Alcoa expects to close it in the next six months. Alcoa is a buy. HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. $32 (New York symbol HPQ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $57.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.hp.com) is buying Aruba Networks (Nasdaq symbol ARUN), a maker of hardware and software that help businesses make their high-speed wireless networks faster and more secure. Hewlett will pay $3.0 billion when it completes…