Limited Brands

STATE STREET CORP. $40 (www.statestreet.com) earned $1.85 billion, or $3.73 a share, in 2011. That’s up 9.6% from $1.7 billion, or $3.40 a share, in 2010. Revenue rose 9.0%, to $9.5 billion from $8.7 billion. The company continues to win new orders from institutional investors for its security-custody and pricing services. Assets under custody rose 1.3%, to $21.8 trillion from …read more »

EBAY INC. $31 (www.ebay.com) saw its earnings per share jump 20% in the three months ended September 30, 2011, to $0.48 from $0.40 a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs to integrate recent acquisitions. Revenue rose 31.9%, to $3.0 billion from $2.2 billion, mainly due to strong growth at its PayPal online payments business. Best Buy.

LIMITED …read more »

PFIZER INC. $18 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 7.8 billion; Market cap: $140.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) has extended the patent on Viagra, its popular erectile-dysfunction drug, to October 2019. That will block rival Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq symbol TEVA) from selling a generic version. Pfizer gets …read more »

The U.S. consumer sector is highly competitive. As well, retailers are more exposed to swings in the overall economy than companies in some other sectors, such as utilities.

However, U.S. consumer stocks also hold the potential for strong gains. To cut your risk and earn higher profits when investing in this volatile sector, it’s especially important to focus on chains …read more »

LIMITED BRANDS INC. $29 (New York symbol LTD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 322.8 million; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.1%; WSSF Rating: Average) operates two main retail chains: Victoria’s Secret (lingerie) and Bath & Body Works (soaps and bath oils). It also operates the La Senza lingerie chain in Canada and 30 other …read more »

Clothing sales are rising as the economy continues to recover. However, fashion trends are fickle, and consumers are often quick to switch brands.

The six clothing designers and sellers we analyze below own some of the top brand names in the industry. That will help them keep increasing their sales. As well, all six cut costs during the recession. That will …read more »

TENNANT CO. $29 earned $0.27 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2009. That’s down 52.6% from $0.57 a year earlier. These figures exclude tax-related gains and other unusual items. The cleaning-equipment maker continues to benefit from lower commodity costs. However, sales will likely remain weak until the economy is well on its way to a full recovery. …read more »

LIMITED BRANDS INC. $9.15 (New York symbol LTD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 322.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) operates two main retail chains: Victoria’s Secret (lingerie) and Bath & Body Works (soaps and bath oils). It also operates the La Senza (lingerie) chain in Canada and 30 other countries.

In December 2008, …read more »

Slowing retail sales and weak consumer confidence have hurt most consumer stocks. Clothing is largely a discretionary purchase, so the downturn has been particularly hard on these three apparel-related companies. Based on the steep drop in their stock prices, it appears that investors feel they will not survive.

We have a more optimistic view. All three are lowering their operating costs …read more »

LIMITED BRANDS INC. $20 (New York symbol LTD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 340.3 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) operates two main retail chains: Victoria’s Secret (lingerie) and Bath & Body Works (soaps and bath oils). It also operates the La Senza (lingerie) chain, in Canada and 44 other countries.

Last year, the company sold 75% …read more »