Three winners from low oil prices

Article Excerpt

These three companies use oil to maker their products, so they all stand to gain from the 40% drop in crude prices since June 2014. And even when oil rebounds, they will continue to benefit from recent acquisitions and their high market shares. However, not all are buys right now. SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $246 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 96.0 million; Market cap: $23.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.sherwin-williams.com) is North America’s largest paint and varnish producer. Sherwin sells to consumers through over 4,100 company-owned stores in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. It also distributes its products through other retailers and makes paint for carmakers and other industrial users. In September 2013, the company paid $165 million for Mexican paint maker Comex’s U.S. and Canadian operations, including 314 stores. The move increased Sherwin’s sales by 10.6% in the three months ended September 30, 2014, to $3.15 billion…