BRIGGS & STRATTON CORP. $23 - New York symbol BGG

BRIGGS & STRATTON CORP. $23 (New York symbol BGG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 50.3 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.briggsandstratton.com) is the world’s largest lawnmower engine maker. This business accounts for 62% of Briggs’sales. It gets the remaining 38% of its sales by making other home and garden equipment, such as generators, pressure washers and snow blowers. The weak U.S. economy has weighed on Briggs’ sales. In response, the company recently closed a plant in Wisconsin. Due to $4.6 million in restructuring and refinancing charges, Briggs lost $1.3 million, or $0.03 a share, in its second quarter, which ended December 26, 2010. A year earlier, it earned $3.0 million, or $0.06 a share. Sales rose 14.6%, to $450.3 million from $393.0 million. The company sold more engines to European and Asian manufacturers. It also sold more snow blowers, lawn mowers and pressure washers. Savings from the restructuring should lift Briggs’ earnings to $1.30 a share in fiscal 2011 from $1.12 a share in fiscal 2010. The stock trades at 17.7 times that estimate. Earnings could reach $1.65 a share in 2012. That gives the stock a p/e ratio of just 13.9. Briggs & Stratton is a buy.

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