Growth stocks: Stanley Black & Decker reports higher sales and earnings

Stanley Black & Decker Inc., New York symbol SWK, makes power and hand tools and security devices. It took its current form on March 12, 2010. That’s when Stanley Works bought the Black & Decker Corp. for $3.5 billion in stock. At the time of the merger, Stanley shareholders owned 50.5% of the combined company, and Black & Decker investors owned the remaining 49.5%. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, the company earned $157.8 million, or $0.92 a share, compared to a loss of $108.6 million, or $1.11 a share, a year earlier. Excluding charges relating to the merger, the growth stock’s earnings per share would have risen 54.3%, to $1.08 from $0.70. The growth stock’s sales rose 89.0% in the quarter, to $2.4 billion from $1.3 billion. If you assume the purchase occurred at the start of 2010, sales would have risen 4%. Stanley now expects efficiencies from merging plants, distribution networks and purchasing systems will save it $460 million a year by the end of 2012. That’s 31.4% higher than its original estimate of $350 million. Stanley is just one of the U.S. growth stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. You can get the latest issue absolutely FREE when you subscribe now. Click here to learn how.

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.