DEVON ENERGY CORP. $101.38 (New York symbol DVN; SI Rating: Speculative) (405-235-3611; www.devonenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 446.2 million; Market cap: $45.2 billion) is one of the largest U.S.-based independent oil and gas explorers and producers. Devon’s properties are located mainly in the United States and Canada. The company has sold its operations in Egypt, and recently completed the sale of most of its assets in West Africa for $2.4 billion. In the three months ended March 31, 2008, Devon’s revenues rose 20.3%, to $3 billion from $2.5 billion. Cash flow rose 79.6%, to $2.4 billion, or $5.48 a share, from $1.4 billion or $3.06 a share. Devon’s shares trade at 4.6 times annualized cash flow based on the latest quarter. Long-term debt of $6.4 billion is equal to 11% of market cap. Devon also holds cash of $1.9 billion or $4.25 a share....

WEYERHAEUSER CO. $53 (New York symbol WY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 211.3 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) is a leading forest products company. It owns or leases over 30 million acres of timberland in the United States and Canada. As part of a plan to focus on its core lumber operations, the company recently agreed to sell its containerboard, packaging and recycling operations for $6 billion. This division accounts for about a third of Weyerhaeuser’s revenue. The company will use the cash to pay down its long-term debt of $7.0 billion. In the three months ended March 30, 2008, Weyerhaeuser lost $0.24 a share (total $51 million). It earned $0.20 a share ($48 million) a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items. Revenue fell 22.2%, to $2.1 billion from $2.7 billion, as the slowing housing market has hurt lumber demand....

ALCOA INC. $37 (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 815.1 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) is one of the world’s leading producers of aluminum. In February 2008, Alcoa sold its packaging and consumer businesses for $2.5 billion. These operations accounted for 11% of its total sales. If you exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items, Alcoa earned $0.44 a share ($361 million) in the first quarter of 2008, down 44.3% from $0.79 a share ($691 million) a year earlier. Cash flow per share fell 29.1%, to $0.90 from $1.27. Alcoa needs large amounts of electricity to refine raw alumina, and higher power costs hurt its profits and cash flow in the latest quarter. The weaker U.S. dollar also hurt its earnings. However, Alcoa’s new lower-cost plants put it in a good position to expand earnings in the next few years....

INVACARE CORP. $20 (New York symbol IVC, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 32.1 million; Market cap: $642.0 million; WSSF Rating: Average) makes wheelchairs, motorized scooters and other mobility and home care products. The stock fell from $27.75 in November 2007 to $16.13 in April 2008, due to concerns over the pace of Invacare’s restructuring, which includes shifting production to low-cost countries and simplifying its product lines. Thanks mainly to a $3.7 million drop in costs, Invacare’s first-quarter earnings before unusual items shot up to $0.11 a share (total $6.2 million) from $0.05 a share ($1.5 million) a year earlier. However, the latest earnings figure fell well short of consensus estimates of $0.24 a share. Sales in the quarter improved 11.0%, to $416.3 million from $374.9 million. Foreign currency translation accounted for 5% of that increase. If you exclude acquisitions, sales in the quarter rose 5.8%....

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $63 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 627.4 million; Market cap: $39.5 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes medical equipment through three main divisions. Medication Delivery makes intravenous equipment and systems (38% of 2007 sales); BioScience makes various vaccines and drugs (41%); and Renal makes dialysis equipment (20%). Other products account for the remaining 1% of sales. Earlier this year, Baxter recalled its blood-thinning drug heparin due to severe allergic reactions in patients who received a high dosage of the drug in a short period of time. The FDA identified a Chinese facility that makes a certain ingredient in heparin as a possible source of this problem. Heparin accounts for less than 1% of Baxter’s total sales. Baxter also continues to have problems with its Colleague medication delivery pumps. In 2007, it recalled roughly 2% of pumps in service to fix a defect that could inject too much medication into a patient. The company is now re-designing the Colleague pump, and aims to relaunch it in 2009....

C.R. BARD INC. $87 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 99.3 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) makes medical devices in four main areas: Vascular products such as stents and catheters (25% of 2007 sales); Urology products such as drainage and incontinence devices (30%); Oncology products that inject medications into cancer patients (25%); and Surgical Tools and other products (20%). In the three months ended March 31, 2008, Bard’s earnings grew 7.4%, to $109.1 million from $101.6 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 11.6%, to $1.06 from $0.95, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 10.6%, to $584.0 million from $528.2 million. Bard sells about a third of its products overseas. If you exclude the positive effect of the lower U.S. dollar, sales would have grown 8%. The company recently decided to stop making its Salute II hernia repair device, due to manufacturing problems. Bard would rather focus on developing new hernia products, instead of re-engineering the Salute II. Consequently, Bard will write down inventory and other assets related to the Salute II. This will cut its pre-tax earnings in the second quarter of 2008 by $40 million to $45 million....

BECKMAN COULTER INC. $70 (New York symbol BEC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 62.9 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes lab equipment that doctors and medical researchers use to detect substances in bodily fluids. Beckman is a long-time favorite of ours, mainly because its automated systems help its customers cut the cost of routine tests. The company also continues to profit from a change in the way it leases its equipment. The switch helped make its products more affordable. As well, a broader customer base has spurred more demand for replenishible supplies and maintenance services. Beckman now gets close to 80% of its total revenue from selling supplies. These recurring revenue streams cut its risk. In the three months ended March 31, 2008, Beckman’s revenue grew 19.1%, to $730.5 million from $613.6 million a year earlier. If you exclude the positive impact of currency exchange rates, revenue rose 14.8%. However, earnings before unusual items grew just 4.6%, to $0.68 a share (total $44.0 million) from $0.65 a share ($41.4 million). The slower growth was due to more sales of lower-margin equipment....

CHEVRON CORP. $99 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.1 billion; Market cap: $207.9 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the United States after ExxonMobil. Exploration and production supply just 25% of Chevron’s revenue, but nearly 80% of its profits. Asia accounts for about 40% of its production, followed by the U.S. (30%), Africa (15%) and other countries (15%). Chevron’s production is about 65% oil, and 35% natural gas. The company has proved reserves of 10.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The remaining 75% of Chevron’s revenue comes mainly from its 10 refineries, petrochemical plants and 25,100 retail gas stations, which operate under the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex brands....

VERIGY LTD. $26 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 60.0 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) designs and makes test systems used in computer-chip production. Verigy was a subsidiary of Agilent Technologies until October 2006. Agilent investors received 0.122435 of a Verigy share for each Agilent share held. The stock is down from its peak of $30.25 in July 2007, as rising inventories of flash memory and other chips have hurt demand for Verigy’s products. However, a recent acquisition gave Verigy access to technology that helps its customers speed up chip production and reduce manufacturing errors. In its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2008, earnings fell 36.1%, to $0.23 share from $0.36 a year earlier. Revenue fell 11.5%, to $162 million from $183 million. Weak demand for memory and other chips prompted manufacturers to cut spending on testing systems....

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $37 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 360.0 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) was a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Co. (see page 51) until June 2000. Hewlett stockholders received 0.3814 of an Agilent share for each Hewlett share held. Agilent’s testing systems help manufacturers improve the quality of electronic products such as cellphones. The stock rose rapidly to $162 a share in March 2000, but fell to $10.50 in 2002. It has stayed between $20 and $40 for the past three years. In its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2008, earnings excluding unusual items rose 6.3%, to $187 million from $176 million a year earlier. However, per-share earnings grew 18.6%, to $0.51 from $0.43, due to Agilent’s aggressive share buybacks. Revenue rose 15.4%, to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion....