acquisition

A: OraSure Technologies, $15.07, symbol OSUR on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 58.4 million; Market cap: $880.1 million; www.orasure.com), manufactures HIV tests, Hepatitis C tests, substance abuse tests, freezing systems for removing warts, and genetic tests.


The company has two business segments: OraSure contributes 75% of overall revenue; DNA Genotek accounts for 25%.


OraSure’s HIV infectious disease tests contribute 38% of annual revenue, followed by molecular and genetic tests (25%), substance abuse tests (10%) and freezing systems (10%)....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $63.98 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 800.3 million; Market cap: $55.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) completed its acquisition of Texas-based Columbia Pipeline Group on July 1, 2017....

Growth by acquisition is inherently riskier than internal growth, since it carries an above-average chance of unpleasant surprises. That’s because a buyer of something rarely knows as much about it as the seller. If you make enough acquisitions, you are bound to buy something with hidden problems....

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $118 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 805.9 million; Market cap: $95.1 billion; Dividend yield: 2.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.utc.com) has four main businesses: Climate, Controls & Security (29% of 2016 revenue, 33% of earnings) makes Carrier heating and air-conditioning equipment, as well as burglar alarms and fire-safety products; Pratt & Whitney (26%, 17%) manufactures aircraft engines; Aerospace Systems (25%, 26%) makes engine-control systems and other aircraft parts; and Otis (20%, 24%) makes elevators and escalators....

STATE STREET CORP. $84 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; s/o: 385.7 million; Market cap: $32.4 billion; p/s ratio: 3.1; Divd. yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to operators of mutual funds and pension plans....

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $33 (www.cisco.com) makes hardware and software for linking and managing computer networks. The company has completed its acquisition of AppDynamics Inc. That San Franciscobased firm makes software that helps large organizations monitors the performance of their websites and mobile apps....

A: True North Commercial REIT, $6.25, symbol TNT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 29.1 million; Market cap: $182.5 million; www.commercialtruenorth.com), owns light industrial properties across Canada.


As of December 31, 2016, the trust owned 30 buildings, which provide a total of 1.9 million square feet of leasable area....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $18.94 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics.com; Units outstanding: 69.1 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Dividend yield: 6.3%) is one of the largest removal-service providers for resource firms that create acids and sulphur as byproducts....

Once again, one of our buys has attracted a highly profitable acquisition bid—just the latest of many big takeover gains for us over the last few years.


MENTOR GRAPHICS (formerly symbol MENT on Nasdaq) makes systems to improve the design of electronic products and speed up their development.


Siemens AG of Germany has now completed its all-cash takeover of Mentor in a friendly $37.25-a-share bid....

SYMANTEC CORP. $30.41 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (650-527-8000; www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 618.8 million; Market cap: $18.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.0%) recently formed Symantec Ventures, a cybersecurity venture-capital business to serve as an incubator for startup firms....