boeing

VISA INC. $99 (www.visa.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 46.7%, to $0.22 a share from $0.15. The new annual rate of $0.88 yields just 0.9%. However, Visa should continue to profit as more consumers pay for their purchases with credit cards instead of cash and cheques. Best Buy. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $17 (www.ge.com) continues to report lower loan losses at its lending division. As a result, GE has raised its quarterly dividend by 13.3%, to $0.17 a share from $0.15. The new annual rate of $0.68 yields 4.0%. Buy. BOEING CO. $70 (www.boeing.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 4.8%, to $0.44 a share from $0.42. The new annual rate of $1.76 yields 2.5%. The company also received an order from Southwest Airlines for 150 of its new 737 MAX passenger jets and 58 other planes. The deal is worth $19 billion, or 29% of Boeing annual revenue of $66 billion. Buy.

THE BOEING CO. $63 (New York symbol BA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 743.2 million; Market cap: $46.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.boeing.com) has received an order from Indonesia’s Lion Air for 201 of its 737 MAX passenger jet planes and 29 of its extended-range 737 aircraft. In all, this order is worth a record $21.7 billion. If Lion Air exercises its option to buy an additional 150 planes, the order’s value would rise to $35 billion. That’s equal to roughly half of Boeing’s annual sales of $68 billion. The company will deliver these planes between 2017 and 2025. Boeing is a buy.

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.10 and BBD.B $4.01; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest commercial-aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. It is also the world’s largest passenger railcar manufacturer. In the three months ended July 31, 2011, Bombardier’s earnings rose 56.7%, to $210 million, or $0.12 a share (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). A year earlier, it earned $134 million, or $0.07 a share. Sales rose 17.4% to $4.7 billion from $4.0 billion. Sales at the railcar division (which supplies 56% of Bombardier’s total sales) rose 26.0%, mainly due to strong demand from European public-transit systems. In the latest quarter, this business received $3.9 billion of new orders, down from $4.3 billion a year earlier. Its order backlog is $33.9 billion, up from $33.5 billion on January 31, 2011....

The slowing global economy will likely prompt airlines to spend less on new planes and simulators. However, both Bombardier and CAE operate other businesses that help diversify their operations and cut their exposure to the cyclical air-travel industry. BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.10 and BBD.B $4.01; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest commercial-aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. It is also the world’s largest passenger railcar manufacturer. In the three months ended July 31, 2011, Bombardier’s earnings rose 56.7%, to $210 million, or $0.12 a share (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). A year earlier, it earned $134 million, or $0.07 a share. Sales rose 17.4% to $4.7 billion from $4.0 billion....

GENUINE PARTS CO., $50.80, New York symbol GPC, distributes auto parts to over 5,700 independent stores in North America. The company also operates about 1,000 auto parts stores under the NAPA banner. Auto parts account for roughly 50% of its sales. It gets the other 50% by distributing industrial parts, office furniture and electrical equipment.

This week, the company agreed to buy 30% of privately held Exego Group, which distributes auto parts through 430 company-owned stores in Australia and New Zealand. The deal closes on December 1, 2011.

Genuine will pay $150 million for this stake. That’s a little less than the $151.8 million, or $0.96 a share, that Genuine earned in the three months ended June 30, 2011. Genuine Parts has an option to buy the remaining 70% of Exego, provided Exego reaches certain earnings targets.

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MACY’S INC., $25.55, New York symbol M, operates 850 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores in 45 states. It also sells goods over the Internet. The company reported higher-than-expected sales and earnings this week. In the three months ended July 30, 2011, Macy’s earnings rose 63.9%, to $241 million from $147 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 57.1%, to $0.55 from $0.35, on more shares outstanding. That was well ahead of the consensus estimate of $0.48 a share. Sales rose 7.3%, to $5.9 billion from $5.5 billion. That beat the consensus sales estimate of $5.8 billion. Same-store sales rose 6.4%. The company continues to benefit from its plan to tailor its merchandise to local tastes. Its private-label products are also selling well. In addition, Macy’s has been improving its customer service. That helps build customer loyalty....

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $185.18, New York symbol IBM, reported higher-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, the company earned $3.7 billion. That’s up 8.2% from $3.4 billion a year earlier. IBM spent $4.0 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 14.9%, to $3.00 from $2.61. If you exclude unusual items, mainly costs to integrate acquisitions, IBM’s earnings per share would have risen 17.9%, to $3.09 from $2.62. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $3.03 a share....

SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $126.09 (New York Exchange symbol DIA; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The fund’s top holdings are IBM, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp., 3M, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s Corp., Coca-Cola Co., Caterpillar Inc., United Technologies and Boeing Co. The fund’s expenses are about 0.18% of its assets. SPDR Dow Jones ETF is a buy....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

THE BOEING CO. $76 (New York symbol BA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 738.3 million; Market cap: $56.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.boeing.com) has struggled in the past few years, mostly due to production problems with its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet.

The plane is now three years behind schedule....