Pfizer Inc.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

The Guggenheim Spin-off ETF, $46.50, symbol CSD on New York (Units outstanding: 13.3 million; Market cap: $618.5 million; www.guggenheiminvestments.com), aims to track the Beacon Spin-off Index. The ETF’s MER is 0.65%. The Beacon Spin-off Index consists of 34 stocks. Companies can be included if they have been spun off in the past 30 months. There are no limitations on market capitalization (or the total value of a company’s outstanding shares), but companies in the index are mainly small- and mid-caps with capitalizations under $10 billion. Beacon defines a spinoff as any firm resulting from either of the following events: a parent company’s distribution of shares in a subsidiary to its own shareholders or “partial initial public offerings,” in which a parent company sells a percentage of a subsidiary’s shares to the general public....

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC., $32.45, New York symbol NWL, makes a variety of everyday items, such as trash cans and food-storage containers. Aside from Rubbermaid, its main brands include Sharpie, Paper Mate, Waterman and Levolor. The company recently agreed to buy Ignite Holdings, a private firm that makes reusable water bottles and thermal mugs under the Contigo and Avex brands. Newell will pay $308 million when it completes the purchase later this year. Newell feels its expertise will cut Ignite’s manufacturing costs. It can also use its extensive global distribution networks to increase Ignite’s annual sales of $125 million....

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $197.12 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major in U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, IBM, Chevron, General Electric, Pfizer, Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon, Wells Fargo and AT&T. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

We still think investors will profit most—and with the least risk—by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects. These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace. Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects....

PFIZER INC. (New York symbol PFE; www.pfizer.com) is the world’s largest maker of prescription drugs. Its main brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis), Viagra (erectile dysfunction) and Prevnar (a pneumonia vaccine). Pfizer also makes popular over the-counter drugs, including Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup)....

PFIZER INC. $30 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.4 billion; Market cap: $192.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is the world’s largest maker of prescription drugs....

AT&T INC., $35.32, New York symbol T, has agreed to buy DirecTV (Nasdaq symbol DTV), which has 20.3 million satellite TV customers in the U.S. and 18.1 million in Latin America. DirecTV also owns regional sports networks and other cable channels. The company will pay $48.5 billion (70% stock and 30% cash). If you include DirecTV’s debt, the deal is worth $67.1 billion. To put that in context, AT&T’s market cap (the value of all outstanding shares) is $183.5 billion. AT&T expects to close the deal in mid-2015. At that time, DirecTV shareholders will own roughly 15% of the combined company....

PFIZER INC. $30 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.4 billion; Market cap: $192.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is the world’s largest maker of prescription drugs. Its main brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis), Viagra (erectile dysfunction) and Prevnar (a pneumonia vaccine).

Pfizer also makes popular over the-counter drugs, including Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup).

These acquisitions tend to cut risk

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