price to sales ratio

The rise in online shopping has weighed on the stock prices of these three retailers. But recent investments in their own online businesses, and their well-known brands, should pay off. Still, two of the three stocks could move lower in the short term.

MACY’S INC....

DIAGEO PLC ADRs $113 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 630.0 million; Market cap: $71.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.diageo.com) is the world’s largest premium alcoholic beverage company....

YUM! BRANDS INC. $88 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 399.0 million; Market cap: $35.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) is the world’s second-largest fast-food company by revenue, after McDonald’s....

These two leading software makers continue to aggressively expand their cloud computing operations. While each is enhancing its long-term prospects, we feel Symantec is the better choice right now.

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $98 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 499.0 million; Market cap: $48.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 9.2; No dividends paid since June 2005; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.adobe.com) continues to benefit from rising demand for its online subscription services, particularly the Creative Cloud package of photoediting and desktop-publishing programs....

NVIDIA CORP. $54 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 534.0 million; Market cap: $28.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nvidia .com) is a leading designer of 3D-capable video chips, which make video games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike....

BOEING CO. $135 (New York symbol BA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 637.0 million; Market cap: $86.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.boeing.com) won orders for 182 commercial passenger planes at the recent Farnborough Airshow in the U.K....

CONAGRA FOODS INC. $47 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 438.7 million; Market cap: $20.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) makes packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Reddi-wip whipped cream....

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $31 (Nasdaq symbol CSCO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.0 billion; Market cap: $155.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cisco.com) is a leading maker of hardware and software that links and manages computer networks....

STATE STREET CORP. $58 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 395.9 million; Market cap: $23.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to the operators of mutual funds and pension plans....

WELLS FARGO & CO. $49 (New York symbol WFC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 5.1 billion; Market cap: $249.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.wellsfargo.com) recently increased its quarterly dividend by 1.3%, to $0.38 a share from $0.375....