price to sales ratio

L BRANDS INC. $71 (New York symbol LB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 287.5 million; Market cap: $20.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.lb.com) owns lingerie chain Victoria’s Secret as well as Bath & Body Works stores....

NORDSTROM INC. $41 (New York symbol JWN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 173.4 million; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nordstrom.com) owns and operates 329 stores in the U.S....

MACY’S INC. $35 (New York symbol M, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 308.4 million; Market cap: $10.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.macysinc.com) operates 870 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores and sells goods online....

SYMANTEC CORP. $21 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 612.3 million; Market cap: $12.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) recently completed the sale of its Veritas Technologies subsidiary to the Carlyle Group (Nasdaq symbol CG)....

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....

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $312 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 92.5 million; Market cap: $28.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.sherwin-williams.com) recently agreed to acquire rival paint maker Valspar Corp....

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....

It pays to take a skeptical view of companies that use acquisitions to expand. Unforeseen problems with these new operations can limit expected profit increases. In extreme cases, multiple problems can force the buyer to write off the entire purchase.

Of course, some companies do succeed with growth by acquisition....

BCE INC. $62 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 868.6 million; Market cap: $53.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) sells landline telephone services in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces....

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $53 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 750.4 million; Market cap: $39.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) mainly sells information products to financial clients such as banks and brokerages....