united technologies
New York symbol UTX, has five main businesses: Carrier makes heating and air conditioning equipment; Otis makes and services elevators; Pratt & Whitney makes aircraft engines; Flight Systems makes helicopters and aircraft controls; and UTC Fire & Security provides security and fire protection services.
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $84 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 908.7 million; Market cap: $76.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.utc.com) has six main businesses: Pratt & Whitney makes aircraft engines (24% of 2010 revenue, 25% of profit); Otis makes and services elevators (21%, 32%); Carrier makes heating and air-conditioning equipment (21%, 14%); UTC Fire & Security sells burglar alarms and fire-protection services (12%, 9%); Sikorsky makes helicopters (12%, 8%); and Hamilton Sundstrand makes aircraft controls (10%, 12%). The U.S. government supplied 18.2% of United Technologies’ 2010 revenue, and is its biggest customer.
Top brands keep clients coming back
The company operates in cyclical industries. That adds to its risk. But it owns some of the top brands in its main markets, which helps it attract and retain customers. Moreover, many of its products, such as jet engines and elevators, need constant maintenance. The company now gets 40% of its revenue from ongoing sales of spare parts and services....
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....
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $162.43, New York symbol IBM, hit a new all-time high of $167.72 this week after the company confirmed its goal to double its earnings and add $20 billion to its annual sales of $100 billion by 2015. A big part of this growth will come from new technologies like “cloud computing” That’s where data and software are kept on one or more centralized servers. Users connect to these servers over the Internet through a variety of devices. IBM feels that cloud-computing services will generate annual revenue of $7 billion by 2015. The company’s strong reputation and new products will also help it expand in fast-growing markets, such as China, India and Brazil. By 2015, IBM feels these markets will supply 30% of its overall revenue....
SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $120.45 (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, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s Corp., Coca Cola, 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....
SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $112.30 (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, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp., 3M, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s Corp., Johnson & Johnson, 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....
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $74 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 923.4 million; Market cap: $68.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.3%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is buying the 51.1% of U.K.-based Clipper Windpower PLC that it doesn’t already own. Clipper makes turbines and other equipment for wind-power projects. Low natural-gas prices have cut the cost of producing electricity. As well, cash-strapped governments are cutting subsidies to wind producers. However, the Clipper acquisition will only cost United Technologies $112 million. To put this amount in context, the company earned $1.2 billion, or $1.30 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2010....
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $71 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 929.1 million; Market cap: $66.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.4%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is another example of a “GNP stock” with improving growth prospects. Investors think of United Technologies as a GNP stock because of its diverse operations. It has six divisions: Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines; Otis elevators; Carrier heating and air conditioning equipment; Sikorsky helicopters; Hamilton Sundstrand aircraft controls; and UTC Fire & Security, which provides building-security and fire-protection services. Like GE and 3M, United Technologies laid off workers and closed plants during the recession. It expects these cost cuts to save it $860 million a year by 2012....