wall street

NCR’s growth strategy includes a restructuring plan due to cut annual costs by $105 million

DUN & BRADSTREET CORP., $125.84, New York symbol DNB, provides credit reports on over 230 million companies. Its clients use this information to make lending and buying decisions. In 2010, the company sold subsidiary Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. (DBCC) to private investors. DBCC sells credit reports and related services to small businesses in the U.S. and pays licensing fees to use the Dun & Bradstreet brand. DBCC’s new owners focused on developing products specifically for small businesses. Since the sale, DBCC has doubled its annual revenue to $135 million....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. Each week, we offer you a highlight from these Q&A sessions.

Q: Pat: What is your opinion of Unilever going forward? Thank you.

A: Unilever plc (ADR) (symbol UL on New York; www.unilever.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of consumer goods. Asia and Africa supply 43% of its sales, followed by the Americas (33%) and Europe (24%). The company gets 59% of its sales from emerging markets.

Unilever operates through four divisions:

• Personal Care (37% of sales) makes skin and hair care products, deodorants and oral care goods. Top brands include Dove and Lux (soap), Sunsilk (shampoo), Axe (deodorant), Pond’s (skin cream), Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and Close Up (toothpaste).

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Whenever IBM seems to lose momentum, it has the flexibility to adapt to fast-growing businesses, fortify its dividend and reward investors.

Unilever plc (ADR), $43.57, symbol UL on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $56.6 billion; www.unilever.com), is one of the world’s largest makers of consumer goods. Asia and Africa supply 43% of its sales, followed by the Americas (33%) and Europe (24%). The company gets 59% of its sales from emerging markets. Unilever operates through four divisions:

• Personal Care (37% of sales) makes skin and hair care products, deodorants and oral care goods. Top brands include Dove and Lux (soap), Sunsilk (shampoo), Axe (deodorant), Pond’s (skin cream), Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and Close Up (toothpaste).

• Foods (25%) makes a variety of packaged products, including Becel margarine, Knorr soups and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

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We believe most investors could benefit from holding some foreign investments in their portfolios for added diversification. Still, investing internationally remains riskier than investing in North America. With stocks markets around the globe, you may face language barriers, uncertain investor-protection laws, and in some cases a less pronounced commitment to openness, fairness and other qualities we tend to take for granted in established markets. One of the best ways to make it easier to profit on foreign markets is with American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). An American Depositary Receipt is an investment unit for foreign companies that trade on a U.S. stock market. These units can represent fractions of shares, whole shares, or multiple shares in the foreign company. ADRs can help you simplify your international investing by letting you buy foreign shares on U.S. exchanges without the complications of buying or selling on a foreign exchange, in a foreign currency....

APPLE INC., $128.95, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, sold 61.2 million iPhones in its latest quarter, up 39.9% from 43.7 million a year earlier. That’s largely due to strong demand in developing countries. For example, Apple sold more iPhones in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) than in the U.S. As a result, the company’s earnings jumped 32.7% in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended March 28, 2015, to $13.6 billion from $10.2 billion a year earlier. Per-share profits gained 40.4%, to $2.33 from $1.66, on fewer shares outstanding. That easily beat the consensus estimate of $2.17. Sales rose 27.1%, to $58.0 billion from $45.6 billion, also beating the consensus forecast of $56.1 billion....

Our U.S. Stock of the Year for 2014, Newell Rubbermaid is up 30% and continues to grow on smart restructuring and key acquisitions.

The most exciting news I heard this past week was Google’s announcement of the launch of its Google Fi project. Google Fi will offer cellphone/smartphone service that uses Wi-Fi networks whenever possible, chosen from a huge list of Wi-Fi hotspots around the U.S. When Wi-Fi is unavailable, it will switch users to one of two existing cell networks (T-Mobile or Sprint—whichever is stronger at the customer’s location). The company plans to add additional cell network alternatives as they become available. The service will initially cost $20 a month, plus $10 for each GB of data. That’s much cheaper than most cellphone plans. Moreover, the service will refund the pro-rata cost of unused data each month, which is unheard of in the cell industry. To top it off, Google Fi will offer service in more than 120 countries, at a far lower cost than you can get by using a U.S.-based cellphone. More important, it will be vastly more convenient for travelers than any current alternative....

With one big contract lost, cuts in energy spending and older-generation rigs, Hercules Offshore faces a sharp decline in earnings.