wall street

Beam Inc., $63.21, symbol BEAM on New York (Shares outstanding: 157.6 million; Market cap: $10.0 billion; www.beamglobal.com), is the successor to consumer conglomerate Fortune Brands, Inc. following the spinoff of that company’s home and security business in October 2011. Fortune Brands shareholders received one share of Fortune Brands Home & Security (New York symbol FBHS) for each Fortune Brands share they held. In addition, Fortune Brands sold its Acushnet golf business (maker of the Titleist and Footjoy brands) to a group led by Fila Korea, Ltd. and Mirae Private Equity. Fortune Brands then changed its name to Beam Inc. The company now mainly produces and distributes spirits. It is the world’s fourth-largest premium spirits company, and the biggest in the U.S. Its brands include Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark (bourbon), Courvoisier cognac, Canadian Club whisky, Teacher’s Scotch Whisky, DeKuyper Cordials, Sauza tequila and Skinnygirl cocktails....

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. (New York symbol SWK; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools for consumers. Its top-selling brands include Stanley, Black & Decker, FatMax and Powerlock. This business supplied 51% of Stanley’s 2011 sales and 46% of its earnings. The company’s building-security division makes locks, automatic doors and gates. It also monitors properties for its clients, typically through closed-circuit audio and TV systems. This division accounts for 25% of Stanley’s sales and 27% of its earnings....

GOOGLE INC., $580.07, Nasdaq symbol GOOG, will soon launch the Nexus 7, a new tablet computer that features a 7-inch touch-screen display and the latest version of the company’s Android operating system for mobile devices. The new tablet will cost $199. That should help Google complete with similar-sized tablets, including Amazon.com’s popular Kindle Fire. (Amazon.com is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investing.) Google will also launch the Nexus Q, a ball-shaped device that lets users stream music and video from the Internet to a TV set or stereo system. This device will cost $299....

MICROSOFT CORP., $30.70, Nasdaq symbol MSFT, plans to launch a new tablet computer, called the Surface, powered by its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. The company will make two versions of the Surface, both of which will feature a 10.6-inch touch-screen display and a protective cover with a built-in keyboard. The first version will cost about the same as similar tablets. The second, more expensive model will run Microsoft’s Office suite of business programs and will cost about the same as a lightweight laptop computer. The company did not say when it would start selling these devices, but it will probably launch the cheaper model this fall, before the Christmas shopping season....

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC., $63.31, New York symbol SWK, is considering selling its consumer-hardware and home-improvement operations. These businesses make bath fixtures and other home accessories under brands such as Baldwin, Kwikset and Price Pfister. Stanley acquired these operations as part of its merger with rival toolmaker Black & Decker Corp. in March 2010. The company could receive $1.5 billion from these sales. That’s equal to 14% of its $10.8-billion market cap. Stanley will probably use the cash to add to its lineup of industrial tools and security devices, including locks, automatic doors and gates....

Canadian Helicopters Group, $29.89, symbol CHL.A on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 12.7 million; Market cap: $379.6 million; www.chc.ca), provides helicopter transportation services to clients in a broad range of industries, including infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, mining, forestry, construction and emergency medical services. The company also supports military operations in Afghanistan. In July 2011, Canadian Helicopters completed its $127-million purchase of HNZ, which is New Zealand’s largest helicopter owner. The purchase brought Canadian Helicopters’ fleet up to 155 helicopters. The company operates from 35 bases across Canada, plus two in Afghanistan. HNZ also added operations in New Zealand, Australia, Cambodia and Laos....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week we respond to a question from an Inner Circle member asking about one of the Canadian stocks with important interests in a nation that has been living through a period of upheaval, Libya. Pat notes that this infrastructure and engineering specialist also does a lot of business in North America, and assesses its outlook. ...

SARA LEE CORP., $20.13, New York symbol SLE, will break itself into two publicly traded companies on June 28, 2012. Under this plan, Sara Lee will hand out shares of one of these new companies, D.E. Master Blenders 1753 N.V., to its own shareholders. D.E. Master Blenders will consist of Sara Lee’s international coffee and tea businesses. It will be based in the Netherlands, and its shares will trade on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange under the DE symbol. Investors will receive one share of D.E. Master Blenders for each Sara Lee common share they hold. This is a tax-deferred distribution, so investors will only be liable for capital-gains taxes on their new shares when they sell them. Shareholders will also receive a special cash dividend of $3.00 a share....

McKesson Corp., $86.99, symbol MCK on New York (Shares outstanding: 235.4 million; Market cap: $20.5 billion; www.mckesson.com), has long been a company with very high sales and yet low earnings. That’s mainly because its main business, drug distribution, is an inherently low-profit-margin activity. McKesson is a recommendation of our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. The company is the largest wholesale drug distributor in the U.S. and Canada. It also owns 49% of Mexico’s largest drug distributor. McKesson’s customers include 40,000 pharmacies, as well as doctor’s offices, hospitals and clinics. The company also supplies surgical tools and health and beauty products...

DIAGEO PLC ADRs, $93.40, New York symbol DEO, is the world’s largest premium alcoholic beverage company. Its major brands include Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch whisky, Captain Morgan rum and Bailey’s Irish Cream. This week, Diageo agreed to buy the rights to Ypioca, a popular brand of cachaca in Brazil. Cachaca is a liquor that is made from sugar-cane juice. Diageo is paying roughly 300 million British pounds for this business (1 British pound = $1.60 Canadian). To put that in context, the company earned 953 million pounds, or 1.53 pounds per ADR, in the six months ended December 31, 2011. (Each American Depositary Receipt represents four Diageo common shares.)...