wall street

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $139.67, New York symbol IBM, reported better-than-expected earnings this week, thanks to rising demand for its mainframe computers, software and computer services. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, IBM’s earnings rose 11.7%, to $3.6 billion from $3.2 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 17.5%, to $2.82 from $2.40, on fewer shares outstanding. The latest earnings beat the consensus earnings estimate of $2.76 a share. Revenue rose 3.0% in the quarter, to $24.3 billion from $23.6 billion. That was just above the consensus revenue estimate of $24.2 billion. IBM gets about two-thirds of its revenue from overseas customers. If you exclude the negative impact of currency exchange rates, revenue would have risen 4%....

Honeywell International Inc., $46.54, symbol HON on New York (Shares outstanding: 772.2 million; Market cap: $35.9 billion), is a diversified technology and manufacturing company. It has operations in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Honeywell has four main divisions: The automation and control division, which supplied 41% of Honeywell’s 2009 revenue, makes sensors, controls and security systems for homes and businesses....

High-quality foreign stocks are a great way to diversify your portfolio. Moreover, many fast-growing markets, like China and India, have positive outlooks. That’s because their people are generally younger than North Americans, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class. Even so, world stock market investing remains riskier than investing in North America. That’s because many emerging countries have language barriers, weak investor-protection laws, less commitment to openness, fairness and so on. Here are 3 simple ways to tap into world stock market profits at lower risk:...

Consumer stocks tend to add stability to a portfolio. That’s because these stock market investments sell items, like food, that consumers must buy, regardless of the direction of the economy. The best consumer stocks have built brands that have strong customer loyalty and produce steady, predictable revenue streams. Many consumer stocks deeply cut their costs during the recession. This has helped them in the economic recovery, by freeing up cash for expanding, upgrading or raising their dividends. In the a just-published issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stock market investments, we’ve upgraded our buy/sell/hold advice on a consumer stock that has been aggressively cutting its costs and putting the savings to good use (including a big dividend increase): food processor Del Monte Foods Co. (symbol DLM on New York)....

Some investors have told us that they are pessimistic about the stock market because of lots of insider selling in the U.S. blue chip stocks they hold. The value of insider buying and selling as a market indicator seems self-evident. After all, company insiders — officers, directors, or owners of 10% or more of a company’s stock — are apt to know more than outsiders do about what’s going on in their businesses.

Insider trading: Not the conclusive indicator that many investors think it is

...

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on successful investing, including how to spot the best bargain stocks for your portfolio. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Spinoffs can bring two-way benefits, to the parent and the spun off division.” In a spinoff, a company sets up part of its operations as a separate public company, then hands shares in this company over to shareholders, or gives them a chance to buy these bargain stocks cheaply. Often, the spun off business and the parent both gain. Here’s why:...

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN, $154.99, Toronto symbol POT, continues to trade above the $130.00 U.S.-a-share hostile takeover offer from BHP Billiton Ltd. (New York symbol BHP). BHP is a recommendation of our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Based on today’s exchange rate, Potash Corp. shares trade at 13.2% more than BHP’s offer. That suggests investors expect a higher bid. However, because of Potash’s $45.5-billion market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares), there are only a handful other companies that could afford to buy it. As well, the federal government would probably block an offer from a company controlled by a sovereign wealth fund. (Sovereign wealth funds are state-owned investment funds that are usually financed by an economic surplus. For example, China Investment Corp. is China’s sovereign wealth fund.) Moreover, BHP has little room to raise its offer. That’s because BHP’s shares also trade on the London Stock Exchange, which would require BHP to hold a special shareholders’ vote if the value of the deal is more than 25% of BHP’s market cap just prior to the takeover announcement. On this basis, BHP’s current offer represented 21% of its market cap....

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $39 (New York symbol TUP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 63.1 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.6%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) makes food and beverage containers. It gets 56% of its sales from overseas markets, compared to just 25% for Newell. However, expanding internationally can lead to unforeseen problems. For example, the stock fell 8% on July 19, 2010, even though Tupperware reported stronger quarterly earnings. That’s because of accounting errors at its Russian subsidiary. The company will upgrade the subsidiary’s accounting systems to prevent future problems. The errors cut Tupperware’s earnings by $0.14 in the latest quarter. If you exclude all unusual items, earnings per share would have risen 8.1%, to $0.93 from $0.86. Revenue rose 7.7%, to $565.1 million from $524.7 million, mainly on strong emerging-market demand....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Some of today’s best investments are in high tech. So are some of the worst.” Today’s fast-changing technology offers huge opportunities in technology stocks. However, fast change also brings danger....

Unilever plc (ADR), $26.10, symbol UL on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $33.5 billion), is one of the world’s largest makers and marketers of branded and packaged consumer goods. Asia and Africa account for 38% of its sales, followed by the Americas (32%) and western Europe (30%). Unilever operates through two divisions: Foods and Home and Personal Care. 1) The foods division manages brands in two groups: Savoury Dressings and Spreads, and Ice Cream and Beverages....