Lesser-known spinoff has a bright future

Article Excerpt

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. $61 (New York symbol MSI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 276.0 million; Market cap: $16.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.motorolasolutions.com) makes specialized electronic equipment, such as bar-code scanners and radios for police and fire vehicles. It gets 69% of its revenue by selling its products to governments; the U.S. government is the company’s largest single customer, accounting for 7% of its overall revenue. Businesses supply the remaining 31% of Motorola Solutions’revenue. The company took its current form on January 4, 2011. That’s when Motorola Inc. spun off of its struggling cellphone business, Motorola Mobility, as a separate company. Following the transaction, the remaining operations became Motorola Solutions. Big gains as a stand-alone company If you assume the breakup took effect at the start of 2010, Motorola Solutions’ revenue rose 14.2%, from $7.6 billion in 2010 to $8.7 billion in 2012. Earnings soared 259.8%, from $244 million in…