Strong sales to hospitals spur Philips

Article Excerpt

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. ADRs $57 is a buy. The company (New York symbol PHG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 891.0 million; Market cap: $50.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.philips.com) makes industrial health-care products, including X-ray scanners and ultrasound systems, along with consumer goods such as electric shavers and electric toothbrushes. Philips’ sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, rose 3.6%, to 3.83 billion euros from 3.69 billion euros a year earlier (1 euro=$1.48 Canadian). If you exclude the contribution of new businesses and operations that the company has sold, its comparable sales rose 9%. That jump was mainly because COVID-19 continues to spur demand for patient monitors and ventilators to hospitals. Thanks to ongoing cost controls, overall earnings rose 100.0%, to 0.28 euro per ADR from 0.14. The company now expects its comparable sales will rise about 3.5% for all of 2021. The stock trades at a reasonable 25.0 times its…