Updating C.R. BARD INC., GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. and MOODY’S CORP.

Article Excerpt

C.R. BARD INC. $91 (www.crbard.com) aims to improve its efficiency by closing plants and cutting jobs. These moves will cost the medical-device maker $20 million. To put this in context, Bard earned $135.9 million, or $1.43 a share, in its latest quarter. As well, the company plans to borrow $750 million and use the cash to buy back shares. That’s equal to 9% of its market cap. Buy. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $17 (www.ge.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 16.7%, to $0.14 a share from $0.12. The new annual rate of $0.56 yields 3.3%. Buy. MOODY’S CORP. $27 (www.moodys.com) paid $151.4 million for CSI Global Education Inc., the exclusive provider of the Canadian Securities Course, which Canadian stockbrokers must complete before they receive their licenses. The price is equal to 1.1 times the $136.0 million, or $0.58 a share, that Moody’s earned in the three months ended September 30, 2010. Buy. Buy…