Updating International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Visa Inc., and Boeing Co.

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $131 (www.iff.com) recently completed its acquisition of Frutarom, an Israeli firm that makes over 70,000 flavouring products for over 30,000 customers in 150 countries. About 75% of those products come from natural sources. If you include Frutarom’s debt, the deal is worth $7.1 billion. IFF expects eliminating overlapping operations will let it cut $145 million from its annual costs by the end of the third year. The shares now trade at 21.3 times IFF’s projected 2019 earnings of $6.14 a share. That’s a reasonable multiple in light of IFF’s merger-related savings and high share of its niche markets. Buy. VISA INC. $131 (www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network. It recently acquired a minority stake in BillDesk, a leading platform for online bill payments in India. The company has yet to reveal how much it paid for its BillDesk interests. However, its involvement will help that firm expand its share of India’s fast-growing electronic-payments market. Best Buy. BOEING CO. $320 (www.boeing.com) owns a majority…