Updating MCCORMICK & CO. INC., DIAGEO PLC ADR, and APACHE CORP.

Article Excerpt

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $72 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 132.0 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) earned $78.6 million in its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended May 31, 2013. That’s down 2.2% from $80.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 1.7%, to $0.59 from $0.60, on fewer shares outstanding. If you disregard costs to integrate a Chinese maker of bouillon products that McCormick recently purchased, it would have earned $0.61 a share in the latest quarter. Sales rose 1.9%, to $1.0 billion from $984.0 million. Sales to consumers (59% of the total) rose 3.9%, mainly because the company launched successful new products and improved its marketing. It also raised its prices. However, sales to businesses (41% of the total) fell 0.9%, mainly due to fewer orders from fast-food restaurants in the U.S. McCormick is a buy. DIAGEO PLC ADRs $123 (New York…