DIAGEO PLC ADRs $57 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 624.9 million; Market cap: $35.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s largest premium alcoholic-beverage company. (Each American Depositary Receipt represents four Diageo common shares.) London-based Diageo owns some of the most dominant brands in the business, including Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch whiskies, Captain Morgan rum, Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, J&B scotch whisky and Tanqueray gin. Despite the recession, Diageo expects that its gross profit will still rise 4% to 6% in its latest fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009. However, that’s down from its earlier prediction of 7% to 9%. The stock trades at 13.7 times the company’s likely 2009 earnings of $4.17 per ADR. The $2.28 dividend yields 4.0%....

Food companies add stability to your portfolio. While they have to deal with changing costs and eating trends, they benefit from continuous, habitual buying by regular customers regardless of the overall economy. The recession has prompted more consumers to switch to cheaper, generic brands. But falling raw-material costs will let these six top food companies lower their prices, maintain their profit margins and keep paying above-average dividends. KRAFT FOODS INC. $26 (New York symbol KFT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $39 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s second-largest food company after Nestle. Top brands include Kraft (cheese), Maxwell House (coffee), Nabisco (biscuits and cookies) and Oscar Meyer (meats). Kraft faces strong competition from private-label foods, particularly in some of its main product lines, such as cheese, coffee and processed meats. But it has been helped by lower costs for a number of its raw materials, especially dairy products....

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $33 (New York symbol JPM; Income Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $125.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; WSSF Rating: Average) has bought back the $25 billion in preferred shares that it sold to the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) last year. The bank expects to record a $1.1-billion charge in the second quarter of 2009 in connection with the early repayment. (It earned $2.1 billion, or $0.40 a share, in the first quarter.) However, lowering government control improves Morgan’s prospects. J.P. Morgan Chase is a buy.

CHEVRON CORP. $66 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2 billion; Market cap: $132 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Above Average) has started pumping oil from its 52%-owned Frade offshore project near Brazil....

NCR CORP. $11 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 158.6 billion; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; WSSF Rating: Average) will spend $37.6 million to build a new automated teller machine (ATM) factory in Brazil. To put this cost in perspective, NCR lost $15 million, or $0.09 a share, in the first quarter of 2009. This investment will help NCR take advantage of growing demand for ATMs in Brazil, which is the world’s third-largest ATM market. This new plant will open in December, and help NCR expand its market share in other parts of South and Central America. NCR is a buy.

Toyota and Honda are facing challenges on two main fronts: both are seeing falling car sales, and both are dealing with the high Japanese yen, which has hurt the value of their North American and European sales. However, both stand to gain from the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler. They are also leaders in hybrid and other fuel-saving technologies. These factors should spur their long-term growth. TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $76 (New York symbol TM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $121.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s largest carmaker. Japan accounts for 47% of its revenue, followed by North America (24%), Europe (12%) and Asia (10%). In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, Toyota sold 7.6 million vehicles, down 15% from 8.9 million in the prior year. As a result of the drop, Toyota lost $4.3 billion, or $2.55 per ADR, in fiscal 2009. (Each American Depositary Receipt represents two of Toyota’s common shares.) It earned $17.5 billion, or $8.77 per ADR, a year earlier. Revenue fell 9.1%, to $203.3 billion from $223.6 billion....

FORD MOTOR CO. $5.64 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $18.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.1; WSSF Rating: Speculative) has rallied from $1.01 last November, partly on expectations that it stands to gain market share in the wake of the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. Ford is taking advantage of its higher stock price, and in May issued 300 million common shares at $4.75 each. The proceeds of $1.4 billion will help it meet its obligations to its retired employees’ health-care fund. Ford has the option of paying half with shares valued at around $2 each. But, issuing the shares now at $4.75 means Ford won’t have to issue issue more later. Ford is a hold.

CANON INC. ADRs $34 (New York symbol CAJ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $40.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; WSSF Rating: Above Average) earned $181.1 million, or $0.15 per ADR, in the three months ended March 31, 2009. (Each American Depositary Receipt represents one Canon common share). That’s down 83% from $1.1 billion, or $0.85 per ADR, a year earlier. Revenue fell 30.4%, to $7 billion from $10.1 billion. The recession has hurt business demand for new printers and copiers. Consumers are also buying fewer digital cameras. As well, the company gets 75% of its revenue from outside of Japan, so the higher yen weighed on its results. To conserve cash, Canon will cut this year’s research spending by 10%, to around $3.4 billion (Last year, Canon spent 9.1% of its revenue on research.) Despite the cut, Canon should continue to develop new printers and cameras. These will help the company maintain its high market share and fuel its sales when the economy recovers. Canon is a buy....

THE STANLEY WORKS $34 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 79.1 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; WSSF Rating: Average) makes hand and power tools for consumer and industrial users. Its top-selling brands include Stanley, FatMax and Powerlock. It mainly sells its tools through home-improvement retailers like Home Depot.

Security products cut Stanley’s risk

Stanley has spent $2.8 billion on acquisitions since 2002. We generally take a skeptical view of companies that fuel growth this way. But most of these purchases have cut Stanley’s reliance on tools. As a result, building-security operations, including automatic doors, gates and monitoring services, now supply 35% of Stanley’s sales and 45% of its earnings....

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $19 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 343.3 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; WSSF Rating: Average) gets 60% of its revenue from selling testing equipment, mainly to makers of cyclical consumer electronics, such as cellphones. The company is now working on ways to broaden its sources of revenue. For example, Agilent has teamed up with the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health and the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop testing equipment that will identify dangerous viruses, including H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu. Agilent’s automated system analyzes a virus’s genetic components “hundreds of times” faster than current methods. This will help public-health officials control future outbreaks....