Lower costs should fuel their recovery

Article Excerpt

The shares of these two makers of household products are down sharply from their recent peaks in 2021 as consumers curtailed their spending on non-essential items. Both firms are now aggressively cutting costs, which sets them up for future gains. However, Stanley is the better pick right now. STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $91 remains a buy. The company (New York symbol SWK; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.2 million; Market cap: $13.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools. In 2022, Stanley announced a restructuring plan, including closing factories and shrinking the number of products it makes. The company expects to achieve $1.0 billion in annual cost savings from this plan by the end of 2023, rising to $2.0 billion by the end of 2025. Meantime, Stanley’s sales in the three months ended July 1, 2023, fell 5.3%, to $4.16 billion from $4.39 billion a year…