FOREIGN VALUE: Unilever
Market cap: $17.2 billion
P/E ratio: 10
Earnings growth: 8%
Dividend yield: 3.9%
With brands like Dove, Lipton's, and Ben & Jerry's, this consumer staples company makes products that are a "soothing balm" in tough economic times, writes Charles Stanley analyst Jeremy Batstone-Carr. As a result, the company's first-quarter results were better than analysts had expected, in part because operating margins and pricing held up.
The company is slashing costs in developed markets like the U.S. and Western Europe while dedicating more resources to emerging markets, where there is more potential for faster growth when the world economic picture stabilizes.
--K.B.
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Unilever
Last updated June 11 2009: 10:27 AM ET
Criteria include low price/earnings and price/book ratios relative to competitors, rising profit margins, and accelerating earnings growth. All data related to stock price as of June 1, 2009. P/E ratios based on the previous 12 months' reported earnings. Earnings growth based on Wall Street estimates for the next three to five years.
