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With the U.S. economic landscape becoming more uncertain, it's prudent to add a defensive stock or two to your portfolio, and with the aforementioned in mind Avery Dennison is worth an evaluation.

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) is the leading global manufacturer of pressure-sensitive technology and self-adhesive solutions for consumer products and label systems, including office/school products, product identification and control systems, and specialty tapes and chemicals.

Analysts like AVY's office products/school products division, with a better-than-expected season seen for 2008. Further, AVY's international business is likely to continue to growth at a healthy rate in 2008-2009, on solid revenue gains in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The Reuters FY 2008/FY 2009 EPS consensus estimates for AVY are $4.27 to $4.83.

The earnings crunch continues to roll along, and here are a some highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) beat expectations and raised its full-year guidance.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) beat estimates by a penny and offered a poor outlook.
• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) delivered a positive surprise, with profits up 10%.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) beat estimates, but revenue was flat.
• Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD) beat expectations on strength of international sales and partner brands.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) blew past expectations. See our conference call live blog.
• Avery Dennison Corp.'s (NYSE: AVY) net sales up, EPS down, both due to the Paxar acquisition.
• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) beat expectations, but wariness about its growth potential lingers.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) beat expectations but lowered its guidance.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) beat expectations on the strength of Plavix sales.
• CNH Global's (NYSE: CNH) profit nearly doubled, beating estimates by 15%.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) beat estimates by a penny, but offered a conservative outlook for the holidays.
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) met EPS expectations but cut its cash flow forecast.
• Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) reported a $1.2 billion loss, but predicts a profit in the next quarter.

Label maker and retail information specialist Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) touted its recent $1.34 billion acquisition of Paxar as an example of competitive synergies and cost-saving efficiencies. Well, that remains to be seen. Avery Dennison used its Paxar acquisition, and related costs of integration, to explain just about everything in its recent 3Q 2007 earnings release.

Net sales increased 19% to $1.68 billion, the entire increase due to Paxar acquisition. EPS would have been $0.99 except for costs related to Paxar acquisition. So EPS was actually $0.58. Avery will eventually realize $115-$125 million in cost savings from Paxar acquisition but hasn't realized anything yet. CEO Dean Scarborough stated Avery Dennison is trying to "find operational efficiencies" and is "on track to achieve targeted cost synergies," but can't find the efficiencies just yet and apparently missed the synergistic target due to the fact that the company is "experiencing some current headwinds." Wonder if his speech writer gets paid by the cliche?

Avery Dennison used some creative financing to acquire Paxar and needs to show some bang for its billion bucks, soon. In the pressure-sensitive label segment, sales were up 5%, but organic growth accounted for just 1%. In the retail information services segment, Avery posted 136% sales increase, 135% of which was due to Paxar acquisition and 1% due to organic growth. The office and consumer products segment reported a 5% decline in sales. CEO Scarborough blamed the decline on a slow back-to-school season, whatever that might mean.

Investors should not look for clarity in next quarter's earnings reports either. The company is already hedging its FY 2007 to exclude Paxar integration costs. The stock closed on Oct. 24 at $57.95, down $1.35.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage

Getting and keeping brand recognition is a critical part of any business endeavor. There is an outfit in Atlanta that ranks among the best in achieving those goals. The company's product list is one of the best recognized anywhere.

Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE: NWL) manufactures and distributes a wide variety of consumer and commercial products. Offerings include a long list of well-known home and office brands, including Levolor blinds, Lenox hand tools, Sharpie pens, Rolodex record holders, Amerock cabinet hardware, DYMO label makers, Graco children's products and Rubbermaid items. Competitors include Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY) and Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO).

The firm pleased investors earlier in the week, when it raised Q3 guidance. Management now sees EPS of 48-50 cents (45 cent consensus) and revenue growth near the high end of the previously estimated 5-7% range. Strength in the Home & Family and Tools & Hardware segments were cited in support of the adjustment. The company also boosted Y07 EPS guidance to $1.74-1.78 ($1.76 consensus).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CheckFree (CKFR), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) and Avery Dennison (AVY) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Suntrust downgraded CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) to Neutral from Buy based on the Fiserv (FISV) acquisition.

• Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy List.

• Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.

• Jefferies, RBC Capital, Piper Jaffray, Friedman Billings and Credit Suisse downgraded Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Underperform based on liquidity concerns.

• Matrix cut Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY) to Sell from Hold, and said Avery is being affected by the growing price competition in North America and Europe for self-adhesive labels and tabs...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Merrill downgraded Westwood One (NYSE: WON) to Sell from Neutral.

• Morgan Keegan downgraded Haverty Furniture (NYSE: HVT) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Hambrecht cut Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Hold from Buy.

• Raymond James downgraded Domtar (NYSE: UFS) to Outperform from Strong Buy.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) makes products every office, large or small, everywhere in the world uses. Its acquisition of Paxar in June has expanded Avery's market share and geographic reach. Cost savings from the acquisition were recently revised to be bigger than expected, $115-$125 million, and materialize sooner. The stock has a P/E ratio below its industry average while the company's EPS is 500% (not a typo) above industry average. Additionally, the stock has fallen more than 10% in price since opening the year at $68.08, so might be considered undervalued at its present price of $59.72.

In late July, Avery Dennison released 2Q 2007 earnings which, though filled with hedges regarding the final costs of acquiring and integrating Paxar, present a very positive current outlook that is forecast to improve even more in 2008. Despite the fact that net income for 2Q declined, net sales increased 8% to $1.52 billion through both acquisition and organic growth. Adjusted EPS was up 3%, but this figure excludes the impact of Paxar that equates to acquisition charges of $0.15 per share thus far. Avery's pressure-sensitive label division increased sales by 8.6% to $879 million, while the retail brand ID division increased sales almost 21% to $219 million, due primarily to the Paxar acquisition. Non-label office products division showed a 1% decline in sales in $263 million.

The fluctuations throughout the company are due to restructuring and reorganizing necessary to integrate Paxar. Thus has caused Avery Dennison CEO Dean Scarborough to revise FY 2007 guidance downwards slightly from EPS in the $4.05-$4.30 range to EPS in the $3.90-$4.10 range. Management still forecasts revenue growth to be in the double digit range, including the bump in revenue from Paxar.

Label maker and brand ID company Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) posted good 1Q 2007 earnings on April 24. Net income for the quarter was up by just over $10 million to $79.2 million or EPS $0.80 compared to EPS $0.68 in 1Q 2006. Net sales were up 3.9% to $1.39 billion. Only part of this sales growth is due to acquisition. The rest is due to organic growth, always a good sign. Avery Dennison returned these good numbers despite a price increase during the quarter that pushed companies to stock up in 4Q 2006.

According to CEO Dean Scarborough, Avery Dennison is still in the midst of a restructuring project which will eventually result in substantial cost savings. Management estimates total savings of over $40 million in FY 2007 alone. In quarters to come, Avery Dennison will see growth via the completion of its acquisition of brand identification company Paxar. The US government's anti-trust unit gave permission for the acquisition to move forward on 20 April. Paxar shareholders are expected to vote in favor of the acquisition during their summer meeting.

In the meantime Avery Dennison is putting up good sales numbers, up 9.2% to $860 million in its pressure-sensitive materials division. Much of this growth came from the company's international markets. This increase helped offset a 10.6% decline to $214 million in its office and consumer products division, with a softening of the North America market and January 2007 price increases. Retail information services increased 1.6% to 156 million. Half of this increase came from organic growth, and half by acquisition. Excluding the Paxar acquisition, Avery Dennison is on track to post FY revenue growth numbers between 2-5%, or FY EPS of $3.95-4.25. The stock closed at $65.91, up $0.27 on 11 June 2007.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: PennantPark (PNNT), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and several insurance companies were today's noteworthy initiations:

• PennantPark Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: PNNT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $17 target at Jefferies. The finds shares compelling given the potential dividend growth and book multiple expansion. PennantPark was also initiated at Keefe Bruyette with an Outperform rating and $18 target, at Banc of America with a Buy rating and $16 target and at Friedman Billings with an Outperform rating and $17 target.
• Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was initiated at Bear Stearns with a Peer Perform rating and at Cathay Financial with an Outperform rating.
• Banc of America initiated RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) with a Buy rating and Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: MRH) and IPC Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: IPCR) with Neutral ratings.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was initiated with a Hold rating and $24 target at Soleil.
• Robert W. Baird initiated Avery Dennison Corp. (NYSE: AVY) with an Outperform rating.
• Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) was initiated with a Buy rating and $58 target at Citigroup.
• Nollenberger initiated Lakes Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: LACO), MTR Gaming (NASDAQ: MNTG) and Full House Resorts (NYSE: FLL) with Buy ratings and Monarch Casino (NASDAQ: MCRI) with a Neutral rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

On 22 March, brand identification company Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY) announced plans to acquire Paxar Corporation for $1.34 billion, approximately $30.50 per share. This price represents a 27% premium over Paxar's close at $24.03 on the day the proposed acquisition was announced. Paxar Corporation (NYSE: PXR) recently announced it has delayed its annual meeting from 3 May to some time in either June or July in order to allow more time for its board to consider Avery's offer.

Anyone who has ever run address labels through a printer is familiar with Avery Dennison. But the company is more than just a label maker. Its Retail Information Services (RIS) division provides supply chain solutions, data management systems, as well as shipping and tracking. Currently, Avery is a $5 billion a year company. It has operations in 49 countries. Paxar is also a supply chain management company, primarily to the retail and apparel industries worldwide, particularly in Europe. The proposed acquisition of Paxar by Avery Dennison will lead, according to Avery's board, to $90-100 million in cost savings. Before that can happen, however, Avery predicts integration costs in excess of $125 million, primarily to merge the two IT systems. Avery management claims the acquisition will generate lower production costs, higher quality, and quicker delivery. I guess we wait until the summer to find out the next step.

Avery Dennison closed yesterday at $64.07, down $0.20. Paxar stock closed yesterday at $28.65, up $0.03 for the day.