Johnson Controls: Hometown Dividends With A Splash Of UK Flavor

Introduction
I like diversified industrial companies; they remind me of the good old days of our forefathers when the stock market indexes were dominated by real companies producing things rather than services.
Many of the better ones have turned out to be incredible long term investments like 3M (NYSE: MMM), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), and General Electric (NYSE: GE).
I have long wanted to write about a company local to me and important to the Milwaukee economy, Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI).
Many readers may have become more familiar with the company after they announced a merger with Tyco (NYSE: TYC) that can be viewed as an "inversion" which the government has cracked down on harder and harder over the past few years.
Let's take a look at Johnson Controls, what they have been making in the land of bratwurst and cheese since 1885, and how the company will fare with or without Tyco.
Core Business
Many industrials that I have researched over the past few years have seen contractions in some or all of their end markets due to falling commodity prices with oil being the largest impact.
This is interesting because on the surface many of these segments appear to be tied to overall industrial production and economic growth rather than these specific commodities.
So you make nuts and bolts huh? $30 oil shouldn't matter to you right? Well it turns out Mr. Novice Investor, a lot of those nuts and bolts actually are used in the energy... Read more

Older articles featuring TYC: