The $1.4 billion growth fund, holding 44 companies, is packed with Minnesota names like multinational manufacturer 3M (MMM), food giant General Mills (GIS), medical-device makers Medtronic (MDT) and St. Jude Medical (STJ), discount retailer Target (TGT), industrial-filter producer Donaldson (DCI), nuts-and-bolts distributor Fastenal (FAST), paint-sprayer supplier Graco (GGG), and water-cleaning-equipment firm Pentair (PNR). "The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has one of the highest concentrations of large, multinational industrial and financial companies in the U.S.," Frels observes. "Local surveys claim that Minnesota public companies consistently have outperformed the general stock market, year after year, with the exception of the past two years."

3.00%

Focus List - Price 40.42 on April 29
by McAdams Wright Ragen

GGG's fundamentals continue to hold up well, even as it navigates the difficult U.S. housing market, which is weighing on the contractor-division results. 1Q revenues increased 3.4% [versus year-ago] to $204.1 million and EPS totaled 57 cents, versus 50 cents. Gains are mostly due to steady progress in European and Asian markets. GGG continues to accumulate debt to buy back stock. Maintaining our current earnings estimate of $2.55 a share and 52 [target]...equat[ing] to GGG stock trading at 14.2 times operating cash flow in 2009 or 18.5 times earnings. Market cap: $2.4 billion.

Rating on Graco (GGG) was cut to Sell, Goldman Sachs said. $32 price target. Stock has a lot of exposure to a US slowdown and lacks near-term catalysts.

Focus List - Price 33.63 on Jan. 29
by McAdams Wright Ragen

[Fluid-handling company] GGG reported 4Q and full-year 2007 results. Quarter sales totaled $205.2 million; earnings, 56 cents...improvements versus a year ago; FY earnings reached $2.32; revenues, $841.3 million. Revenues in the Americas remain under pressure from difficult housing market...Still, GGG has...produce[d] positive fundamental comparisons on the back of international sales strength, industrial customers, share repurchases, and foreign-currency benefits. We're trimming our '08 earnings estimate from $2.77 to $2.55...Target still 52, implying [that] Graco can trade at a slight premium to the broad market on earnings of about $2.80 sometime in the 2009 time frame. Market-cap: $2.2 billion.

BUY

Downgraded by CIBC from Sector Outperform to Sector Perform

A steady grower

12%

like the sector / niche

Droped $80 in 1 month