What analysts are saying: Pentair's 'transformative deal'

Pentair announced last week that it will merge with a division of Tyco International in a $4.5 billion deal that will double the size of the water handling and flow control company. "For Pentair, this is a transformative deal," said Michael Wherley, an analyst with Janney Capital Markets in Philadelphia. "It changes the perception of the company, from a basically North American company tied to housing to a global industrial."

Graco Inc. moved a step closer to completing its previously announced $650 million acquisition of the finishing equipment businesses of Illinois Tool Works. The deal is expected to close this week after getting a ruling from the Federal Trade Commission that allowed Graco to "hold separate" the worldwide liquid-finishing equipment business. Bill Frels, a portfolio manager with St. Paul-based Mairs & Power Investments, believes Graco can improve margins on the ITW businesses. "If they bring the margins of this acquisition up to the average of the Graco company, it would be a significant potential boost to earnings," Frels said.

Best Buy said Thursday it's closing 50 stores in a cost-cutting move designed to save $800 million. Analysts were expecting the announcement but, judging by the stock's subsequent decline, they were hoping for deeper cuts. The move isn't an abandonment of its store strategy; Best Buy will still have more than 1,000 stores.

Instead the money saved will be used to reinvent the business model around smaller stores. Flora Delaney, a retail consultant and former Best Buy executive, told the Star Tribune: "They can't walk away from the brick-and-mortar business because it's so important to them."