EMERSON ELECTRIC CO Annual Report, Year Ended Sep 30, 2013

Emerson Electric Co.'s 2013 10-K filing reveals a diversified global technology and engineering company organized into five key business segments: Process Management, Industrial Automation, Network Power, Climate Technologies, and Commercial & Residential Solutions. The company generated consolidated sales of $24,669 million in fiscal year 2013, with Process Management being the largest segment at 34% of sales, followed by Network Power (24%) and Industrial Automation (19%). Geographically, North America accounted for 44% of sales, with Asia being a significant and growing market at 24%. The filing highlights the company's ongoing investment in research and development, with $576 million spent in 2013, and its strategy to compete on product performance, quality, service, and price. Emerson also actively manages its portfolio through acquisitions and divestitures, as noted by the planned divestiture of its embedded computing and power business. Investors can look to Emerson's forward-looking statements for fiscal year 2014, which anticipate underlying sales growth of 3-5%, driven by a mixed but improving global economic outlook. The company expects earnings per share to increase between 4-7% on an adjusted basis. A key point for investors is Emerson's commitment to returning capital to shareholders, as evidenced by its active share repurchase program, which saw the repurchase of over 10 million shares in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. The company operates in competitive markets but believes it holds leadership positions in many of its product lines.