If you prudently bottom-fished Black & Decker back in April, you're up a solid 35%.

BDK isn't as cheap as it was then, but given likely, increasing international demand, a chance for an out-sized gain is still possible, which is why I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK), first recommended on April 17, 2009 at a price of about $33.

Consumer products company Unilever (NYSE: UL) is embarking on a strong shift in focus and marketing in an attempt not to lose more ground to its main rival, Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG). Under CEO Patrick Cescau, Unilever is expanding forcefully into developing markets in India, Brazil, South Africa, and Vietnam, and doing so at the expense of its traditional markets in America and Europe, where sales grew 1% in 4Q 2006. He has cut the European workforce by 11%, and management by 30%, while bringing in more brand managers from the developing world. Unilever has done away with dozens of brands that were static in mature markets and inapplicable in developing markets.

Profit margins have only inched up in the past several years in mature markets where giant retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) exact price concessions even though commodities have increased in price. According to Deborah Ball (Wall Street Journal -- subscription required), Cescau is competing against P&G, whose profit margins at 22% are twice that of Unilever, and whose sales are growing twice as fast. Despite owning top-flight food brands such as Lipton tea, Hellman's mayonnaise, and the iconic Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Unilever is stuck in the #3 rank behind Nestle and Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT).

But Cescau has seen the writing on the wall. Unilever now derives more sales from developing markets than from its home-base in Europe. Almost $32 billion out of a total of $53 billion in 2006 sales came from developing markets. Cescau figures there are more than a billion potential consumers who need soap, deodorant, toothpaste, and packaged food, if these products can be produced in small enough units to be affordable to low-income consumers, 40,000 of whom use a washing machine for the first time each month in Asia.