• The Wall Street Journal , Tuesday, October 28, 2008 10:49 AM

It's rare that I find a "Heard on the Street" that qualifies as a bona fide brand-marketing story, even though the items seem to have multiplied in the online Journal like a rumor at a convention of conspiracy theorists. Where once there was one item heard on the Wall Street beat a day, there now seem to be at least a half dozen from all sectors of the economy -- a testament, I suppose, to Murdochian ears-to-the-ground journalism around the globe. And to the expansiveness of the Internet over print.

In any event, today is one of those days when we are blessed with the convergence of brand and performance. "In times of crisis consumers value the names they know and trust," we are told, and Danone fits the bill. (Except for bottled water, but that's another story that goes way beyond Danone.) Witness Danone's experience in China, where the "melamine milk-contamination scandal has turned Chinese and other Asian consumers off the products of many of [its] competitors."

But don't go away thinking that stock prices should depend entirely on clever branding. Danone is an adept juggler of assets, too. Just look at its recent sale of Frucor, a New Zealand beverage business. It not only raised capital to trim debt taken on in the purchase of Dutch nutrition company Numico after Danone sold its cookie business, it also lessened the company's exposure in a "sluggish developed" market.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »