W-L Announces Three-For-One Stock Split

The board of directors at Warner-Lambert has voted in favor of athree-for-one stock split of common stock, subject to shareholder approval, increasing the number of authorized common shares from 500 million to 1.2 billion. If approved, the split will take place on May 8, 1998, while shares will be distributed two weeks later.

Melvin Goodes, Warner-Lambert's chairman and chief executive, said that he fully expected the company's sales and earnings growth to continue well into the next century, and added that the stock split, the second in two years, "reflects our utmost confidence that our company's greatest days lie ahead."

Analyst Not Surprised Warner-Lambert stock has been one of the best in the drug sector, and especially now, thanks to the success of its new prescription drugs, claims David Saks of analysts Gruntal & Co, who told the Marketletter that "it didn't take a rocket scientist to know this was coming."