Did you hear about the latest buy-one-get-one-free deal on Wall Street? With many of America's biggest companies reporting earnings this week, you easily could have missed the announcement.

On Monday, Oct. 24, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) told investors of its intention to spin off a pair of businesses into a separate company. The streamlining is expected to help both the Medtronic that remains and the tentatively named NewCo grow faster than they currently can as a combined entity.

Of course, investors who buy shares of Medtronic now will most likely end up with shares of a slightly smaller Medtronic next year plus shares of the new company. Does this 2-for-1 deal make Medtronic a good stock to buy now? To answer we'll have to weigh reasons to buy the stock now against reasons to avoid it.

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Source Fool.com