Hello Friends! The so called 'Santa Claus Rally' is continuing today with both the Dow and the NASDAQ rallying nicely...at least as I write...hopefully forboding a good year for all of us investors. As always, please consult with your investment advisors before acting on any recommendations on this website!
I came across an interesting stock today....and almost bought some to bring us back to 25 positions...and then recalled my Resolutions for 2004...so will wait before buying anything until we peel off some shares of gainers and reduce our margin. Applied Films Corp. (AFCO) is having a great day today trading at $37.46 up $4.32 on the day as I write or 13.04%. According to money.cnn.com Applied Films "...designs, develops and supplies thin-film coated glass for use in liquid crystal displays and sells thin-film coating equipment to manufacturers."
On October 22, 2003, AFCO reported their first quarter 2004 earnings report. Net revenues were $47.7 million for the quarter compared with $25.1 million in the first quarter of 2003, a 90% increase. There ARE a lot of 'footnotes' but GAAP income/diluted share was $.19/share vs a loss of $(0.07)/share last year. You may want to review the whole story for yourself on this one as it is a bit confusing for an amateur like myself and I generally do not like to see qualifications on earnings results.
Morningstar.com shows a nice sequential growth picture with revenues increasing from $4.6 million in 1999, $7.1 million in 2000, $96.3 million in 2001, $137.1 million in 2002 and $154.2 million in 2003.
Earnings/share have been negative through 2002 with earnings turning positive at $.18/share in the last twelve months.
Also, on a less favorable note, free cash flow has been negative in 2002 and 2003 with $(3) million reported in 2002 and $(4) million reported in 2003.
Balance sheet is solid with $74.4 million in cash and $78.1 million in other current assets reported vs. $63.9 million in current liabilities and $13.7 million in long-term liabilities.
Looking at "key statistics" on Yahoo.com, we find that the Market cap is a small $546.32 million with a trailing p/e of 92.92, a forward p/e of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and price/sales of 2.78. Nothing too cheap here.
There are 14.70 million shares outstanding with 13.10 million of them that float. Currently, there are 771,000 shares out short representing only 5.88% of the float or 6.372 trading days of volume. I suspect some of those shares are scrambling to cover today! No dividend is paid, and no stock split is reported on Yahoo.
This is an interesting, fast-growing stock in an interesting area of flat-screen display technology. However, the p/e is a bit rich for me (the stock is JUST turning profitable...and at that with a bit of accounting maneuvering)...the company is cash flow negative which is also a negative for me. The stock deserves to be on our list as it is growing quickly and turning profitable...but I am not personally in a hurry to pick up shares!
Thanks again for stopping by! If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, please feel free to post them right here on the website or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Bob