January 27, 2004 Millipore (MIL)
Hello Friends! I am back at it...scanning the lists of movers and seeing if anything looks good. Millipore (MIL) made the list today on the NYSE and it appears to fit our requirements. Currently, MIL is trading, as I write, at $50.87, up $4.99 or 10.88% on the day.

According to the money.cnn.com description, MIL "...is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of products that are based on separations technology and that are used for the analysis, identification, monitoring and purification of liquids and gasses." By the way, I do not own any shares of this issue.

The stock move, like so many on our list, was caused by a favorable fourth quarter earnings report. MIL reported yesterday, after the close of trading, that their fourth quarter came in at $.53/share (after removal of adjustments) exceeding earnings estimates of $.48 and better than the $.41/share reported last year. During the quarter, sales rose 16% to $215.8 million from $185.9 million last year.

Reviewing the Morningstar.com report on Millipore, you will find that revenue has grown nicely from $522 million in 1998, $566 million in 1999, $600 million in 2000, $657 million in 2001, $704 million in 2002 and $745 million in the trailing twelve months. (Extrapolating the current quarter gets us over $850 million/year!).

Earnings/share have increased from $.22/share in an erratic fashion, to $1.70 in the trailing twelve months. The stock WAS paying a dividend at least through 2001, but no dividend reported on Morningstar since that time.

Free cash flow, also slightly erratic, was $49 million in 2000, down to $(10) million in 2001, back to $51 million in trailing twelve months. Much of this variance is due to the increasing capital spending and "Operating cash flow" has actually been improving fairly steadily.

The balance sheet, while not as exciting as some, is still well-balanced with $120.9 million in cash, almost enough to cover the entire current liabilities of $137.7 million. The company also has an additional $321.0 million in other current assets to help cover the long-term liabilities of $359.5 million.

The other place I like to check to get a sense of 'value' for a company is Yahoo key statistics in this case for MIL. There, you will see that the market cap is a large $2.46 billion with a trailing p/e not too bad ad 24.50, and a PEG of 1.61 and price/sales at 2.91.

There are 48.81 million shares outstanding with 48.30 million of them that float. Currently there are 1.13 million shares out short (as of 1/8/04) representing 2.34% of the float or 4.593 trading tdays. No dividend is currently paid and the last stock split was a 2:1 split on July 24, 1995.

Overall, this is an attractive stock with a p/e just over 20, and nice numbers. A bit calmer than some of our issues, this might be a nice addition to someone's portfolio! As for me, you know the old story, hang in there at 25 positions, and pay, pay, pay down the margin!

If you have any comments, questions, or words of encouragement, please feel free to post them right here on the website or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com As always, remember to do your due diligence before investing in anything, and consult with your investment advisor!

Bob