Hello Friends! Thanks for stopping by. I saw this stock earlier today and as I listed in the previous post picked up 200 shares at $29.22. Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI) had a nice day today closing at $29.16 ($.06 below what I paid....so in case you would like to get in...I am not ahead of you!), up $3.40 on the day or 13.20%. The stock was up today, as are so many issues, on news of an earnings release that came out yesterday after the market closed.
As reported on Yahoo.com from PRNewswire-FirstCall, PPDI reported results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2003. Net revenue for the quarter excluding "reimbursed out-of-pockets" of $12.9 million was $166.6 million, an increase of 14% over the same quarter in 2002. Net income, excluding the gain on the sale of assets was $34.8 million, an increase of 25% over the same period last year. This worked out to $.41/share, a 24% increase over the 2002 3rd quarter results.
Looking at Morningstar.com, we find overall a very nice report: Revenue growth from $246.5 million in 1998 increased each year: $302.5 million in 1999, $372.7 million in 2000, $460.6 million in 2001, $608.7 million in 2002 and $681.4 million in the trailing twelve months.
Earnings per share have also increased each year: $.44 in 1998, $.57 in 1999, $.64 in 2000, $.94 in 2001, $.72 (oops the hiccup) in 2002, and $1.37 in the trailing twelve months.
Recently, free cash flow has been on the rise: $40 million in 2000, $59 million in 2001, $69 million in 2002, and $72 million in the trailing twelve months.
And how about the balance sheet? As reported on Morningstar.com, PPDI has $198.1 million in cash, $248.0 million in other current assets which is more than enough to cover the $212.5 million in current liabilities and the small $21.5 million in long-term debt.
PPDI has a market cap of $1.63 Billion per Yahoo. The trailing p/e is a very reasonable 18.80 with the forward p/e (looking at fye 31-Dec-04) is only 13.42. The PEG ratio is downright cheap at 0.79, and price/sales isn't too bad either at 2.11.
Yahoo reports that there are 55.92 million shares outstanding and 48.10 million of them that float. As of 9/8/03, there were 1.12 million shares out short representing 2.667 days of trading volume. Last month there were 1.58 million shares out short, so a third of the short sellers have "folded." No dividend is paid. The last stock-split was a 2:1 in May of 2001.
As you can tell, I like this stock a lot. In fact I like it SO MUCH that I BOUGHT 200 shares today :). I hope it was a good move. I sure think the stock looks great on multiple fronts: recent quarter solid, last 5 years solid revenue/earnings growth, increasing free cash flow last several years, clean balance sheet with current assets easily covering both current liabilities and long-term debt, p/e at reasonable level, with PEG ratio under 1.0. Price/sales not bad at 2.11. Anyhow, that's enough of my plug. I DO own some shares of this...and am now down 6 cents.
Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, please feel free to leave your messages right here on the BLOG or you can email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Bob