Gosh another medical/science stock! This group continues to show up on our screens. The rest of the market is certainly acting tired as it seems to want to digest the gains of the past 6 months.
Exponent, Inc. (EXPO) is having a great day today. They released their earnings yesterday after the market closed and today the stock is on fire! As I write, EXPO is trading at $20.04, up $3.34 or 19.99%. YOWSERS. I do not own any shares of this stock.
According to money.cnn.com, EXPO "...is a multidisciplinary organization of scientists, physicians, engineers, and business consultants performing scientific research and analysis in over fifty technical disciplines." This sounds a bit like our other picks PPDI, and SFCC.
On October 20, 2003, (yesterday), EXPO released their third quarter results. As reported by PRNewswire-FirstCall on Yahoo, revenues were $35,657,000 up 15% from $30,962,000 last year. Net income increased by 35% to $2.8 million or $.36/diluted share vs $2.1 million or $.28/diluted share in 2002.
Checking Morningstar.com, my favorite site, EXPO shows nice, steady revenue growth from $80.4 million in 1998, $93.3 million in 1999, $113.0 million in 2000, $114.5 million in 2001, $126.1 million in 2002 and extrapolating the current quarter would get us somewhere near $140 million in revenue for this year.
Since 1998, earnings/share have grown from $.51/share to $1.16/share in the last twelve months. No dividends are paid.
Free cash flow, while a bit erratic, has remained positive the last few years. As Morningstar reports, $12 million in 2000, $3 million in 2001, $14 million in 2002, and $12 million in the trailing twelve months.
Looking at the reported balance sheet finds EXPO fairly flush with cash with $26.1 million in cash and $43.9 million in other current assets vs. only $18.2 million in current liabilities and only $2.0 million in long-term liabilities.
This is a small company with a market cap of $143.96 million. Now get this, the trailing p/e is 13.47, the PEG ratio is 1.14, and Price/sales is 0.85. YAHOO!...that is the website! These are really great numbers...you see I am typing them up as I am reviewing them for the first time...you know this is a LOW BUDGET operation!
There are only 7.18 million shares outstanding and 6.10 million of them that float. Only 5,000 shares are out short.
O.K., bottom line, I LOVE THIS STOCK. Well if I love it so much maybe I should marry it? At least BUY a few shares. Hmmm...will have to look at my trading account. Why is this nice-looking to me? Consistent growth in earnings, revenue, positive cash flow, great balance sheet, nice earnings report, recent upgrade by analyst, low p/e, great PEG ratio, and cheap price/sales. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU WANT? Anyhow, sorry about the shouting.
Hey have a GREAT Tuesday everyone! If you buy one of these stocks, remember you are on your own, but I always suggest an 8% stop to prevent losses from piling up and consider selling some shares if your investments advance quickly.
If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, you can leave them right here on the website....when will SOMEBODY leave a message???....or you can email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Regards!
Bob