Hello Friends! We have had a bit of a dry spell the last few days as the market rotated into different types of stocks and indeed is absorbing its latest advances the last few months. We got into and out of HealthExtras (HLEX) probably before the stock purchase even settled! But rules are rules and sometimes I even follow them. But before YOU follow any ideas on this website, please check with your own financial advisor as I am not a financial advisor and do not know if any of these investments are suitable for you!
Watson Pharmaceuticals hit the 'best advances' list today on news of good earnings. Watson, according to money.cnn.com "...is engaged in the development, production, marketing and distribution of both branded and off-patent pharmaceutical products." Currently, as I write, Watson (WPI) is trading at $41.01 up $2.57 or 6.69%.
As reported today on CBS MarketWatch.com, Watson (WPI) announced third quarter results. They earned $51.5 million or $.47/share compared with $40.7 million or $.38/share in the 2002 third quarter. Revenues increased nicely to $358.8 million, a 17% increase from $307.9 million last year.
Looking at Morningstar.com, we find that Watson has been increasing revenue steadily from $0.6 billion in 1998, $0.7 billion in 1999, $0.8 billion in 2000, $1.1 billion in 2001, and $1.2 billion in 2002. In the trailing twelve months, they are at $1.3 billion in revenue.
Earnings have grown somewhat erratically from $1.22 in 1998 to $1.69 in trailing twelve months. Free cash flow has also improved last few years from ($76) million in 2000, $139 million in 2001, $220 million in 2002 and $207 million in trailing twelve months.
At first glance, as reported on Morningstar, Watson's balance sheet also looks healthy with $582.6 million in cash and $624.1 million in other current assets vs. $330.7 million in current liabilities and $882.7 million in long-term debt.
Looking at Yahoo.com for some basic statistics, we find that WPI has a market cap of $4.42 Billion, the trailing p/e is 24.23 with forward p/e of 18.30. PEG ratio is at 1.52, Price/sales at 3.11.
There are 107.73 million shares outstanding with 96.5 million of them that float. Currently, as of 10/3/03, there are 4.75 million shares out short (down from 5.69 million the prior month) representing 6.388 trading days. This would be quite a bit of buying in order to cover these pre-sold shares. No dividend is paid. The last stock split reported on Yahoo was in October, 1997, when a 2:1 split occurred.
Overall, I like Watson. It is not cheaply priced with a PEG at 1.52, but then again, it isn't too badly valued. The stock isn't growing rapidly but it has had a steady growth the last five years.
Something to think about! Thanks again for stopping by. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them right here on the website (let me know if you have problems doing that) or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Bob