"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...." Hmmm....maybe I can stir a bit before Santa drops by :). Remember, before you STIR your portfolio, please consult with your investment advisor as I AM an amateur investor and the things I discuss may or may not be appropriate investments for you!
As I was finishing up today, I came across Faro Technologies (FARO) and I think it is worth a word here on this site. FARO had a nice day today in the face of a declining market, closing at $23.90 up $1.77 or 8.00%. According to money.cnn.com, FARO "...designs, develops, markets & supports portable, software-driven, three dimensional measurement systems that are used in manufacturing and industrial applications."
Looking for their latest quarter results (do you see a pattern with my posts...I always look at the latest quarter before proceeding!), I found the third quarter 2003 results reported on October 29, 2003. Picked up by yahoo.com from PRNewswire-FirstCall, FARO reported sales of $19.2 million, a record and a 58.7% increase from the same quarter last year. Net income was $3.3 million or $.26/diluted share vs $72,000 or $.01/diluted share in 2002. (Excluding a $1.1 million gain from settlement of litigation, the results were still outstanding at $2.2 million or $.17/diluted share this year).
Looking at Morningstar.com, I found that FARO's revenue has grown from $27.5 million in 1998, $33.1 million in 1999, $40.9 million in 2000, $36.1 million in 2001 (a hiccup!), $46.2 million in 2002 and $56.9 million in the trailing twelve months.
Earnings/share have mostly been negative with ($.46) reported in 1998, improving to a loss of ($.17) in 2002 but a POSITIVE $.30/share reported in the trailing twelve months.
Free cash flow has not been quite as exciting but appears to be improving...$4 million in 2000, ($2) million in 2001, ($6) million in 2002, and ($2) million in trailing twelve months. I would prefer to see this cash flow a bit more positive...
The balance sheet is quite healthy. As reported on Morningstar.com, FARO has $5.2 million in cash and $26.9 million in other current assets as opposed to $11.2 million in current liabilities and only $1.0 million in long-term liabilities.
Looking at "Key Statistics" on Yahoo.com, we find that FARO has a market cap of $289.19 million. The trailing p/e is 43.14, but forward p/e (fye 31-Dec-04) is estimated at 29.12. Price/sales not cheap at 4.19.
FARO has 12.10 million shares outstanding with 8.00 million of them that float. There are 648,000 shares out short as of 11/10/03, representing a short ratio of 0.695...so not much short interest on this stock. No dividend is paid, and no stock split reported.
FARO is a nice investment with improving revenue and earnings and growing quite dramatically. The p/e is a bit rich as the stock is JUST turning profitable latest year. Also, the free cash flow has yet turned positive which would also be nice. This is a very nice company to consider...and we will keep watch on it right here! I do not own any shares of this stock and am not planning to purchase any in the near future!
Thanks again for stopping by! Have a GREAT CHRISTMAS and wishing you all a wonderful and healthy 2004. If you have any questions, comments, or words of encouragement, please feel free to post them right here or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com
Bob