Hello Friends! The market is trying to bounce back today after several down days. As I write, the Dow is trading at 10604.13 up 37.76, and the NASDAQ is at 2020.78, up 15.34 on the day. But you know how these indices can fade or soar in the last fifteen minutes of the day.
I came across this stock earlier today and it doesn't fit into our usual mold as this stock was a recent IPO...but the numbers look attractive to me. According to the money.cnn.com "snapshot", Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. (LPMA) "...is a developer and provider of electronic payment systems and solutions. The Company offers products such as land-line and wireless point-of-sale terminals, cash registers & retail automated teller machines." As I write, LPMA is trading at $44.98, up $4.11 on the day or 10.06%. I do not own any shares of this stock.
Looking for recent earnings, I found the fourth quarter 2003 earnings report which was released yesterday after the close of the market. It was this earnings report that stimulated the market to push the price of this equity higher. For the fourth quarter 2003, revenues were $36.9 million, a 49.6% increase over revenues of $24.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2002. Net income for the quarter was $9.6 million, or $.88/diluted share compared to $6.9 million or $.66/diluted share for the 2002 quarter.
Looking at the "5-Yr Restated" financials from Morningstar.com, we see that revenue has grown nicely from $16.5 million in 1998 to $85.5 million in the trailing twelve months. With over $36 million in revenue in the last quarter of 2003, the company, without even any additional growth, is performing at a $140 million/year revenue rate currently.
Earnings per share are not listed on Morningstar.com, but from the above earnings report, we can see that the company is experiencing strong earnings growth. Free cash flow has also been nice, improving from $1 million in 2000, to $17 million in 2002. The balance sheet, as listed on Morningstar.com, shows $36.7 million in cash, with an additional $31.6 million in other current assets. This is balanced against $8.8 million in current liabilities, and only $3.8 million in long-term debt. This company has a nice balance sheet!
If we look at "Key Statistics" from Yahoo.com, we can see that the market cap is a moderate $570.64 million. The trailing p/e is beautiful at 17.72. No PEG is available as apparently no estimates are out there...this should change quickly! They do sell at a bit of a steep price/sales ratio of 4.95.
There are only 12.77 million shares outstanding and 7.10 million of those that float. No cash dividend is paid, and no stock dividend is reported on Yahoo.
I like this stock because of the dynamic record of revenue growth, the recent beautiful quarterly report, and nice valuation with perfect balance sheet. I am unsure about the company, as it is a recent IPO...and I would rather see more of a trading history. In any case, I am sitting on my proverbial hands avoiding any new purchases until I get to sell a portion of one of my holdings with a gain!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Please be sure to do your own due diligence and consult liberally with your own investment advisor. 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