Earnings up, prices down
By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 6/1/2000
As we near the conclusion of quarterly earnings reporting season, we are pleased to report that average EPS for the 21 publicly traded industrial distributors we track was up seven percent over the same quarter last year.
What's more impressive, the 13 companies with analyst estimates published on First Call exceeded projections by an average of 13 percent. Six of the 13 surpassed consensus estimates for their most recent quarter end-Applied Industrial Technologies, Fastenal, Genuine Parts, Grainger, Kaman, and WESCO. Airgas, Hughes Supply, JLK, and MSC Industrial Direct performed in line with expectations. Industrial Distribution Group, Pentacon and Strategic Distribution were short of Wall Street's consensus.
Industrial distributor sales growth continues to benefit from a strong macro-economic environment in most industrial and construction end markets, despite higher borrowing costs, a tight labor market, and rising transportation charges (fuel prices).
Year-to-date, the average stock price of the ID/Baird average is down 3.4 percent. However, we note that five stocks have posted double-digit year-to-date appreciation-Fastenal, up 47 percent; MSC Industrial Direct, up 15 percent; Strategic Distribution, up 46 percent; Sunsource, up 13 percent; and WESCO International, up 13 percent. As investor concerns mount regarding the volatility in technology stocks, we anticipate an inflow of funds into high-quality industrial growth stocks possessing strong balance sheets and emerging Internet initiatives, such as Fastenal, Grainger and MSC.
Jeffrey Germanotta is senior vice president of equity research at R.W. Baird & Co., Milwaukee, Wis. He can be reached at (414) 765-3572 or e-mailed at jgermanotta@rwbaird.com.
Ticker 1Q00 Actual ($) 1Q99 Actual Changes ($) Change (%) 1Q00 Est. ($) Actual vs. Est. (%) APZ $0.40 $0.30 33% $0.35 14% ARG 0.15 0.09 67% 0.15 0% B 0.50 0.50 0% N/A N/A DXPE (0.02) 0.02 -200% N/A N/A FAST 0.53 0.41 29% 0.49 8% GPC 0.52 0.48 8% 0.50 4% GWW 0.44 0.60 -27% 0.43 2% HUG 0.49 0.45 9% 0.49 0% IDG 0.05 0.17 -71% 0.06 -17% JLK 0.26 0.26 0% 0.26 0% KAMNA 0.36 0.30 20% 0.33 9% LAWS 0.64 0.50 28% N/A N/A MSM 0.20 0.22 -9% 0.20 0% NOLD 1.11 0.54 106% N/A N/A JIT (0.03) 0.10 -130% 0.02 -250% PFP N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A QUST 0.12 0.14 -14% N/A N/A SDP (0.18) 0.13 -238% N/A N/A STRD (0.09) 0.02 -550% (0.02) -350% WCC 0.19 0.07 171% 0.14 36% WHCP 0.25 0.23 9% N/A N/A Averages $0.29 $0.28 7% $0.26 13% |
Company 5/8 close Year change 52 wk. High/Low Applied Industrial Tech APZ 16.50 -0.8 19.06 14.31 Airgas ARG 5.56 -41.4 14.00 4.69 Barnes Group B 17.06 4.6 25.50 12.00 DXP Enterprises DXPE 1.50 -38.5 8.13 0.25 Fastenal FAST 66.06 47.0 66.88 34.00 Genuine Parts Co. GPC 25.94 4.5 35.75 19.94 Grainger (W W) GWW 44.06 -7.8 58.13 37.25 Hughes Supply HUG 17.00 -21.2 30.00 14.88 Industrial Distr Group IDG 2.50 -23.1 6.94 2.25 JLK Direct Distr. JLK 7.69 -25.5 11.69 6.88 Kaman Corp. KAMNA 10.25 -20.4 16.00 8.77 Lawson Products LAWS 23.75 2.7 28.06 20.50 MSC Industrial Direct MSM 15.25 15.1 20.19 7.50 Noland Co. NOLD 16.50 -7.7 21.75 12.69 Pentacon JIT 2.13 -32.0 6.00 1.63 Premier Farnell PFP 13.06 -5.9 16.50 7.00 Questron Technology QUST 7.06 9.7 12.63 2.75 Sunsource SDP 4.81 13.2 16.31 3.44 Strategic Distr. STRD 2.09 45.7 3.41 1.13 WESCO International WCC 10.00 12.7 22.88 5.50 DISTRIBUTION TECHNOLOGY Company 5/8 close Year change 52 wk. High/Low Datastream Systems DSTM 12.50 -49.1 47.50 7.13 Edwards J D & Co. JDEC 14.88 -50.2 48.31 12.00 Harbinger Corp. HRBC 16.19 -49.1 39.88 9.81 Prophet 21 PXXI 15.63 58.2 25.00 5.25 MANUFACTURERS Company 5/8 close Year change 52 wk. High/Low Baldor Electric BEZ 18.25 0.7 20.88 14.88 Black & Decker Corp. BDK 39.63 -24.2 64.63 29.75 Columbus Mckinnon CMCO 13.88 37.0 29.00 9.75 Cooper Industries CBE 33.44 -17.3 56.75 29.38 Danaher Corp. DHR 56.94 18.0 68.25 36.44 Dana Corp. DCN 29.69 -0.8 54.06 20.31 Emerson Electric Co. EMR 55.19 -3.8 71.44 40.50 Fairchild Corp. FA 5.94 -34.5 15.00 4.50 Federal-Mogul Corp. FMO 12.63 -37.3 55.63 12.19 Illinois Tool Works ITW 63.25 -6.4 82.00 51.06 Ingersoll-Rand Co. IR 46.63 -15.3 71.75 34.13 Kennametal Inc. KMT 27.69 -17.7 33.88 22.63 Makita Corp. MKTAY 8.63 0.0 12.38 7.88 Milacron MZ 16.94 10.2 24.50 12.06 3M MMM 87.31 -10.8 103.81 78.19 Parker-Hannifin Corp. PH 46.38 -9.6 54.00 33.94 Pentair PNR 40.13 4.2 49.44 31.25 Starrett (L.S.) Co. SCX 21.88 -2.5 31.00 20.25 Textron TXT 61.88 -19.3 97.81 51.00 Timken Co. TKR 20.81 1.8 25.81 13.50 |
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