Q: please comment on the current results. This company has never seemed very attractive to me but it's results caused me to re-examine it.
5i Research Answer:
EBITDA was $38.6M, vs estimates of $23M (two estimates). Revenue was $348.5M, vs $346M estimated. EPS was 29c. Sales rose 13%; EBITDA rose more than 200%. Cash flow per share was 25c vs 11c year over year. We would indeed considered these solid results. Still, despite this, very little overall growth is expected next year (flat earnings). Analysts could be wrong, but it is a slow-growth sector, certainly. It is small, and has had problems in its past, and is not particularly cheap. We will give it kudos for the quarter, but considering the dividend has not changed in at least 10 years it is hard to get too excited here.