Here at The Motley Fool, I've long cautioned investors to keep a close eye on inventory levels. It's a part of my standard diligence when searching for the market's best stocks. I think a quarterly checkup can help you spot potential problems. For many companies, products that sit on the shelves too long can become big trouble. Stale inventory may be sold for lower prices, hurting profitability. In extreme cases, it may be written off completely and sent to the shredder.
Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Alliant Techsystems doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 5.4%, and inventory increased 21.9%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks potentially problematic. Revenue dropped 12.0%, and inventory grew 21.9%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue grew 9.2%, and inventory grew 3.9%.
Best Solar Companies To Buy For 2015: Micrel Incorporated(MCRL)
Micrel Incorporated, doing business as Micrel Semiconductor, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets high-performance analog power, mixed-signal, and digital integrated circuits (ICs) primarily in North America, Europe, and Asia. It offers power management products, including cloud, single-board, and enterprise servers; network switches and routers; storage area networks; and wireless base stations for the networking and communications infrastructure markets. The company also provides power management standard products for industrial, consumer, defense, and automotive electronics markets. In addition, it manufactures custom analog and mixed-signal circuits; and provides wafer foundry services for the customers who produce electronic systems for communications, consumer, and military applications. Further, the company offers general linear parts; power analog circuits; high speed physical media devices and interface ICs; and Ethernet products, which comprise physical l ayer transceivers, media access controllers, switches, and system-on-chip devices. Additionally, it provides radio frequency (RF) data communications products, including QwikRadio family of RF receivers and transmitters, which include garage door openers, lighting and fan controls, automotive keyless entry, and remote controls; and RadioWire transceivers for applications, such as remote metering, security systems, and factory automation. The company?s products address a range of end markets, including cellular handsets, portable computing, enterprise and home networking, wide area and metropolitan area networks, digital televisions, and industrial equipment. Micrel Incorporated sells its products through a network of independent sales representatives, independent distributors, and stocking representative firms, as well as through a direct sales staff. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By gurujx]
Micrel (MCRL): CFO/VP Finance/HR Ray Wallin Sold 59,701 Shares
CFO/VP Finance/HR of Micrel, Inc. (MCRL) Ray Wallin sold 59,701 shares during the past week at an average price of $9.56.
- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
What: Shares of Micrel (NASDAQ: MCRL ) jumped temporarily this morning, up by as much as 10% before giving back nearly all of those gains, following first-quarter earnings.
Top 5 Forestry Stocks To Buy For 2014: Papa John's International Inc.(PZZA)
Papa John?s International, Inc. operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants under the Papa John?s trademark worldwide. The company also operates dine-in and restaurant-based delivery restaurants in certain international markets. As of December 25, 2011, the company operated 3,883 Papa John?s restaurants consisting of 628 company-owned and 3,255 franchised restaurants in 50 states of the United States and 32 countries. Papa John?s International, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By vinaysingh]
Only on the basis of certain technical metrics, Papa John�� (PZZA) portrays a better picture than Domino�� with a current ratio of around 1.5 and total long term debt of around $0.13 billion. One of the arguments that surfaces in this regard is Domino�� store count and presence across a wide range of markets. Also, once we take a look at the share price movement of both these companies, Papa John�� is dwarfed with a growth of meagre 24% as against Domino�� 82% growth in the last 12 months.
- [By Rustic Nomad]
Pizza chain Papa John�� (PZZA) strong fundamentals and strategy of ��etter Ingredients��helped it post pretty impressive results despite a weak economy. The pizza chain posted fantastic results, which indicate solid demand. Further, Papa John�� is making aggressive investments to maintain this momentum by ensuring its highest quality standards.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Shares of Domino’s Pizza have dropped 4.3% to $65.91 today, while Yum has declined 1.1% to $66.24 and Papa John’s International (PZZA) has fallen 1.1% to $71.28.
- [By Tom Taulli]
Competition: Yum certainly has many tough rivals, such as Domino�� (DPZ), Chipotle (CMG), Chick-fil-A and McDonald�� (MCD). And competition in the Chinese market has been heating up as well. Discos, a Taiwan-based fried chicken operator, has been getting lots of traction — with more than 2,000 stores in China. There has also been pressure from Papa John’s (PZZA) and Bellagio Caf茅.
Top 5 Forestry Stocks To Buy For 2014: MFC Industrial Ltd (MIL)
MFC Industrial Ltd., formerly Terra Nova Royalty Corp., is a global commodity supply chain company that sources and delivers commodities and materials to clients all over the world. The Company is engaged in the financing and risk management aspect of the business. The Company operates in three segments: commodities and resources, which includes its commodities activities and mineral interests; merchant banking, which includes structured solutions, logistics and financial services and investing activities, and other, which encompasses its corporate and other investments and business interests, including its medical supplies and servicing business. In December 2011, the Company acquired Pea Ridge Iron Ore Mine in Missouri, the Unites States of America. In September 2012, its indirect wholly owned subsidiary acquired the remaining interest in Compton Petroleum Corporation. In November, 2012, it acquired 70% interest in Park Ridge, NJ-based ACC Resources Co., L.P. (ACCR) and 60% interest in Mexico City-based Possehl Mexico S.A. de C.V. (Possehl). In April 2013, 0915988 BC Ltd acquired the entire share capital of MFC Industrial Ltd.
Commodities and Resources
The Company�� supply chain business is globally focused and includes its integrated commodities operations and its mineral interests. It conducts such operations primarily through its subsidiaries based in Vienna, Austria and supply various commodities, including minerals and metals, chemicals, plastics and wood products to its customers. Through its global commodity supply chain business, it also provides logistics, supply chain management and other services to producers and consumers of commodities. Its commodities operations include sourcing and supplying commodities. The Company sources its commodities from Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, the United States and the Middle East. Its commodities sales include the European, Middle Eastern, Asian and North and South American markets.
Merchant Banking
The Company�� merchant banking operations include merchant banking and financial services, specialized banking, third-party financing and other services, investing and its real property. Its activities include making investments through investing its own capital to capture investment opportunities. The Company focuses on meeting the financial needs of small to mid-sized companies and other business enterprises primarily in Europe and Asia. Its merchant banking business generates revenues in the form of corporate and trade finance service fees and interest income. It also realizes gains from time to time on its investments, upon their sale, the execution of an equity or debt .
Other
Its other segment include its corporate and other investments, It includes financing joint ventures through its Shanghai, China-based subsidiary which provides medical services, equipment and supplies.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tim Melvin]
Just last week I went around the world with a stock screener to see if any cheap and appealing stocks appeared. At the top of my international buy list right now is Canada-based�MFC Industrial (MIL). MIL has also shown up on my screen for “perfect stocks” since it trades below book value, is profitable and pays a dividend.
- [By Rich Duprey]
Global commodity supply chain company�MFC Industrial (NYSE: MIL ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.06 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past year.
Top 5 Forestry Stocks To Buy For 2014: ENI S.p.A. (E)
Eni SpA, an integrated energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, transformation, and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company also involves in the production and sale of electricity; refining and marketing of petroleum products; and production and sale of petrochemical products and hydrocarbons. In addition, it engages in the offshore and onshore hydrocarbon field construction. Further, the company offers offshore and onshore drilling, and offshore design and engineering services for oil and gas companies. It has a strategic partnership with Gazprom for the joint development of projects in the upstream oil and gas markets. Eni SpA operates in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and the Americas. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Rome, Italy with an additional office in San Donato Milanese, Italy.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By vaninaegea]
Finding the right long-term investment is an art that demands following a specific industry for enough time to identify the right moment. Following the steps of successful hedge funds will give your portfolio the needed butter. With that reasoning in mind is that I will look at Suncor Energy (SU) and Eni SpA (E).
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Much of the reason for Statoil's weakness over the past year comes from a simple fact of geography. Investors have been extremely nervous about instability in the eurozone, and even though oil giants including France's Total (NYSE: TOT ) , Italy's Eni (NYSE: E ) , and Norway's Statoil all own energy properties located around the world, their shares have nevertheless traded as though they were overly exposed to their home markets. Moreover, Norway is among the most stable of Europe's national economies, making the cheap valuations even more ridiculous.
- [By Alex Planes]
Noble and Delek control the current find, but there are several other promising blocks leased to France's Total (NYSE: TOT ) and Italy's Eni (NYSE: E ) , both of which could also participate in developing the export terminal. This would be a more lucrative proposition for Cyprus than it might be in the U.S., because present nat-gas prices in the EU are more than four times as high as they are in the United States:
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