The Razor's Edge
2-Year Price History
Recent Price
(12/3/2008)
$44.65
52-Week Price
$28.60 - $101.37
Market Capitalization
$8.1 Billion
Most Recent Dividend
$0.40
About Fluor Corp.
Fluor Corporation is considered to operate in the Industrial Goods
sector. They specifically operate in the Heavy Construction
business segment contained within the Materials & Construction industry.
The Company provides professional services on a global basis in the fields of engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services. It has five operating segments: Oil & Gas, Industrial & Infrastructure, Government, Global Services and Power.
Ockham's Rating
Rating Specific Information Withheld
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FLR Revenue
As a value investing shop, we are interested in seeing how FLR's revenues measure up against past performances. One easily understandable way of doing that is to compare Price to Sales per share levels over a given time frame. Assuming it is available, Ockham prefers to look at ten years of history (for this stock there are 10 years of history available) and we weigh recent years more heavily. This allows us to find weighted average historical high and low Price to Sales ratios, which give us a better idea of the stock's current underlying value. Using this method, we have established a high range for Price to Sales of 0.57x and the low end of the range at 0.30x.
With respect to these historically rational metrics, notice that the current Price to Sales per share ratio for FLR of 0.16x is well below its normal historic Price to Sales levels. At a price of $45.54, FLR is 63% below where we would expect to see it. Clearly, this stock looks undervalued compared to historical levels, at least on a Price to Sales basis. This will positively affect our analysis because it is rare to find a stock this far below historical norms, and we would expect some price appreciation to bring this metric back towards a more normal range.
FLR Cash Earnings
Looking at FLR specifically in their Cash Earnings capabilities, Ockham views FLR as significantly below its historical average multiple of cash earnings as calculated by Ockham. Similar to our analysis of sales per share, Ockham looks at the last 10 years of cash earnings levels for FLR to identify where the current high and low price levels have been historically in relation to profit per share. Again, we utilize a weighted average methodology which relies more heavily on recent years of data. This weighted average framework provides us with an average high Price to Cash Earnings ratio per share of 22.39 and a 11.39 low over the same period.
Now that FLR’s current price is $45.54 and its Price to Cash Earnings ratio is 9.59, we are very positive on its outlook from the cash earnings perspective. In fact, FLR is now trading a full 44% below its average historical Price to Cash Earnings ratio at these profit per share levels. When our clients ask us why FLR has great long term potential, the Cash Earnings levels to current stock is one of our primary reasons. But naturally, now we need for the overall market to recognize this disparity.
FLR Dividends
A positive Ockham rating does not require a company to pay out an inviting dividend or a dividend at all. However, we believe dividends provide a useful measure on a company's inherent expectations.
Comparable to our analysis of Sales and Cash Earnings per share, we examine dividend yields from FLR against the historic high and low levels over an available data range. Because FLR has an established history of paying a dividend to shareholders, there is value in comparing recent dividends to historical dividends. In FLR’s case, the estimated annual dividend is $0.50 producing a current dividend yield of 1.10%. The highest dividend yield from FLR in recent history was 3.20% while the lowest dividend yield was 0.00%. With that range in mind, FLR’s current dividend yield is a full 31.25% below its median dividend yield historically. This is a negative from our perspective.
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