Earnings Preview: Clarcor

CLARCOR Inc. (CLC) provides filtration products, filtration systems and services, and consumer and industrial packaging products worldwide. Its Engine/Mobile Filtration segment offers oil, air, fuel, coolant, transmission, and hydraulic fluid filters for engines used in stationary power generation and for engines in mobile equipment applications, including trucks, automobiles, buses, and locomotives, as well as marine, construction, industrial, mining, and agricultural equipment.

It is scheduled to report its Q2 2012 results on June 20, 2012, after the market closes.

Technical Overview

Key Metrics

• Market Cap: 2.49B
• 52-week trading range: 39.13 - 54.22
• Trailing P/E: 20.23
• Forward P/E: 16.81
• Price/Sales: 2.17
• Price/Book: 2.89
• PEG Ratio: 1.53
• Total Debt: 17.20M
• Annual dividend yield: 0.90%
• Return on Equity: 15.30%
• Return on Assets: 10.56%

Recent EPS Actuals vs. Estimates

The company has met or beaten analysts' estimates in the last two quarters. In the last quarter it reported $0.50 EPS, beating analyst estimates of $0.47.

The consensus EPS is $0.70 based on 7 analysts' estimates, up from $0.64 a year ago. Revenue estimates are $305.68M, up from $288.53M a year ago. The median target price by analysts for the stock is $57.00.

Average recommendation: Overweight

Source: Marketwatch

Latest Developments

• On May 11, 2012, CLARCOR Inc. announced that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Modular Engineering Pty Ltd. Modular will become a part of CLARCOR's PECOFacet division, which is included within CLARCOR's Industrial/Environmental Filtration segment.
• On March 21, 2012, CLARCOR Inc. announced that for fiscal 2012, it expects diluted earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of $2.55-$2.70. According to I/B/E/S Estimates, analysts on average were expecting the company to report EPS of $2.68 for fiscal 2012.
• On January 19, 2012, CLARCOR Inc. announced that for fiscal 2012, it expects earnings per share to be between $2.55 to $2.70. The guidance does not consider major global economic disruptions in fiscal 2012 including in Europe and the U.S.

Competitors

CLARCOR Inc. operates in Diversified Machinery industry. The company could be compared to AO Smith Corp. (AOS), Itron, Inc. (ITRI), Met-Pro Corp. (MPR), and PMFG, Inc. (PMFG). Below is the table comparison of the most important ratios between these companies and the industry.

Below is the chart comparison with the stock price changes as a percentage for the selected companies and S&P 500 index for the last one year period.

(click to enlarge)

CLC data by YCharts

Competitors' Latest Development

• On May 14, 2012, Itron, Inc. announced that it signed contract with ENAMC (National Company of Measurement and Control Instruments), which is located in Algeria. Under this contract, the companies will deploy the C&I advanced data collection system over the next 18-months to support the modernization of the electricity network and enable commercial and industrial clients to better manage their electricity consumption.
• On May 7, 2012, PMFG Inc announced it was awarded two orders for environmental emissions control equipment valued in excess of $4.7 million. The first order is for a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system for a fractionation facility in the United States that will produce 100,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids (NGL).
• On May 1, 2012, Itron, Inc. announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of privately held SmartSynch for $100 million.
• On April 20, 2012, A. O. SMITH CORPORATION raised fiscal 2012 earnings per share guidance to a range of $2.75 to $2.90 per share. According to I/B/E/S Estimates, analysts were expecting the company to report EPS of $2.81 for fiscal 2012.
• On April 19, 2012, PMFG Inc announced that it was awarded an order in excess of $4.0 million to provide large-scale separation equipment for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project in Australia.
• On April 5, 2012, Met-Pro Corp. announced that effective April 2, 2012, Neal E. Murphy was elected Vice President-Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of the company.
• On April 5, 2012, PMFG Inc announced that it has been awarded three new international orders with a combined value of more than $6.5 million for an assortment of process systems equipment to be used in natural gas and oil exploration applications.
• On March 9, 2012, PMFG Inc announced that it has been awarded Environmental Systems orders totaling more than $2.5 million. One of these projects is for Selective Catalytic Reduction equipment on a new natural gas combined-cycle power plant in Texas.
• On March 7, 2012, Met-Pro Corp. announced that the company's Environmental Air Solutions business unit has received an order to supply a Flex-Kleen brand dust collection system to a petrochemical refinery located in The Russian Federation.
• On February 16, 2012, Itron, Inc. announced that the City of Madison, WI Water Utility will implement Itron`s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for Project H2O, the City`s program to automate the collection and analysis of water meter reads.
• On February 16, 2012, PMFG Inc announced the pricing of its previously announced public offering of 2,600,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $16.00 per share.
• On February 15, 2012, Itron, Inc. and National Grid announced that they are collaborating on a project to build and evaluate an advanced smart grid in Massachusetts utilizing a new generation of standards-based network technology.
• On February 15, 2012, Itron, Inc. announced that for fiscal 2012, it expects revenue to be between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion and non-GAAP diluted EPS between $3.80 and $4.20.
• On February 7, 2012, PMFG Inc announced a follow-on public offering of 2,600,000 shares of its common stock. All shares will be offered by the company. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay all of its outstanding borrowings under its senior term loan and for general corporate purposes, including international expansion and strategic acquisitions.
• On January 27, 2012, A. O. SMITH CORPORATION announced that for fiscal 2012, it expects earnings per share in the range of $2.65-$2.85. According to I/B/E/S Estimates, analysts were expecting the company to report EPS of $2.83 for fiscal 2012.
• On January 19, 2012, PMFG Inc announced that it has been awarded an Environmental Systems order in excess of $3 million for Selective Catalytic Reduction systems for installation on boilers on a turnkey installed basis.
• On December 22, 2011, PMFG, Inc. announced that it has been awarded multiple international orders totaling $15 million for projects related to natural gas processing and transmission in South America and southern Asia.
• On December 19, 2011, Met-Pro Corp. announced that the company's Board of Directors, at their meeting on December 16, 2011, declared a quarterly dividend of $0.071 per share payable on March 16, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 2, 2012.

Sources: Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Marketwatch, Finviz, Reuters.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.