TSC Ratings' Updates: Hawaiian Electric Industries

The gross profit margin for CRM is currently very high, coming in at 82.80%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Despite the strong results of the gross profit margin, CRM's net profit margin of 3.80% significantly trails the industry average.

CRM's share price is down 12.79%, reflecting, in part, the market's overall decline, investors ignoring the increase in its earnings per share. Looking ahead, we do not see anything in this company's numbers that would change the one-year trend. It was down over the last twelve months; and it could be down again in the next twelve. Naturally, a bull or bear market could sway the movement of this stock.

CRM had been rated a buy since May 23, 2008.

Alcoa(AA Quote) has been downgraded from buy to hold. Alcoa, engages in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina worldwide. The company involves in the technology, mining, refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling of aluminum. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, poor profit margins and weak operating cash flow.

The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.52, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Despite the fact that AA's debt-to-equity ratio is low, the quick ratio, which is currently 0.57, displays a potential problem in covering short-term cash needs.