TSC Ratings' Updates: Massey

Net income decreased 367.1% to -$93.34 million when compared with the same quarter one year ago, underperforming the S&P 500 and the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared with its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Massye's return on equity significantly trails both the industry average and the S&P 500. The gross profit margin for is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 27.40%, although it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Massey's net profit margin of -11.50% significantly underperformed the industry average.

The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Even though the debt-to-equity ratio is weak, Massey's quick ratio is somewhat strong at 1.03, demonstrating the ability to handle short-term liquidity needs. Shares are down 41.15% on the year, reflecting several forces, including the overall decline in the broad market and the sharp decline in the company's earnings per share, down 369.76%. Turning toward the future, the fact that the stock has come down in price over the past year should not necessarily be interpreted as a negative; it could be one of the factors that may help make the stock attractive down the road. Right now, however, we believe that it is too soon to buy.

Other ratings changes include Zoran(ZRAN Quote) and Cinemark(CNK Quote), both downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Oct. 29 are listed below.

ABX	Barrick Gold	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ACE	Ace	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ACTL	Actel	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
BEC	Beckman Coulter	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
BF.A	Brown-Forman	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
BOBE	Bob Evans Farms	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CHCO	City Holding	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CNK	Cinemark Holdings	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
CPO	Corn Products	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CRL	Charles River Labs	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CVG	Convergys	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
CYNO	Cynosure	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
DE	Deere	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DGAS	Delta Natural Gas	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DIS	Disney	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DNEX	Dionex	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DWA	Dreamworks Animation	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
EDR	Education Realty Trust	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
EIHI	Eastern Insurance	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FNBN	FNB United	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FREE	Freeseas	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
GBL	Gamco Investors	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GEO	GEO Group	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
IMP	Imperial Capital	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
IVAC	Intevac	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
KNDL	Kendle	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
MEE	Massey Energy	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
MTZ	Mastec	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NDSN	Nordson	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NJ	NIdec	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NNBR	NN	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PHII	PHI	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PHX	Panhandle Oil & Gas	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PRGX	PRG-Schultz	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
RC	Grupo Radio Centro	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
RTIX	RTI Biologic s	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
SAH	Sonic Automotive	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
SCX	LS Starrett	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
SFG	Stancorp Financial	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
SNX	Synnex	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TMO	Thermo Fisher Scientific	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
UNCA	Unica	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
VCO	Vina Concha y Toro	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
WSCI	WSI Industries	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ZRAN	Zoran	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
Source: TheStreet.com Ratings

Each business day, TheStreet.com Ratings updates its ratings on the stocks it covers. The proprietary ratings model projects a stock's total return potential over a 12-month period, including both price appreciation and dividends. Buy, hold or sell ratings designate how the Ratings group expects these stocks to perform against a general benchmark of the equities market and interest rates.

While the ratings model is quantitative, it uses both subjective and objective elements. For instance, subjective elements include expected equities market returns, future interest rates, implied industry outlook and company earnings forecasts. Objective elements include volatility of past operating revenue, financial strength and company cash flows.

However, the rating does not incorporate all of the factors that can alter a stock's performance. For example, it doesn't always factor in recent corporate or industry events that could affect the stock price, nor does it include recent technology developments and competitive dynamics that may affect the company.

For those reasons, we believe a rating alone cannot tell the whole story, and that it should be part of an investor's overall research.