TSC Ratings' Updates: Tiffany

We've downgraded VF Corp. (VFC Quote) from buy to hold. Strengths include its growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and revenue growth. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including weak operating cash flow, a decline in the stock price during the past year and disappointing return on equity.

VF Corp. has improved earnings per share by 12.9% in the most recent quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years, which we feel should continue, suggesting improving business performance. During the past fiscal year, it increased its bottom line by earning $5.42 vs. $4.73 in the prior year, and this year, the market expects further improvement to $5.85. Net income rose 12.9% when compared with the same quarter last year, outperforming the S&P 500 and the textiles, apparel and luxury goods industry. Its debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40 is low but is higher than that of the industry average, and the company's quick ratio of 1.09 is sturdy. Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$3.53 million, or 104.95% when compared with the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

Shares are down 36.24% on the year, apparently dragged down in part by the decline in the S&P 500. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor, and in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.

Other ratings changes include AgFeed(FEED Quote), downgraded from hold to sell, and Webster Financial(WBS Quote), downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Nov. 11 are listed below.

Ticker	Company	Current	Change	Previous
ATHR	Atheros	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
BMI	Badger Meter	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
BWP	Boardwalk Pipeline	BUY	Upgrade	HOLD
CHU	China Unicom	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CIR	Circor	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
CPL	CPFL Energia	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
DFS	Discover Financial	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FEED	AgFeed Industries	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FFNW	First Financial NW	SELL	Initiated
GNET	Global Traffic Network	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
IRBT	IRobot	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
ITEX	Itex	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
LM	Legg Mason	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
LTC	LTC Properties	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
LZR	Emergent Group	BUY	Upgrade	HOLD
MGG	Magellan Midstream	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
NNN	National Retail	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NPSP	NPS Pharmaceuticals	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
PCH	Potlatch	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
PDLI	PDL Biopharma	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
SCHW	Charles Schwab	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
SIF	Sifco Industries	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
TGH	Textainer Group	SELL	Initiated
TIF	Tiffany	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
VFC	VF Corp.	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
WBS	Webster Financial	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
WSO.B	Watsco	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD

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.