TSC Ratings' Updates: MasterCard

We've upgraded Range Resources(RRC), which engages in the exploration, development and acquisition of oil and gas properties, from hold to buy, driven by its robust revenue growth, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations, compelling growth in net income and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

Revenue leaped by 159.3% since the same quarter a year ago, exceeding the industry average of 29.7% growth and boosting EPS. Net income increased by 384.3%, to $285.3 million, outperforming the S&P 500 and the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. The gross profit margin is currently very high, coming in at 91.5%, having increased from the same quarter last year. The net profit margin of 45.9% significantly outperformed the industry average. Net operating cash flow has increased to $255.5 million, or 42.7% when compared with the same quarter last year, and the firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of 12.8%. The return on equity has improved slightly when compared with the same quarter one year prior, which can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Range Resources outperforms the S&P 500 on the basis of ROE but underperforms the industry average.

Other ratings changes include Omniture(OMTR) and Gmarket(GMKT), both downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Nov. 18 are listed below.

Ticker	Company	Current	Change	Previous
ATHN	AthenaHealth	SELL	Initiated
CTCT	Constant Contact	SELL	Initiated
CTWS	Connecticut Water	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
FRO	Frontline	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GMKT	Gmarket	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
HMPR	Hampton Roads	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
HSIC	Henry Schein	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ICE	IntercontinentalExchange	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
IGTE	iGate	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
KOP	Koppers	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
LII	Lennox	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
LWSN	Lawson Software	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
MA	MasterCard	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
MRK	Merck	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
NEU	NewMarket	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
OMRI	Omrix Biopharmaceuticals	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
OMTR	Omniture	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
PVX	Provident Energy	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
QCOM	Qualcomm	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
RCKB	Rockville Financial	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
RRC	Range Resources	BUY	Upgrade	HOLD
SNH	Senior Housing Properties Trust	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TKC	Turkcell	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TRLG	True Religion	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TROW	T. Rowe Price Group	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TSON	Trans1	SELL	Initiated
VSCI	Vision-Sciences	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
YTEC	Yucheng Technologies	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.

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