TSC Ratings' Updates: Fluor

Wolverine has improved earnings per share by 14.8% in the most recent quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share Wolverine increased its bottom line by earning $1.70 vs. $1.47 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings to $1.91. Net income increased by 5.8% compared with the same quarter a year ago, outperforming the S&P 500 and the textiles, apparel and luxury goods industry. Net operating cash flow has increased to -$10.75 million, or 15.33% when compared with the same quarter last year. Despite an increase in cash flow, Wolverine's average is still marginally south of the industry average growth rate of 17.06%.

Shares are down 27% on the year, but the decline was actually not as bad as the broader market plunge during that same time frame. One factor that may have helped cushion the fall somewhat was the improvement in the company's earnings per share year over year. 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 KongZhong(KONG Quote) and Christopher & Banks(CBK Quote), both downgraded from hold to sell.

All ratings changes generated on Nov. 19 are listed below.

Ticker	Company	Current	Change	Previous
ALB	Albemarle	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
AMSF	Amerisafe	BUY	Upgrade	HOLD
ANH	Anworth Mortgage	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
AOS	A.O. Smith	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
AXAS	Abraxas Petroleum	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
CBK	Christopher & Banks	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
CTIB	CTI Industries	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
FAST	Fastenal	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
FLR	Fluor	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GHM	Graham	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
GPRO	Gen-Probe	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
KONG	KongZhong	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
LMIA	LMI Aerospace	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
MPWR	Monolithic Power Systems	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
ORBK	Orbotech	SELL	Downgrade	HOLD
PCX	Patriot Coal	SELL	Initiated
SHOO	Steven Madden	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
STJ	St. Jude Medical	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TCBI	Texas Capital Bancshares	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
TMTA	Transmeta	HOLD	Upgrade	SELL
WIBC	Wilshire Bancorp	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY
WTR	Aqua America	BUY	Upgrade	HOLD
WWW	Wolverine World Wide	HOLD	Downgrade	BUY

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.