L-3 Communications Holdings Inc Stock Upgraded (LLL)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- L-3 Communications Holdings (NYSE:LLL) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, increase in net income and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.62, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels.
• Net operating cash flow has slightly increased to $500.00 million or 4.82% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite an increase in cash flow, L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HLDGS INC's cash flow growth rate is still lower than the industry average growth rate of 44.75%.
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Aerospace & Defense industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income increased by 2.2% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $268.00 million to $274.00 million.
• L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HLDGS INC has improved earnings per share by 14.8% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. However, we anticipate underperformance relative to this pattern in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HLDGS INC increased its bottom line by earning $9.07 versus $8.26 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 6.9% in earnings ($8.44 versus $9.07).

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L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. provides command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems; aircraft modernization and maintenance; and government services in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of eight, equal to the average aerospace/defense industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. L-3 has a market cap of $7.02 billion and is part of the industrial goods sector and aerospace/defense industry. Shares are up 6.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full L-3 Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.
-- Written by a member of TheStreet RatingsStaff

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