Materion Corp Stock Upgraded (MTRN)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Materion (NYSE:MTRN) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• MTRN's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.29 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.13, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• MATERION CORP's earnings per share declined by 47.4% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has suffered a declining pattern of earnings per share over the past year. However, we anticipate this trend reversing over the coming year. During the past fiscal year, MATERION CORP reported lower earnings of $1.93 versus $2.26 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.15 versus $1.93).
• MTRN, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 0.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 5.6%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 37.34%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 47.36% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Despite the heavy decline in its share price over the last year, this stock is still more expensive (when compared to its current earnings) than most other companies in its industry. We feel, however, that other strengths this company displays compensate for this.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed against the S&P 500 and did not exceed that of the Metals & Mining industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 48.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $11.82 million to $6.12 million.

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Materion Corporation, through its subsidiaries, produces and sells engineered materials for use in various electrical, electronic, thermal, and structural applications primarily in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Materion has a market cap of $532.3 million and is part of the basic materials sector and metals & mining industry. Shares are up 5.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

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

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