Furmanite Corporation Stock Downgraded (FRM)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Furmanite Corporation (NYSE:FRM) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, poor profit margins and weak operating cash flow.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Although FRM's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27 is very low, it is currently higher than that of the industry average. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 2.51, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Construction & Engineering industry and the overall market, FURMANITE CORP's return on equity exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• FRM, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 14.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.7%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The gross profit margin for FURMANITE CORP is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 27.10%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -1.20% trails that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$0.53 million or 2012.00% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

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Furmanite Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides technical services in Europe, North America, South America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company has a P/E ratio of 8.6, equal to the average diversified services industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Furmanite has a market cap of $167.3 million and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are down 26.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

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

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