National Presto Industries Stock Downgraded (NPK)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- National Presto Industries (NYSE:NPK) 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 reasonable valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including feeble growth in the company's earnings per share, deteriorating net income and weak operating cash flow.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• NPK has no debt to speak of therefore resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of zero, which we consider to be a relatively favorable sign. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 2.81, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• NPK, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 5.1%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 11.1%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Aerospace & Defense industry average. The net income has decreased by 17.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $11.36 million to $9.34 million.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $11.66 million or 46.33% 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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National Presto Industries, Inc. provides housewares and small appliances, defense products, and absorbent products primarily in North America. It operates in three segments: Housewares/Small Appliance, Defense Products, and Absorbent Products. The company has a P/E ratio of 10.5, above the average consumer durables industry P/E ratio of 10.1 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. National Presto has a market cap of $482.9 million and is part of the consumer goods sector and consumer durables industry. Shares are down 24.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

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

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