James Hardie Industries SE Stock Upgraded (JHX)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- James Hardie Industries SE (NYSE:JHX) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance and compelling growth in net income. Although the company may harbor some minor weaknesses, we feel they are unlikely to have a significant impact on results.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Compared to other companies in the Construction Materials industry and the overall market, JAMES HARDIE INDUSTRIES SE's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 16.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 7.2%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• JHX's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.24 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. To add to this, JHX has a quick ratio of 1.56, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.
• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 27550.00% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 45.00% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, JHX should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Construction Materials industry. The net income increased by 26805.5% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$1.80 million to $480.70 million.

James Hardie Industries SE, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells fiber cement products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Europe. The company has a P/E ratio of 6.5, equal to the average materials & construction industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. James Hardie Industries SE has a market cap of $3.9 billion and is part of the industrial goods sector and materials & construction industry. Shares are up 28.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

You can view the full James Hardie Industries SE Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

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