Ultralife Batteries Inc. Stock Downgraded (ULBI)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ultralife Batteries (Nasdaq:ULBI) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, disappointing return on equity, poor profit margins, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Electrical Equipment industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 821.4% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $0.44 million to -$3.17 million.
• Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Electrical Equipment industry and the overall market, ULTRALIFE CORP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The gross profit margin for ULTRALIFE CORP is rather low; currently it is at 23.90%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -16.90% is significantly below that of the industry average.
• Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 32.13%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 212.50% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
• ULTRALIFE CORP has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past year. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, ULTRALIFE CORP reported lower earnings of $0.12 versus $0.66 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.14 versus $0.12).

Ultralife Corporation offers products and services ranging from portable and standby power solutions to communications and electronics systems in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Battery & Energy Products and Communications Systems. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.9, below the average industrial industry P/E ratio of 32.4 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Ultralife Batteries has a market cap of $67.6 million and is part of the industrial goods sector and industrial industry. Shares are down 3.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full Ultralife Batteries 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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