American Greetings Corporation Stock Upgraded (AM)

Editor's Note: 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

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE:AM) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 317.13% to $49.90 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, AMERICAN GREETINGS has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 191.96%.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.33, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Despite the fact that AM's debt-to-equity ratio is low, the quick ratio, which is currently 0.53, displays a potential problem in covering short-term cash needs.
• The gross profit margin for AMERICAN GREETINGS is rather high; currently it is at 61.60%. Regardless of AM's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 1.80% trails the industry average.
• Despite the weak revenue results, AM has outperformed against the industry average of 28.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.6%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

American Greetings Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of greeting cards and other social expression products in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 18.8, equal to the average specialty retail industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. American Greetings has a market cap of $488.3 million and is part of the services sector and specialty retail industry. Shares are up 26.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full American Greetings Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

Editor's Note: 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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