AECOM Technology Corporation Stock Upgraded (ACM)

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) -- AECOM Technology Corporation (NYSE:ACM) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, increase in stock price during the past year and growth in earnings per share. 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:

• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 9.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 2.4%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 1169.34% to $201.97 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, AECOM TECHNOLOGY CORP has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 24.53%.
• The stock price has risen over the past year, but, despite its earnings growth and some other positive factors, it has underperformed the S&P 500 so far. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• AECOM TECHNOLOGY CORP's earnings per share improvement from the most recent quarter was slightly positive. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. However, we anticipate underperformance relative to this pattern in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AECOM TECHNOLOGY CORP increased its bottom line by earning $2.34 versus $2.05 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 1.7% in earnings ($2.30 versus $2.34).

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AECOM Technology Corporation provides professional technical and management support services for commercial and government clients worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 9.4, equal to the average diversified services industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. AECOM Technology has a market cap of $2.36 billion and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are up 1.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full AECOM Technology 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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