Tim Holding Company Stock Downgraded (TSU)

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) -- Tim Holding Company (NYSE:TSU) 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, reasonable valuation levels and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and deteriorating net income.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• TSU's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.27 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.11, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• The gross profit margin for TIM PARTICIPACOES SA is rather high; currently it is at 56.60%. Regardless of TSU'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 7.80% trails the industry average.
• TIM PARTICIPACOES SA 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. Earnings per share have declined over the last year. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, TIM PARTICIPACOES SA reported lower earnings of $2.02 versus $4.85 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 23.9% in earnings ($1.54 versus $2.02).
• 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 Wireless Telecommunication Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 31.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $230.23 million to $158.37 million.

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TIM Participacoes S.A., through its subsidiaries, provides mobile telecommunications services using digital technologies to business and individual customers in Brazil. The company offers mobile, fixed and long distance telephony, data transmission and Internet services. The company has a P/E ratio of 11.4, above the average telecommunications industry P/E ratio of 5.7 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Tim Holding has a market cap of $8.3 billion and is part of the technology sector and telecommunications industry. Shares are down 33.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

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

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

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