Parker Hannifin Corporation Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (PH)

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) -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of B . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. 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 increased to $354.31 million or 39.53% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, PARKER-HANNIFIN CORP has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -19.08%.
• Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, regardless of the company's weak earnings results. 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.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.38, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.92 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.
• PH, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 0.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.3%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

Parker Hannifin Corporation manufactures fluid power systems, electromechanical controls, and related components worldwide. Parker Hannifin has a market cap of $13.92 billion and is part of the industrial goods sector and industrial industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.8, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 9.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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