Finisar Corporation Stock Downgraded (FNSR)

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) -- Finisar Corporation (Nasdaq:FNSR) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income and disappointing return on equity.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• FNSR's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.05 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 3.14, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.
• FNSR, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 14.0%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.9%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• FINISAR 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, FINISAR CORP reported lower earnings of $0.45 versus $1.01 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.60 versus $0.45).
• 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 Communications Equipment industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 138.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $8.91 million to -$3.41 million.
• The share price of FINISAR CORP has not done very well: it is down 12.49% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, we do not see anything in this company's numbers that would change the one-year trend. It was down over the last twelve months; and it could be down again in the next twelve. Naturally, a bull or bear market could sway the movement of this stock.

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Finisar Corporation engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of optical subsystems and components for use in fiber optics-based data communication and telecommunication networks applications. The company has a P/E ratio of 65.3, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Finisar has a market cap of $1.39 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are down 7.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

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

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

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