TSC Ratings' Updates: The Hain Celestial Group

The Hain Celestial Group(HAIN Quote) has been upgraded from hold to buy. The Hain Celestial Group, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells natural and organic food and personal care products. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

HAIN's revenue growth trails the industry average of 35.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenue rose by 25.2%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.

The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.42, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.21, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems. ...