TSC Ratings' Updates: China Unicom

TSC Ratings provides exclusive stock, ETF and mutual fund ratings and commentary based on award-winning, proprietary tools. Its "safety first" approach to investing aims to reduce risk while seeking solid outperformance on a total return basis.

The following ratings changes were generated on Tuesday, April 28.

We've upgraded Albemarle(ALB Quote) from hold to buy, driven by its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Revenue fell 27.2% since the same quarter a year ago, and EPS are also down. Albemarle's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.9 is somewhat low overall but high compared with the industry average. Net income decreased 59.9% compared with the year-ago quarter, from $63.3 million to $25.4 million. Return on equity also decreased, implying a minor weakness in the organization. Albemarle's gross profit margin of 23.9% has decreased from the year-ago quarter, and the 5.2% net profit margin trails the industry average. ...