Tag Archives: Alliant Techsystems

Are Shorts Watching This Number at Alliant Techsystems?

By Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool

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There’s no foolproof way to know the future for Alliant Techsystems (NYS: ATK) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen — and before your stock craters as a result.

A cloudy crystal ball
In this series, we use accounts receivable and days sales outstanding to judge a company’s current health and future prospects. It’s an important step in separating the pretenders from the market’s best stocks. Alone, AR — the amount of money owed the company — and DSO — the number of days’ worth of sales owed to the company — don’t tell you much. However, by considering the trends in AR and DSO, you can sometimes get a window onto the future.

Sometimes, problems with AR or DSO simply indicate a change in the business (like an acquisition), or lax collections. However, AR that grows more quickly than revenue, or ballooning DSO, can, at times, suggest a desperate company that’s trying to boost sales by giving its customers overly generous payment terms. Alternately, it can indicate that the company sprinted to book a load of sales at the end of the quarter, like used-car dealers on the 29th of the month. (Sometimes, companies do both.)

Why might an upstanding firm like Alliant Techsystems do this? For the same reason any other company might: to make the numbers. Investors don’t like revenue shortfalls, and employees don’t like reporting them to their superiors.

Is Alliant Techsystems sending any potential warning signs? Take a look at the chart below, which plots revenue growth against AR growth, and DSO:

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. FQ = fiscal quarter.

The standard way to calculate DSO uses average accounts receivable. I prefer to look at end-of-quarter receivables, but I’ve plotted both above.

Watching the trends
When that red line (AR growth) crosses above the green line (revenue growth), I know I need to consult the filings. Similarly, a spike in the blue bars indicates a trend worth worrying about. Alliant Techsystems‘s latest average DSO stands at 97.6 days, and the end-of-quarter figure is 106.6 days. Differences in business models can generate variations in DSO, and business needs can require occasional fluctuations, but all things being equal, I like to see this figure stay steady. So, let’s get back to our original question: Based on DSO and sales, does Alliant Techsystems look like it might miss its numbers in the next quarter or two?

Investors should watch the top line carefully during the next quarter or two. For the last fully reported fiscal quarter, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Alliant Techsystems Wins $12 Million Navy Ammunition Award

By Dan Carroll, The Motley Fool

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Defense contractor Alliant Techsystems announced in a press statement Friday that the U.S. Navy has awarded the company a $12-million contract to provide 30mm MK266 ammunition. The potential value of five-year, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract grows to up to $41 million if the Navy awards follow-up contracts.

The MK266 ammunition, used in Alliant’s MK446 Mod 2 Gun Weapon System, is used in several of the Navy’s ship classes, including the San Antonio-class Landing Platform Dock line, as well as on the new Littoral Combat Ships. Alliant expects the first deliveries of the ammunition to begin in 2014.

Alliant’s Armament Systems division Vice President and General Manager Bruce DeWitt expressed his confidence in the company’s ammunition production, saying, “Our medium-caliber expertise includes a full spectrum of highly effective and accurate tactical ammunition for air, ground and sea platforms as well as cost-effective training ammunition that provides a realistic experience for the warfighter.”

Shares of Alliant rose 0.8% in midday trading in response.

The article Alliant Techsystems Wins $12 Million Navy Ammunition Award originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Carroll has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

SAIC, Textron Among Those Getting Pentagon Contracts

By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

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Over the past two in-sequester days, the Pentagon has awarded a total of 42 separate contracts to various contractors, worth well over $4 billion in aggregate. Among them:

  • Privately held Marine Hydraulics International won a $7 million contract modification, under which the company will perform maintenance, alterations, and modernizations on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole. Work on the ship should be completed by June 2013.
  • Science Applications International Corp. was awarded a $21.2 million firm-fixed-price contract to perform “preventive and corrective maintenance” on software and equipment used by the Anti-Terrorism Force Protection Ashore Program Systems at 66 military installations worldwide. Initial work on the project should be complete by March of next year, but the contract contains the possibility of up to five one-year options for extension which, if exercised, would increase the contract’s value to $74.4 million in aggregate.
  • Alliant Techsystems won a $9.2 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for the company to upgrade the TS-04 control units on its Spider munitions to the TS-09 version. This contract will be complete by Jan. 31, 2014.
  • Computer Sciences Corp subsidiary DynCorp International will be paid $14.2 million on a cost-plus-award-fee incrementally funded contract to extend logistics support services to the U.S. Army’s Directorate of Logistics through Sept. 30, 2013.
  • Textron‘s Marine & Land Systems unit scored a huge win — a $113.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply Mobile Strike Force vehicles to the Afghan National Security Forces. Completion date: Feb. 28, 2014.

link

The article SAIC, Textron Among Those Getting Pentagon Contracts originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Textron. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance