Tag Archives: Core Laboratories

This Metric Says You're Smart to Own Core Laboratories

By Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

There’s no foolproof way to know the future for Core Laboratories (NYS: CLB) 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 Core Laboratories 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 Core Laboratories 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. Core Laboratories‘s latest average DSO stands at 66.0 days, and the end-of-quarter figure is 66.8 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 Core Laboratories look like it might miss its numbers in the next quarter or two?

I don’t think so. AR and DSO look healthy. For the last fully reported fiscal quarter, Core Laboratories‘s year-over-year revenue …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

1 Energy Stock Coming Out the Big Winner in Q1

By Joel South and Taylor Muckerman, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

In the following video, Motley Fool energy analysts Joel South and Taylor Muckerman discuss Core Laboratories‘ excellent performance so far this year. The company’s strong Q4 earnings led them to kick off Q1 this year with a powerful start, and Core Labs is also showing both record profits and record free cash flow at the moment. Joel tells us, however, why this isn’t a value play at its current valuation and gives us the story behind Core Labs‘ recent success.

There are many different ways to play the energy sector, and The Motley Fool‘s analysts have uncovered an under-the-radar company that’s dominating its industry. This company is a leading provider of equipment and components used in drilling and production operations and poised to profit in a big way from it. To get the name and detailed analysis of this company that will prosper for years to come, check out the special free report: “The Only Energy Stock You’ll Ever Need.” Don’t miss out on this limited-time offer and your opportunity to discover this under-the-radar company before the market does. Click here to access your report — it’s totally free.

The article 1 Energy Stock Coming Out the Big Winner in Q1 originally appeared on Fool.com.


Joel South and Taylor Muckerman have no position in any stocks mentioned, and neither does The Motley Fool. 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.

(function(c,a){window.mixpanel=a;var b,d,h,e;b=c.createElement(“script”);
b.type=”text/javascript”;b.async=!0;b.src=(“https:”===c.location.protocol?”https:”:”http:”)+
‘//cdn.mxpnl.com/libs/mixpanel-2.2.min.js’;d=c.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0];
d.parentNode.insertBefore(b,d);a._i=[];a.init=function(b,c,f){function d(a,b){
var c=b.split(“.”);2==c.length&&(a=a[c[0]],b=c[1]);a[b]=function(){a.push([b].concat(
Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}var g=a;”undefined”!==typeof f?g=a[f]=[]:
f=”mixpanel”;g.people=g.people||[];h=[‘disable’,’track’,’track_pageview’,’track_links’,
‘track_forms’,’register’,’register_once’,’unregister’,’identify’,’alias’,’name_tag’,
‘set_config’,’people.set’,’people.increment’];for(e=0;e<h.length;e++)d(g,h[e]);
a._i.push([b,c,f])};a.__SV=1.2;})(document,window.mixpanel||[]);
mixpanel.init("9659875b92ba8fa639ba476aedbb73b9");

function addEvent(obj, evType, fn, useCapture){
if (obj.addEventListener){
obj.addEventListener(evType, fn, useCapture);
return true;
} else if (obj.attachEvent){
var r = obj.attachEvent("on"+evType, fn);
return r;
}
}

addEvent(window, "load", function(){new FoolVisualSciences();})
addEvent(window, "load", function(){new PickAd();})

var themeName = 'dailyfinance.com';
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24928199-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

(function () {

var ga = document.createElement('script');
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

3 Unique Energy Companies on My Watchlist

By Matthew DiLallo, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

The amazing growth in oil and gas production has the country pondering what had been an unthinkable dream: an energy independent future. The U.S. still has a long way to go to make that dream a reality. While many companies are working overtime to make the dream reality, here are three unique ones that I’m watching.

Core Laboratories
I’ll admit that the first time I heard of Core Laboratories I thought I was going to read about a biotechnology company. Instead, Core helps oil and gas companies by analyzing rock and fluid samples to help them get the resources out of the ground in the most efficient way. Think of the company as the provider of the science behind the oil and gas industry.

The problem is that science doesn’t come cheap and the stock trades at about 30 times earnings. It’s not been getting any cheaper either — the stock is up more than 25% in the past three months. However, that premium is likely justified given the double-digit earnings growth that analysts project over the next couple of years. The company has a huge runway of growth as the energy industry moves away from the wildcat mentality to a more strategic science and technology driven approach to energy exploration. Core would top my list of companies to buy on a pullback.

FMC Technologies
Another strategic technological company pick, FMC Technologies, brings technology solutions to the deep, as in deepwater drilling. The company designs, manufactures and services components for the subsea processing of oil and gas from deepwater wells. Given that last year was the best year ever for deepwater discoveries, and that new discoveries are still being made, the future looks bright for FMC.

Like Core, FMC is also up about 25% over the past few months, and its stock is about as expensive at 30 times earnings. However, analysts do expect a bit faster growth from the company given the tremendous activity in deepwater drilling. That undersea activity, however, is attracting more attention, with Schlumberger recently entering the market through a joint venture. Given the size and global scale of the oil-field services giant I’m a bit apprehensive to add FMC to my portfolio given its recent rise. That’s why I’d prefer to wait for a pullback on this one. The market can’t go straight up forever, right?

Heckmann
This environmental solutions provider offers onshore drillers a one-stop shop for their fracking water needs. It covers the full life cycle of water: the company delivers it to the site, collects it, treats and recycles what it can, and then disposes of the remains. About 70% of the company’s shale business is now devoted to oil and liquid shale plays, meaning that it’s not as affected by the slowdown in natural gas drilling as one might think. The company has made several moves over the past year …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

My 2 Top Stocks: Ford and Core Laboratories

By Daniel Miller, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

I’m glad that I do my own investments and trades, because if a broker saw the percentage of my portfolio that belongs to Ford and Core Laboratories , it’d probably give them a heart attack. That’s how confident I was in these two stocks, and it’s been a nice ride for me thus far! Even after both have seen favorable run-ups over the last few months, I still believe they both are great buys today. Let’s take a look at a few factors I believe can bode well for these investments and could boost the stock prices even higher.

First up: Ford
I unfortunately don’t have enough space in this article to cover all the things I love about Ford. I’ll limit it to two specific factors – management and products – that show the strength of this company and why I believe it’s undervalued.

In a not so distant past, Ford had to dish out massive cash incentives to move vehicles off the lot. That was because the vehicles weren’t up to par, and the resale value plummeted as no one wanted to buy the vehicles without those incentives. That’s not the case today, and consumers are attracted to the newer vehicles more than ever. The Fusion, Focus, and Escape are all recently refreshed and are selling extremely well. Those three will help Ford boost its market share over the next few years. It wasn’t long ago that the only quality vehicle Ford produced was its F-Series truck. That, again, is not the case anymore. Consider this: Last year, Toyota recalled more vehicles than any automaker in the U.S. Second place went to Honda, at 3.3 million. Ford came in fourth, with a low 1.3 million vehicles recalled. Make no mistake, Ford’s quality is gaining ground, and quickly. 

Let’s take a look at Ford’s management, which I consider to be one of the most important factors when choosing investments. I recently wrote why I believe Alan Mulally is worth every penny of his salary and bonuses and am glad to have him at the helm through 2014. Management has consistently made the right decisions since Mulally took the reins. With those decisions, it was able to avoid bankruptcy in 2006, return to profitability two years ahead of predictions and earn record profits. Management has put in great incentive programs to create a leaner operation. One thing holding Ford’s stock back from soaring is the dim guidance for Europe. That’s why I’m buying now; Ford has been through this dance before, a la the U.S. market in 2008. Management knows what works, what doesn’t, and will apply that formula again in Europe. When the results comes to fruition, expect Fords stock to rise rapidly.

There’s no mistaking the value and ability of Ford’s management; its decisions have resulted in a drastic improvement of operating efficiencies, financials, and quality of vehicles that people now demand. It’s reduced union contracts and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance