Savings Experiment: Snow Removal
The Money Man Behind Rick Santorum: Who Is Foster S. Friess?PAREXEL International Corporation (NASDAQ: PRXL) provides
contract research, medical marketing and consulting services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Its Clinical Research Services segment offers clinical trial and data management, clinical pharmacology and related medical advisory services. The Consulting and Medical Communications Services unit offers technical advice on new product development, marketing and regulatory affairs. Subsidiary Perceptive Informatics sells IT system, medical imaging, and related services that help manage clinical trials.
The company pleased investors last week, when it guided fiscal Q4 EPS to 25-26 cents and revenues to $258-$265 million. Analysts had been looking for 26 cents and $259.31 million. Management also guided FY09 EPS to $1.10-$1.20 ($1.08 consensus) and FY09 revenues to $1.11-$1.14 billion ($1.14B consensus). Raymond James subsequently upgraded the stock to "outperform", noting that the firm "will exhibit a strong growth profile due to a strong biopharmaceutical outsourcing market, a large geographic footprint and a diversified service offering."
The news
boosted the shares through strong moving average resistance into a bullish "pennant" consolidation pattern. Stocks frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.
Brokers recommend the issue with three "strong buys", two "buys" and six "holds". Analysts see a 28% growth rate, through the next year. The PRXL Price to Sales ratio (1.39), Sales Growth rate (28.29%), EPS Growth rate (47.06%) and Return on Investment (12.06%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past fifty-two weeks, it has traded between $19.21 and $29.76. A stop-loss of $23.20 looks good here. Note that the company is expected to release Q4 results in early August.
Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold a position in the stock discussed above.
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