Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. The firm is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 14,000 employees work at over 1,100 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.
The firm surprised investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q4 EPS of 78 cents and revenues of $1.09 billion. Analysts had been looking for 73 cents and $1.07 billion. The CEO noted that strategic product categories (healthcare, research, environmental, food & beverage) posted 11% organic growth in the quarter. The EPS figure was a company record. Management also guided Q1 EPS to 79-81 cents (74 cent consensus) and FY09 EPS to $3.24-$3.40 ($3.10 consensus).
MOST NOTEWORTHY: U.S. Auto Parts, DealerTrack and AspenBio Pharma were today's noteworthy downgrades:
Piper downgraded shares of U.S. Auto Parts (NASDAQ: PRTS) to Neutral from Buy following the company's Q4 results.
JMP Securities cut DealerTrack (NASDAQ: TRAK) to Market Perform from Strong Buy as they believe future market share losses to RouteOne are more significant than previously believed.
Oppenheimer has concerns that most of AspenBio Pharma's (NASDAQ: APPY) market value is tied to the AppyScore test for appendicitis, while available clinical data may not be sufficient to drive adoption. The firm lowered APPY to Perform from Outperform.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Wachovia cut Reddy Ice (NYSE: FRZ) to Market Perform from Outperform.
Deutsche Bank lowered its rating on Valspar (NYSE: VAL) and Airgas (NYSE: ARG) to Hold from Buy.
Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. The firm is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 14,000 employees work at over 1,100 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.
The firm surprised investors earlier in the week, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 67 cents and revenues of $1.01 billion. Analysts had been looking for 65 cents and $1.0 billion. Management also guided Q4 EPS to 72-74 cents, versus Street consensus of 71 cents.
When corporate types start talking about expansion by acquisition, folks naturally think of the technology sector. The practice works just fine elsewhere, though. There is an outfit in Radnor, Pennsylvania that exerts much pressure in the gas distribution game, by virtue of more than 350 acquisitions over the past 21 years.
Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases and welding equipment. It is also one of the largest U.S. distributors of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products. More than 11,000 employees work at over 900 locations, including branches, retail stores, gas fill plants, specialty gas labs, production facilities and distribution centers.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: CNOOC Ltd (CEO), NYSE EuroNext (NYX), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Digital River (DRIV) and Home Depot (HD) topped today's more noteworthy upgrades:
Credit Suisse upgraded shares of CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) to Outperform from Neutral to reflect projections for output growth...
Piper upgraded NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) to Market Perform from Underperform as they believe the risk/reward is balanced following the completion of the Euronext acquisition. They believe shares can move higher if the company's market share is stabilized...
Bear upgraded shares of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to Outperform from Peer Perform citing the integration of the L.A. systems, which they feel is progressing smoothly, and potential for increased equity returns...
Jefferies upgraded shares of Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they find the risk/reward attractive at current levels and believe new customers such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Electronic Arts (ERTS) will diversify the company's revenue base...
Home Depot (NYSE HD) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel following the company's sale of its HD Supply unit, as well as its $22.5B repurchase program...
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