Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Recommended September Buy: Oceaneering

Ticker OII (NYSE)
Fiscal Year End December
Recent price (Closing Price on September 30, 2015) $39.28
Market Capitalization $3.97 Billion
52 week range $37.00 – $72.19
Enterprise Value to EBIT (last full year) 7.5
EV to EBIT (7 year average earnings) 11.5
Enterprise Value to sustainable Free Cash Flow (last full year) 9.6
EV to SFCF (7 year average earnings) 17.0
Enterprise Value to Book 2.8
EV to Book (7 year average Book value) 3.1


Having originated as a group of diving services companies, Oceaneering is now a provider of equipment and services to the offshore oil and gas industry. According to its filings, the company has over a third of all Remotely Operated Vehicles, small submersible vehicles for deepwater tasks, in the world. It also provides and rents out other specialty offshore oilfield products, as well as services ranging from installation and maintenance to testing and inspection. Finally Oceaneering also uses its marine expertise to provide services to the US Navy, NASA and the theme park industry.

I picked Oceaneering for notching a score of 8 on Alpha Architect’s) tweaked Piotroski F-Score. It came up short only on having higher Long term debt and lower total asset turnover than in the previous year. Oceaneering is undervalued based on its ratio of Enterprise Value to Average EBIT, which is just under 12 times currently, while I estimate it to be worth around 17 times its average EBIT. It also does not seem to be overvalued based on its ratio of Enterprise Value to Average Book value. Oceaneering’s lowest Return on Invested Capital in the past 10 years was 13% and it has been much higher most other years. Despite the slump in oil prices, Oceaneering’s operations and profits have not been hurt nearly as much as other companies. It should still be able to generate returns of around 14% this year. Should oil prices rebound in the next couple of years, these numbers would be higher but the company is still generating enough profitability in the current environment. Oceaneering constitutes a buy at below $42 per share.

Disclosure: I own shares in Oceaneering

Oceaneering, Sept 2014 to Sept 2015

Recommended September Buy: Corning

Ticker GLW (NYSE)
Fiscal Year End December
Recent price (Closing Price on September 30, 2015) $17.11
Market Capitalization $21.60 Billion
52 week range $15.42 – $25.16
Enterprise Value to EBIT (last full year) 6.7
EV to EBIT (7 year average earnings) 8.4
Enterprise Value to sustainable Free Cash Flow (last full year) 7.0
EV to SFCF (7 year average earnings) 11.2
Enterprise Value to Book 1.1
EV to Book (7 year average Book value) 1.3


Corning is a producer of specialty glass and ceramics components for various technology fields. Its biggest business line is the Display Technologies segment, which makes glass substrates used the production of LCD displays for TVs, mobiles devices, etc. It accounts for about 40% of the company’s revenues. The Optical Communications line provides optical fiber solutions, both hardware and services, to the telecom industry, displacing traditional copper based systems. Environmental Technologies produces ceramic substrates and filter products. These are particularly used in motor vehicles to help control emissions. The Life Sciences segment caters to laboratories, supplying them with various highly specialized laboratory products from surfaces to dishes. Finally, the Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that don’t neatly fit into the previous categories, except maybe for the Gorilla Glass brand, which currently is Corning’s most visible product.

Corning registered a Piotroski score of 8 (based on Alpha Architect’s) modifications), failing only to improve its Current ratio and its Gross margin. When it comes to valuation, it is cheap on almost all metrics. I picked it for trading at over 30% to its value based on its average sustainable Free Cash Flow, but it also trades at consistent discounts based on its book value and on earnings before interest and taxes. Historically Corning has not been this cheap relative to its performance in a long time. Its depressed price would seem to reflect fears that its display business, its biggest profit engine, will get pressured by competitors. But the company remains solidly profitable. It has the financial resources and knowledge to innovate and overcome any likely short-term setbacks.

Disclosure: I own shares in Corning Inc.

Corning, Sept 2014 to Sept 2015