My latest post is up at RealMoney.

I think there is still quite a bit of run left in the energy bull market. That belief has led me to some good picks, such as Patterson Uti (PTEN) and Flowserve (FLS) , as well as one bad one, Frontier Oil (FTO) . My models recently brought W&T Offshore (WTI) into focus, and I’m thinking it is more likely one of the former than the latter.

The stock shows up very well in the Stock Market Beat models:

• Earnings momentum score: 1 (Positive)
• Earnings quality score: 5% (Positive)
• Price momentum score: 37% (Positive)
• Free cash flow yield: 10.6% (Positive)
• Return potential: 16.8% (Positive)

Capital expenditures are ramping up, which will hurt free cash flow in the near time. If the expenditures are as successful as those of the past, however, the cash should start flowing again after a year or two.

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Disclosure: Author is long UNITED STS OIL FD LP UNITS (USO) at time of publication.

My latest column is up at RealMoney.

I dissect the jobs report to see which industries are showing the best/worst growth in new hiring, on the thesis that companies in these industries may present investment opportunities.

The fastest growing industries are restaurants, hospitals, mine services, machinery, and oil & gas extraction. The worst were transportation equipment and a plethora of housing-related sectors.

Disclosure: At time of publication, William Trent owns shares of Starbucks (SBUX).

Disclosure: Author is long Starbucks (SBUX) at time of publication.

My latest post is up at RealMoney.

In it, I extend yesterday’s observations about the hidden strength in durable goods orders to specific industries that might benefit. Among those industries were primary metals, computers and electronic products, and motor vehicles and parts.

These industries may prove to be a good starting point for further research.

This article is a reprint of my February 13, 2008 RealMoney column.

Late last year I used the government’s PPI data by industry to scout out 26 investment ideas, among which were industrial valve manufacturers Flowserve (FLS), Crane (CR) and Curtiss-Wright (CW - Annual Report). In October, I said Flowserve may be the best way to play the PPI report.

Since that column in October, Flowserve has gained more than 22.5%, while the S&P lost nearly 12%. Now the question is whether to let this winner ride or to take the money and run. For now, I think the answer is to keep on going with the Flowserve.

For one thing, they call them “industrial” valves for a reason – and that means there is likely limited exposure to a consumer slowdown. According to the most recent 10K, the company’s customer mix by end market is approximately 43% oil and gas, 23% general industrial, 15% chemical, 13% power generation and 6% water treatment. These are industries with long-term planning needs, many of which are finding themselves behind the curve. I don’t see them slowing their spending any time soon.

This is supported by the pricing power the industry continues to enjoy. Although off the 2007 peak in the double digits, the year/year change in January was still far above the industry’s long-term average and still indicating an overall rising trend.

12-month Percent Change in Industrial Valve Manufacturing Prices

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The pricing power is also flowing through to earnings. Flowserve is set to announce earnings on February 27, but they preannounced in a big positive way at the end of January, which explains most of the stock’s run. Curtiss Wright shares, meanwhile, gained 7% on Tuesday when their earnings beat estimates by $0.09 per share “led by our Flow Control and Metal Treatment segments, which experienced strong organic growth of 23% and 15%, respectively, over the prior year periods.” Crane also walloped estimates when it reported last month.

All these positive estimate revisions caused Flowserve’s Zacks rank to jump up to 1, putting the company among the top 5% of all companies measured in terms of earnings momentum. According to Dan Fitzpatrick, as of last Friday the technicals supported a buy (with appropriate risk controls.)

As with most stock ideas, Flowserve has some downside risk – particularly with regard to valuation levels. In particular, its 1.8% free cash flow yield is below the yield on Treasuries – meaning that a good deal of the return must come from growth. There are several names that offer similar growth and higher free cash flow yields, particularly among the software companies I look at. Still, I think there could be benefit to owning Flowserve for diversification purposes.

Its 19x forward P/E ratio isn’t among the cheapest available, and is toward the high end of the 8x – 24x range at which Flowserve has traded over the last five years. Its price/book ratio is also significantly higher than those of its peers. I would not be at all surprised to see the valuation contract in the short term, and I am virtually certain it will contract in the longer term.

But taking the valuation ratios down to the five year average over the next five years would knock about 4-5% per year off the return, by my estimates. Given the 20% annual expected growth rate over that period, that still leaves room for annual returns of 15% or so, which I think will far outpace the S&P 500 over that time.

Disclosures: None

Zacks Investment Research has provided Stock Market Beat with a complimentary trial subscription to Research Wizard.

Last month I showed how investors can generate investment ideas by using the Producer Price Index (PPI) report prepared monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The idea is that industries where prices are rising may contain companies where revenue will grow faster and/or margins will improve.

Of course, like any initial screen the PPI report is only a starting place. It is useful to generate ideas, but further research is needed to determine whether they are good ideas. This month, I do some of that further research.

One industry where the price increases have been flowing is industrial valves. Although the increases have been flattening out somewhat, the 8.3% year/year gain in September is still pretty sweet.

As I mentioned last month, some of the industrial valve makers include Flowserve (FLS), Crane (CR) and Curtiss Wright (CW - Annual Report). Let’s see how they are doing.

According to Flowserve, the PPI indicator is right on the money. Flowserve noted in its latest earnings report that its Flow Control Division’s “gross margin of 35.6% for the second quarter of 2007 was substantially higher than the second quarter of 2006, up 140 basis points. This increase was principally due to improved absorption on higher sales, the implementation of various Continuous Improvement Programs and cost reduction initiatives and improved pricing.” With sales up 13%, bookings up 15%, and pricing remaining strong it looks like the trends could continue for some time.

Crane is also doing well. Crane’s Fluid Handling segment saw a 13% gain in sales and a 30% increase in backlog in the latest quarter. However, “Margins remained at 12% reflecting more price competitive project work and investments in new products and systems to support future growth.” That “price competition” isn’t doing any damage yet, but it could. It may be especially important to watch the PPI reports on a continuing basis to find the right time to get out of a position before the eventual loss of pricing power is picked up in an earnings report three months later.

For Curtiss Wright’s Flow Control division, “Sales for the second quarter of 2007 were $163.2 million, up 26% over the comparable period last year due to solid organic growth and the contribution from the 2006 and 2007 acquisitions. Sales from the base businesses increased 14% in the second quarter of 2007 as compared to the prior year period.” Profitability declined primarily due to cost overruns on a Navy project, but the company noted that margins were also impacted by “labor inefficiencies, business consolidation costs, and higher material costs experienced within our oil and gas market.” The stock has rallied on strong results and increased guidance from its other divisions, however.

After taking a closer look at the three valve makers, I think Flowserve may be the best way to play the PPI report. For one thing, valves and related products make up a larger part of its revenue. As a purer play, the pricing information conveyed from valve PPI is more relevant. It’s true that the better performance has not gone unnoticed by the stock market, which has boosted FLS shares more than those of CW or CR in the last couple of years. However, based on the continued strong pricing environment it looks like that strong performance could be sustained.

Disclosure: Author is long UNITED STS OIL FD LP UNITS (USO) at time of publication.

Originally published at RealMoney on September 19, 2007.

Tony Crescenzi says the latest PPI report should be tossed because the benign headline reading will almost certainly be reversed in the months ahead owing to the surge in energy costs that has occurred of late. I say not so fast! If prices are rising, that means some companies out there are likely to see better profits. Before tossing out the report, I’m betting we can figure out who a few of them will be.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which prepares the PPI report, provides detailed information on an industry basis. The problem is figuring out how to find it on their web site. Starting at the PPI home page, I scroll down to the headline that says “Get Detailed PPI Statistics” then click on Industry Data. You can then pick out which industries you want to see (I pick ‘em all) and click “Retrieve Data.” Then I select “More Formatting Options” and click on the boxes for 12-month percent change, all years, and include graphs. Once I hit “retrieve data” again I have what I’m looking for - graphs that make it easy to tell which industries are gaining or losing their pricing power.

First up is the fruit and vegetable canning industry. At 5.3% year/year inflation, pricing is clearly better than normal. It is down from a recent peak but still looks to be generally in a rising trend.

Possible plays on this industry include can makers such as Ball Corp. (BLL), Crown Holdings CCK - Annual Report), or Silgan (SLGN - Annual Report). Or you can go to the food processors such as Campbell Soup (CPB), Del Monte (DLM - Annual Report), Hain Celestial (HAIN), or HJ Heinz (HNZ).

Looking better still are industrial valves, up 9.3% year/year against tough comparisons.

Some of the industrial valve makers include Flowserve (FLS), Crane (CR) and Curtiss Wright (CW - Annual Report).

But enough with boring “old” industries. How about tech? It is seldom that tech prices actually increase, but sometimes they decline at a slower than usual pace, which can provide a similar opportunity. That may be the case right now with computer storage devices.

Last month’s 2.9% decline from last year was the smallest price drop on record for this industry, and the ongoing consolidation may help the trend continue. Plenty of ways to play this one, including Brocade (BRCD), EMC (EMC - Annual Report), Iomega (IOM), Hutchinson (HTCH), Quantum (QTM), Sandisk (SNDK - Annual Report), Seagate (STX - Annual Report), and Western Digital (WDC).

By contrast, semiconductors are experiencing the worst pricing on record.

That could be the signal for a contrarian play (I happen to think the worst will soon be over for semiconductors) or possibly just an excuse to avoid the group for a while.

The PPI clued me in to the opportunity in railroads a year before Buffett bought in. I hestitate to bet against him, but it looks like the industry’s price increases have ground to a halt.

If you have the guts, I’d count this as bad news for Burlington Northern (BNI), CSX Corp. (CSX), Norfolk Southern (NSC), and Union Pacific (UNP).

Finally, Wired Telecommunications saw pricing decline for years after the 1996 Telecom Act, but recent consolidation is allowing them to raise prices again.

Winners here would be CenturyTel (CTL), AT&T (T - Annual Report), Verizon (VZ - Annual Report) and Embarq (EQ).

By my count, that is 26 potential stock tips, all courtesy of the U.S. government. I’ll take that over tossing the report any day.

Disclosure: Long Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH).

Featured at the Festival of Stocks.

Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member American Standard Companies Inc. (ASD) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell the company’s worldwide Bath and Kitchen products business to funds advised by Bain Capital Partners, LLC, a leading global private investment firm, for $1.755 billion in cash. Upon completion of the sale, Bain Capital will acquire all of American Standard’s Bath and Kitchen business with 2006 annual sales of $2.4 billion, 26,000 employees and 54 production facilities in 23 countries worldwide. American Standard will then change its name to Trane. Trane is the flagship brand of its global Air
Conditioning Systems and Services business, which last year generated sales of $6.8 billion.

At 0.73x sales, American Standard is selling the bath and kitchen division for a multiple lower than the company’s own 1.03x. However, the lower valuation appears more than justified, because according to the company’s annual report the division had lower asset turnover and lower profitability. Many investors are excited about the prospect of the company’s strongest division trading on a stand-alone basis.

The Economic Calendar is quiet in the early part of this week but there are important reports at the end of the week. On Thursday is the Durable Goods report, for which the consensus estimates a 2.0% increase. On Friday is the Preliminary Estimate of 2Q GDP, which the consensus has pegged at 3.2%. That sounds a little high to me based on the economic data table I’ve been compiling.

EconomicData

The Earnings Calendar is as busy as it can get. Some of the names I’ll be watching:

Monday

• Altera (ALTR) - Xilinx (XLNX)  filed an awful report. Can Altera do any better? Consensus is $0.19 EPS on sales of $314 million.
• Hexcel (HXL) - This Small Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member was seeing rising estimates until last month, when they were cut from $0.20 to the current $0.17.
• Steel Dynamics (STLD - Annual Report) - The Mid Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member is expected to earn $1.04 on sales of $948 million.
• Texas Instruments (TXN - Annual Report) - expected to earn $0.42 on $3.45 billion in sales.

Tuesday

• CH Robinson (CHRW - Annual Report) - estimates have been rising and now stand at $0.47, but Landstar (LSTR - Annual Report) disappointed.
• CDW Corporation (CDWC) - stellar monthly sales reports have kept estimates rising. They now stand at $0.97.
• EMC Corporation (EMC - Annual Report) - The big news is still the VMWare IPO, but it is also a decent look at enterprise tech spend.
• Laboratory Corporation of America (LH) - The Mid Cap and Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member has been seeing positive earnings revisions and is now expected to earn $1.09 on $1.03 billion in revenue.
• Lexmark (LXK) preannounced and will probably offer poor guidance.
• Linear Technology (LLTC) - expected to earn $0.35 on $267 million in sales.
• Norsk Hydro (NHY) - The Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member has no analyst coverage right now.
• Plantronics (PLT) - my covered call position is now being cashed out so I’ve no skin in this one. But it is often volatile.
• United Parcel Services (UPS) is a great read on the health of the economy. Expectations are $1.03 on $12.23 billion in revenue.

Wednesday

• Arkansas Best (ABFS) - after Landstar’s (LSTR - Annual Report) weak quarter I’m expecting a poor showing. Estimates have come down to $0.67, but may not have come down enough.
• Colgate Palmolive (CL) - Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member unlikely to surprise much. Consensus is $0.83 on $3.31 billion.
• Corning (GLW - Annual Report) - is LCD supply/demand back in balance?
• Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX - Annual Report) -Another Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member with dramatic positive earnings revisions, now standing at $2.71.
• Graco (GGG) is another Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member. Estimates have been coming down and are now at $0.61.
• MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) - Is polysilicon supply catching up to demand for this Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member?
• Xerox (XRX) - can they make the numbers without asking investors to ignore a bunch of stuff? I don’t doubt they will earn $0.27 as expected but wonder how they’ll get there.

Thursday

• Federated Investors (FII) is on the Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) and expected to earn $0.54.
• Ingram Micro (IM) is on the Small Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) and expected to earn $0.36.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) - I know the semiconductor equipment fundamentals stink. I want to know how much and whether it is priced in.
• NII Holdings (NIHD) is on the Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) and expected to earn $0.49.
• Western Digital (WDC) is on the Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) and expected to earn $0.36.

Disclosure: William Trent has a long position in SMH.

Large Cap Watch List (Track at Marketocracy) member American Standard (ASD) announced second-quarter net income per diluted share of 84 cents in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), down from 93 cents a year ago. The decrease was driven by restructuring costs. Adjusted net income per diluted share was $1.05, up 14.1 percent from second quarter a year ago. The company had provided second- quarter net income per diluted share guidance of 98 cents-$1.04 on a GAAP basis and $1.03-$1.09 on an adjusted basis and analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.08.

When I previewed the earnings report, I noted that “they are on the move. They’re picking up momentum and I suspect they will top estimates.” Clearly my suspicions were wrong, and I probably should have known better than to take a stand on a company doing so much reorganizing. While I think the restructuring will be beneficial in the long term, the report illustrates how much volatility can result in the short term.

The company also updated its full-year guidance:

“If we were staying together as one company, we would expect full-year GAAP net income per diluted share of $3.21-$3.31 (including $85-$88 million for separation costs, net of tax, and separation-related tax costs) and net income per diluted share of $3.30-$3.40 on an adjusted basis (an increase of 24-27 percent over adjusted 2006 net income per diluted share).”

This compares with a consensus estimate of $3.37, and considering the $0.03 miss in Q2 the midpoint for the rest of the year is actually slightly higher than the previous consensus estimate. I think the market is taking a more cautious approach to the remainder of the year in light of today’s surprise.

 This morning’s PPI report showd that the frantic price increases for industrial valves have cooled a bit. Still, price gains are well above the long-term average and the general trend still seems to be rising.

According to Alexander’s Gas & Oil Connections:

The market leader positions in the industry changed considerably with the acquisition of Invensys Flow Control by Flowserve (FLS). The combination is now the second largest supplier with a 4 % market share. This compares to a 6 % share for the leader Tyco (TYC). Emerson (EMR) with 3 % is in the third position.The industry is very splintered with more than 1,000 companies carving out niches.

Moog (MOG.A) and Curtiss Wright are others that come to mind as possible beneficiaries.