Topic: Growth Stocks

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $30 – New York symbol BR

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $30 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 119.1 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 85% of all proxy votes in the U.S.

In its 2013 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2013, Broadridge’s earnings rose 10.6%, to $236.0 million from $213.4 million in fiscal 2012. Earnings per share rose 12.6%, to $1.88 from $1.67. These figures exclude unusual items, such as writedowns and costs to integrate recent acquisitions.

Revenue rose 5.5%, to $2.4 billion from $2.3 billion. Revenue from the company’s Investor Communications division (which supplies 73% of the total) rose 7.7%. Broadridge held on to 99% of its existing customers. It also continues to do a good job of signing clients to long-term deals that generate recurring revenue.

The Securities Processing division (27% of total revenue) saw its sales rise just 0.8%. Lower trading volumes and the sale of a business mostly offset contributions from new contracts and a company Broadridge recently bought.

Broadridge’s balance sheet remains strong. Its longterm debt of $524.5 million is just 15% of its market cap. It also held cash of $266.0 million, or $2.24 a share, as of June 30, 2013.

Excluding unusual items, Broadridge expects to earn $2.00 to $2.10 a share in fiscal 2014. The stock trades at a reasonable 14.6 times the midpoint of this range. The company has also raised its dividend each year for the past six years. The current annual rate of $0.84 a share yields 2.8%.

Broadridge is a buy.

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