Topic: Growth Stocks

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $42 – New York symbol BR

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $42 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 119.5 million; Market cap: $5.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.6%; 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.

Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $144.6 million in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2014. That’s up 1.5% from $142.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 0.9%, to $1.16 from $1.15, on more shares outstanding.

Overall revenue gained 2.4%, to $885.9 million from $865.1 million. Revenue from contracts that pay recurring fees rose 7% and accounted for two-thirds of the total. The remaining third comes from one-time events, such as notifications of special shareholder meetings and sending out information when mutual funds change managers.

Excluding unusual items, Broadridge now expects to earn $2.42 to $2.52 a share in fiscal 2015. The stock trades at a reasonable 17.0 times the midpoint of that range.

As well, Broadridge’s long-term debt of $524.1 million is a low 10% of its market cap, and it holds cash of $347.6 million, or $2.91 a share.

The company recently raised its annual dividend rate for the seventh straight year. The new payout of $1.08 a share, up 28.6% from $0.84, yields 2.6%.

Broadridge is a buy.

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