Topic: Growth Stocks

GENUINE PARTS CO. $91 – New York symbol GPC

GENUINE PARTS CO. $91 (New York symbol GPC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 150.8 million; Market cap: $13.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.genpt.com) gets about half of its sales and earnings by selling replacement auto parts. The company operates 1,100 outlets under the NAPA banner, and its distribution business serves 4,900 independent stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Genuine also distributes industrial parts, office products and electrical equipment. It gets 80% of its revenue from the U.S.

The company recently agreed to buy Covs Parts, an auto-parts distributor in Western Australia.

Genuine didn’t say how much it is paying, but Covs should add $90 million a year to its sales. However, the company may have to sell some of Covs’25 stores to satisfy Australian competition regulators. It should complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, Genuine’s revenue fell 1.6% in the three months ended September 30, 2015, to $3.9 billion from $4.0 billion a year earlier. But if you exclude currency rates, revenue rose 2%. Gains at its office products and electrical equipment divisions offset declines at the automotiveand industrial-parts businesses.

Overall earnings slipped 1.3%, to $188.0 million from $190.5 million, while earnings per share were unchanged at $1.24 on fewer shares outstanding.

The stock trades at 19.8 times the $4.59 a share Genuine will probably earn in 2015. That’s a high p/e, but it’s still reasonable in light of the company’s strong brands and long-term prospects. The $2.46 dividend yields 2.7%.

Genuine Parts is a buy.

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