Topic: Growth Stocks

Invacare Corp. $24 – New York symbol IVC

INVACARE CORP. $24 (New York symbol IVC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 30.9 million; Market cap: $741.6 million; WSSF Rating: Average) makes wheelchairs, motorized scooters and other mobility and home care products.

It sells them through over 15,000 home health care and medical equipment dealers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, as well as directly to government agencies. Foreign markets account for about a third of Invacare’s sales.

In the second quarter of 2007, sales rose 5.8% to $393.3 million from $371.8 million a year earlier. Most of the increase came from favorable foreign exchange rates and an acquisition. Earnings before restructuring charges fell 41.7%, to $0.14 a share (total $4.3 million) from $0.24 a share ($7.6 million). Invacare spends roughly 2% of its sales on research.

The lower earnings come from government cutbacks, which have hurt sales of Invacare’s high-margin products, particularly power wheelchairs and oxygen equipment. Rising steel, energy and other costs have also hurt profit growth.

Invacare is now aggressively restructuring its operations, including shifting more production to lowcost countries and simplifying its product lines. These changes should cut the company’s 2007 pre-tax expenses by $38 million. Invacare aims to eventually trim $56 million from its annual expenses.

Proposed changes that would increase Medicare reimbursements to buyers of breathing equipment should also help spur Invacare’s sales.

The stock trades at 25.3 times the $0.95 a share it will probably earn in 2007. But savings from the restructuring will probably lift earnings in 2008 to $1.22 a share, which implies a more reasonable p/e of 19.7. The $0.05 dividend yields 0.2%.

Invacare is a buy.

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