Topic: Growth Stocks

TENNANT CO. $55 – New York symbol TNC

TENNANT CO. $55 (New York symbol TNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 18.3 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. tennantco.com) makes industrial floor-cleaning equipment, including scrubbers, sweepers and polishers. It also manufactures cleaning gear for garages, stadiums, parking lots and city streets.

The company continues to benefit from strong demand for products featuring its ec-H20 technology, which uses electricity to make tap water act like a detergent.

Tennant recently improved the effectiveness of this process with a new system it calls NanoClean, which creates millions of microscopic bubbles in the water. The company plans to add NanoClean technology to all of its commercial scrubbers.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Tennant’s sales fell 1.7%, to $215.4 million from $219.1 million a year earlier. Overseas markets supply a third of the company’s sales. If you disregard the negative impact of currency rates, sales rose 3.8%.

Earnings fell 4.5%, to $14.8 million, or $0.79 a share, from $15.5 million, or $0.83. Without currency exchange rates, per-share earnings gained 10.8%, to $0.92.

The company’s research spending in the quarter rose 9.8%, to $8.4 million (or 3.9% of sales) from $7.7 million (or 3.5% of sales). As a result, it expects to launch 33 new products this year. That’s on top of the 55 new products it launched between 2012 and 2014. Tennant aims to increase its annual sales to at least $1 billion by 2017.

The company’s balance sheet remains strong. It ended the latest quarter with cash of $67.6 million, and its long-term debt was just $21.1 million.

Tennant will probably earn $2.57 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at a somewhat high 21.4 times that estimate. The $0.80 dividend yields 1.4%.

Tennant is a hold.

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