Shift to software cuts risk for NCR

Article Excerpt

NCR CORP. $29 (New York symbol NCR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 118.6 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ncr.com) makes automated teller machines (ATMs), cash registers, self-serve checkouts and kiosks for theatres and arenas. Due to slowing demand for its hardware products, NCR continues to expand its more-profitable software and services operations. In the second quarter of 2018, those two businesses supplied 70% of its revenue. That’s up from 66% a year earlier. Plant closures and other cost cutting should also reduce the company’s annual expenses by $150 million starting in 2020. NCR now expects to earn between $2.55 and $2.75 a share in 2018. The stock trades at just 10.9 times the midpoint of that range. NCR is still a buy. buy…