Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What is your opinion of Avnet, Inc.? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Avnet, Inc., $43.95, symbol AVT on New York (Shares outstanding: 138.3 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; www.avnet.com), is the world’s largest distributor of electronic components, including processor chips, as well as computers and storage products, to resellers and businesses, based on sales. The company links around 800 makers of electronic components, computers and software with over 100,000 customers. IBM is Avnet’s biggest client, supplying 13% of its revenue. In the three months ended June 28, 2014, the company’s revenue rose 6.9%, to $7.0 billion from $6.6 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share gained 11.8%, to $1.14 from $1.02. The company holds a high cash balance of $929.0 million, or $6.71 a share. Its $2.1 billion of total debt is a manageable 34% of its $6.1-billion market cap. Avnet trades at 10.5 times this year’s forecast earnings of $4.20 a share. It has just raised its quarterly dividend by 6.7%, to $0.16 from $0.15. The stock now yields 1.5%. The company operates…