Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What is your view on Arris Group, a maker of PVRs and other equipment? The market for this technology seems to be in high expansion mode.

Article Excerpt

Arris Group, $11.75, symbol ARRS on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 121.2 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.arrisi.com), supplies phone and cable companies with the technology they need to deliver video, data and voice services. For example, the company supplies equipment that lets cable operators offer personal video recording (PVR) services, which let viewers record TV programs and view them when it’s convenient. Arris also sells the PVR boxes that consumers use in their homes. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Arris’s revenue rose slightly, to $274.4 million from $274.3 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.11. The company holds cash of $575 million, or $4.74 a share. Its long-term debt of $206.8 million is just 14.8% of its market cap. The company has been relying on two customers for a large part of its revenue: Time Warner (12% of revenue in the latest quarter) and Comcast (29%). This has been an ongoing risk factor. However, Arris recently bought BigBand…