Flowserve (FLS)

FLS

May 7, 2008

I currently recommend Flowserve Corporation (FLS), this week’s stock of the week, to my Emerging Growth subscribers. The company, along with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells pumps, valves, mechanical seals and other various precision-engineered flow control equipment. Ever since its 2000 acquisition of Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps, Flowserve has become the world’s largest provider of pumps for the chemical, petroleum and power industries.

There have been a number of announcements from the company that make this stock my favorite right now. Recently, Flowserve announced that it won a major pump order from Qatar Petroleum. The company also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the China National Nuclear Corporation and SUFA Technology Industry Company. This joint venture will produce nuclear valves exclusively for the Chinese domestic nuclear market. With China’s economic boom, I feel this news predicts an excellent future for Flowserve’s global expansion.

The booming oil service and refinery business is also helping to boost Flowserve’s sales and earnings. On top of that, the company is actually benefiting from a weak U.S. dollar which makes its pumps more competitively priced around the world. 

The company reported $88 million in first quarter profits on April 28. Flowserve announced that its first quarter profits more than doubled from a year ago, earning $1.53 per share, compared with $44.6 million, or 59 cents per share, in the same period last year. The industrial pumps and flow management producer benefited from a weak dollar and strong sales in the oil and gas market, a benefit reflected in the company’s $993.3 million quarterly sales, up from $803.4 million last year. Flowserve’s full-year 2008 guidance earnings estimate was raised to $5.90 to $6.20 per share compared to the company’s original earnings estimate of $5.10 to $5.40 per share.

It’s clear that Flowserve has plenty of room to grow and expand. Don’t want to take my word for it? Just look to the news blurbs coming out about the stock. In fact, TheStreet.com recently named FLS as their number one Top 5 pick of the week and they sure didn’t regret it as the stock rose 12% at one point during the week, settling at a 9% rise. Currently the stock is up over 31% for my Emerging Growth subscribers and I can just tell that this is only the beginning.  FLS is an excellent buy for any portfolio.