Spartan Motors, Inc. (SPAR)

FCF

low pe ..motley 5 star stock to pop .... survived recession

screener pic and 5star, liked the blog article

Technical Bounce Likely

This account tracks the fast-growing shakers and movers and some of the riskier stocks on my watch list.

trading at 90% of book value and 5X earnings, low debt to equity, averaging 16% ROE over last decade, cyclical business whose market price is assuming not much of a future for this proven free cash flow generator.

Good fundamentals, and emergency vehicles aren't going anywhere soon.

8,7 US$ 14 Dec 2009

Good company in a battered sector. They managed to stay profitable throughout the recent economic storm. Solid cash position. Currently priced at book value.

Return to greatness.

I worked at a Heavy Duty truck outfitting company when I was just graduated from high school they were small but the volume and inventory turnaround was huge just from that one shop. Projects are coming SPAR will most definitely benefit from the capital thats being pumped into the economy. Its at a really attractive price at the moment to.

This is round #2 with Spartan Motors for me. Hopefully round #2 will bring results like round #1 did (143% gain in under 2 months).

The stock has a P/E (TTM) of 5.55 with positive earnings throughout this recession. Even though earnings have dropped the last few years it still has 5 year P/E growth. It has a decent 2% dividend, 21% debt to working capital ratio, 2.79 current ratio, currently trading at 91% of tangible book value and 149% of Net Current Asset Value.

This company seems to maintain a very strong balance sheet and keeps generating positive earnings even in a difficult environment.

Good PEG (0.59), decent dividend. Haven't had the best year in sales, but they seem to be financially strong and have managed to be quite profitable in this economy. Amazing ROE and ROA.

Just basically watching the price pattern of Spartan Motors. Over the the next couple years, if the economy improves the fortunes of Spartan will likely go with it. They are a fairly well run organization. They may go as low as $3.00/share again, but I doubt much lower. As I write this, they just broke below $5. I may start dabbling in a few shares at this price.

Small caps outperform large caps in bull markets. At 165 mil, this is a small cap. Bull markets correlate strongest with periods of strong government incentives. Between low interest rates, extended unemployment benefits, etc, this is a period of strong government incentives.

As a growth stock, SPAR's 5 yr ROE is 20%. Ten yr eps growth rate = 17.6%.

As a value stock, p/e is 5.6, low debt, a 2% yield, good cash flow, and a price below book.

See my September 2009 blog:
http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=267799&t=01001638641678935351

HT TSIF

Mr Market is over exhuberant about many companies not making a profit in this recession and tossing aside some consistant winners. Spartan Motors, despite it's key business, RV chassis being in the tanker, has managed to maintain a profit from it's specialty vehicles, (Emergency Vehicles and special class military vehicles). It even continues to pay a small 2% dividend, although if the recesssion continues, that could be at risk. Spartan is one of the few companies not taking part in the last three month rally, mostly because of an honest assessment when it reported revenues last quarter. Trailing P/E of 6, trading just below book, minimal debt, 5% profit margins, and good ROE. Any turn in the economy should get the RV chassis's moving and Spartan's current profit levels are sufficient that it can wait.

same screen as for vsec.
ebit/ev yield is about 36% and roe and roi are 16 and 14.7. prob sell when yield is 10%