Tennant Company (TNC)

Tennant is one of those sleepy companies that most people just don't even think about. Yes, we all like our floors to be clean, but how often do you really think about how Costco or GM plants clean?

Tennant has 3 distinct channels- direct sales for the industrial market, distribution for the smaller products and national accounts for both. They are the class of the industry in all three.

Most exciting is their cutting edge technology that is focusing on the green movement. Watch this sector of the company- if they can convince the end-user, the distributors will have to follow suit in order to supply their customers. If that happens, you will see more and more products come into play, and the competition will continue to try and play catch-up.

They are well managed in the field, and well run in the executive ranks. Admittedly, they are a bit top-heavy with senior management, and those guys are paid well. But all in all, they have solid products, solid people, and solid margins. Although they are an industrial company, they are well diversified in the industries they serve. Not recession proof, but I would say recession resistant, more so than most others.

The growth for Tennant lies in their ability to capture more of the market in schools, universities, and the healthcare industry- if they can achieve that this will will be a nice, sleepy pick where you can get 8-12% growth each year.