Universal Corp (NYSE:UVV)

zwalt99 (98.27) Submitted: 7/6/2009 8:06:53 PM : Start Price: $29.81 UVV Score: +3.82

Low leverage and great fundamentals -- both when comparing the share price with the income statement and balance sheet. Also, the company generates plenty of cash from operations to sustain the nice dividend.

The FDA can go ahead and regulate tobacco. A) Many people will choose to smoke regardless of any warning labels and B) much of the company's income comes from outside the U.S.

TMFBigVice (95.11) Submitted: 8/5/2008 3:30:44 PM : Start Price: $44.51 UVV Score: -6.22

Universal Corp (UVV) is a new addition to the BigVice portfolio. I stumbled across it while screening for highly-rated tobacco stocks with good fundamentals using the CAPS screener and I'm glad I did. Universal Corp is essentially the lifeblood of big tobacco, which is a good position to be in.

Put simply, Universal buys, selects, finances and processes leaf tobacco in Africa, Brazil, and North America and sells the cured tobacco product to the likes of Altria, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco and others to be rolled into cigarettes and other finished tobacco goods. It's main competitor is Alliance One International (AOI) and UVV believes it has a market share lead over AOI. UVV also happens to be the better investment of the two.

For one, UVV pays a dividend -- and a solid one (3.4% yield) at that. Moreover, it just marked 37 consecutive years of dividend increases. The balance sheet is also stronger at UVV -- interest coverage of 5.9x vs. 1.2x for AOI. UVV posted 11.1% return on equity over the past twelve months, up from 8.1% the previous year. Inventory is a major metric as you might imagine with fluctuations in crop yields and shipping patterns.

There's been a change at the CEO position this year, but the new CEO George Freeman III is an internal hire who has been with the company for over ten years.

Bottom line: this is a top-notch company with strong fundamentals in an enormous market that will be necessary and profitable for the foreseeable future. It might be a bumpy ride along the way, but this is a long-term buy candidate anyway.

Fair value: $63-$66

Todd

CVagts (92.98) Submitted: 5/28/2008 11:01:49 AM : Start Price: $41.98 UVV Score: +9.93

Tobacco is recession prone but not harmed if there isn't a recession, making the industry a good pick in the current market. Quarterly Earnings Growth (Yoy) is above 100%, PE sits at 12 and change, very cheap for any stock, let alone one in the billions. Market Cap prevents large unpredictable swings and the dividend of 3.4% is great.

In addition, The Street analysts rank it a buy, 4 stars from S&P analysts and Jaywalk Consensus is also buy.

optionhater (71.02) Submitted: 3/27/2008 10:25:53 AM : Start Price: $55.60 UVV Score: -20.77

sold off non-core businesses, paid down debt, re-purchased shares, litigation risk has deminished

spolack (< 20) Submitted: 3/25/2008 5:27:38 PM : Start Price: $55.66 UVV Score: -19.90

momentum riser

bdawg3496 (39.53) Submitted: 10/22/2007 11:52:45 AM : Start Price: $39.28 UVV Score: +23.77

people are addictted to tobacco