Let’s tackle those two “American” stocks first.
AE gets its wings clipped
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) lowered its guidance for second-quarter earnings yesterday. Earnings during the current quarter will likely approximate $0.10 per diluted share, or less than half of what American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) earned this quarter last year. AE says that its sales declined 2% in the second quarter. Same-store sales declined 7%. Profit margins are also likely to have declined.
AE CEO Robert Hanson pronounced himself: “Not at all happy with our second-quarter results.” Wall Street seconded the motion this morning, with analysts at both Telsey Advisory Group and UBS cutting their price targets on the stock, to $19 and $18 per share, respectively.
I think that’s an overreaction. Sure, American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO)’s new guidance is weak enough to raise its P/E ratio from 15 times trailing earnings (a clear bargain) to 17 times current earnings (a bit less so). American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) generates strong free cash flow, however. Strong enough that its price-to-free cash flow ratio is currently less than 11 times. That’s pretty cheap if the company can return to the 12% annualized growth rates that analysts had projected for it. Throw in a 2.5% dividend yield, and I think that after today’s 16% drop, American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) shares are once again priced to move higher.
American’s Science experiment — a failure or success?
Moving on now to the day’s second “American” story, Backscatter X-ray maker American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) reported earnings last night. American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) beat estimates on earnings, reporting $0.62 per share in fiscal first-quarter 2014 profits, but missed on revenues, recording about $500,000 less than expected. Analysts at The Benchmark Company responded to the news by reducing their price target on the hold-rated stock by 10%, to $54 per share.
At first glance, this, too, seems an overreaction. A strong producer of free cash flow, American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) currently trades for less than 14 times its trailing free cash flow. Throw in a generous 3.3% dividend yield and a 15% projected annual profits growth rate, and you might expect analyst estimates would be going up rather than down.
But here’s the thing: Bookings at American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) dropped significantly in the fiscal first quarter. Indeed, American Science & Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASEI) brought in new orders sufficient to replace only about 70% of the revenue the company recorded into the first quarter. This suggests that revenues will continue to fall in future quarters, and that analysts’ projection of a 15% growth rate may prove overly optimistic.
While I admit to being tempted by the stock’s low price-to-free cash flow valuation, I’m going to need to see an uptick in bookings before I can call this one a buy.
Time to tune in to Time Warner Cable?
Possibly the most interesting story in today’s news, however, is the one going on over at Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) –currently embroiled in a dispute with broadcaster CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS). Yesterday, we learned that Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) has offered to return CBS to its lineup if, for example, CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) would agree to permit Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) to market its channel a la carte. CBS isn’t thrilled with the idea, characterizing it as a “sham” proposal — but at least one analyst is impressed.
This morning, analysts at Argus Research announced they are raising their price target on Time Warner by more than 10%, to $130. Argus already rates the stock a “buy” — the question is, why?
CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) wants pricing concessions from Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC), which would hurt the latter’s profitability. But even in the best case — a continuation of the status quo ante — Time Warner’s valuation just doesn’t look that attractive. The stock costs about 15.6 times earnings. Its free cash flow, while strong, is not significantly greater than reported GAAP earnings. These prices are simply too high to justify for a stock that analysts doubt will grow faster than 11% annually over the next five years, and that pays a dividend yield of only 2.2%.
Long story short, I see Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) as overvalued if it wins this dispute with CBS, and significantly more overvalued if it loses. (Side note: At more than 20 times earnings, and with a growth rate barely reaching 12%, CBS is no great bargain either.)
The article Tuesday’s Top Upgrades (and Downgrades) originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Smith.
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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