About CSC
As mentioned, Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) offers consulting, outsourcing, and integration services to its clients. Their outsourcing services involve operating all or some of a company’s computing infrastructure. This includes, among other things, applications development, network operations, data center management. They also provide business process outsourcing, which refers to things like call centers, or what people typically think of when they hear the term.
Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC)’s other services include systems integration (designing, developing, and implementing systems), consulting services, and some software system licensing services.
Competition
Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) competes with large computing services companies such as International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) as well as smaller firms such as CACI International Inc (NYSE:CACI).
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is one of the best known tech companies in the world, and has evolved into a systems, services, and software giant, in addition to producing the hardware products for which they are traditionally known. Last year, IBM earned just 17% of their revenues from hardware, while services and software contributed a combined 80%. This is why International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is a threat to companies like Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC).
However, as a larger, more mature company, IBM’s growth potential is not nearly as exciting, with 13% annual earnings growth projected over the next three years. That being said, IBM trades for a very reasonable 12.3 times forward earnings.
CACI International Inc (NYSE:CACI), on the other end of the spectrum, is a much smaller IT company, and has a similar product and service profile to CSC. At just 9.6 times earnings, CACI looks to be the cheapest of the three, but this could be deceiving. CACI International Inc (NYSE:CACI) is projected to earn $6.51 per share this year, and then experience negative earnings growth averaging 2.5% for the next few years. This is a big red flag! Furthermore, the company’s balance sheet is not too enticing. The company has just $15 million in cash and over $500 million in debt, which is very significant for a company whose market cap is just over $1.4 billion.
Valuation and Growth
At 17.6 times forward earnings, I actually think that Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) is cheap when considering its growth projections and very strong balance sheet. When the company announces fiscal year 2013’s earnings next Wednesday, they are expected to report $2.75 per share. The analysts’ consensus calls for this to rise to $3.49 and $4.09 in 2014 and 2015, respectively, for earnings growth of 27% and 17.2%, respectively. What’s more is that the company has a positive net cash (cash minus debt) position, which is one of my favorite things to see in a prospective long-term investment. In fact, as a result of good management, the company’s net cash position has consistently improved over the recent years.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to investing in these computer services companies, I’d say you either have to go mid-size or large. The little guys just have too many entry barriers to be competitive in this business. While IBM is a rock-solid company whose earnings are growing at a more-than-respectable pace, Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) does look like the more exciting play here. If you have a bit more risk tolerance, forward earnings growth of over 20%, a great balance sheet, and a decent dividend yield (1.7%) are a pretty enticing combination.
The article The Best Choice In Computer Services originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Matthew Frankel.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
