BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $55.54 New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 120.9 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada.
Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $58.8 million, or $0.47 a share, in its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended March 31, 2015. That’s up 6.7% from $55.1 million, or $0.44 a share, a year earlier. The company continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones.
Broadridge typically makes about half of its profits in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends June 30. That’s the busiest period for processing proxies and annual reports for its clients.
Revenue gained 4.6% in the latest quarter, to $634.2 million from $606.3 million.
Broadridge expects to earn $2.42 to $2.52 a share in fiscal 2015. The stock is up 40% for us over the last year and now trades at 22.1 times the midpoint of that range. However, that’s still reasonable in light of Broadridge’s growth prospects.
The company’s long-term debt of $629.3 million is a low 9.7% of its market cap, and it holds cash of $310.1 million, or $2.56 a share.
Broadridge is a buy.