Bright prospects, but at a high price

Article Excerpt

Rising automobile sales (see box this page) are good news for Genuine Parts and Snap-On, because more cars on the road means higher demand for repairs and replacement parts. That’s largely why both stocks are up around 30% in the past year. However, they are now expensive in relation to their immediate prospects. GENUINE PARTS CO. $78 (New York symbol GPC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 154.9 million; Market cap: $12.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.genpt.com) gets half of its sales and earnings by selling auto parts. The company operates 1,300 of its own outlets under the NAPA banner, and its distribution business serves 4,750 independent stores across North America. Genuine also distributes industrial parts, office furniture and electrical equipment. In the three months ended September 30, 2013, revenue rose 9.2%, to a record $3.7 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier. The gain is mainly because Genuine bought the 70% of…