Wait for profits to catch up to stock price

Article Excerpt

MTS SYSTEMS CORP. $69 (Nasdaq symbol MTSC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 15.1 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mts.com) recently paid $16.7 million for Roehrig Engineering, which has developed an electromagnetic technology that tests shock absorbers and other industrial equipment more accurately than traditional methods. These products look like a nice fit with MTS’s existing automotive testing equipment. In its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended June 28, 2014, MTS’s revenue rose 7.7%, to $145.5 million from $135.1 million a year earlier. Overall earnings improved 9.7%, to $12.7 million from $11.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 13.9%, to $0.82 from $0.72, on fewer shares outstanding. MTS spends 4% of its revenue on research. The stock is up 129% in the past five years and now trades at 21.0 times MTS’s projected fiscal 2014 earnings of $3.28 a share. That’s high p/e ratio for a firm…