Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think about Houston Wire & Cable? Thank you for your advice.

Article Excerpt

Houston Wire & Cable Co., $10.26, symbol HWCC on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 17.7 million; Market cap: $181.1 million), is one of the largest distributors of specialty wire, cable and related services in the U.S. electrical-distribution market. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Houston Wire has sales and distribution facilities in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Tampa. Some of the items the company stocks include continuous and interlocked armour (or copper cable covered with a metal armour that gives it extra protection), instrumentation, medium-voltage and high-temperature cable, portable cord, power cables and private-branded products, including LifeGuard, a low-smoke, zero-halogen cable (these cables emit limited smoke and no halogen gas when exposed to high levels of heat, such as flame). In the three months ended March 31, 2009, Houston Wire’s revenue fell 26.4%, to $65.8 million from $89.4 million. Earnings fell sharply, to $2.1 million, or $0.12 a share, from $6.7 million, or $0.37 a share, a..