Yahoo Finance Reasons Why ITT Stock Deserves to Be in Your Portfolio Now
ITT Inc. ITT stands to benefit from strength across its businesses, acquisitions and focus on operational excellence. The company remains focused on investing in growth opportunities and strengthening its long-term market position.
It has a market capitalization of $10.5 billion. Over the past six months, it has gained 12.1%, compared with the industry’s growth of 0.8%. ITT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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Let’s delve into the factors that have been aiding the firm for a while now.
Business Strength: ITT has been benefiting from solid momentum in its pump business. A strong pipeline of projects in energy, mining and decarbonization markets, including a new contract with ExxonMobil, bodes well for the company’s Industrial Process segment. Also, growth in component sales within the commercial aerospace and defense markets has been driving the Connect & Control Technologies segment. For 2024, the company expects its organic sales to increase 4-7% year over year.
Acquisition Benefits: The company intends to strengthen and expand its businesses through acquisitions. In January 2024, it acquired Svanehøj for approximately $395 million. The inclusion of Svanehøj’s portfolio of highly engineered flow solutions enables ITT to expand its customer offerings and boost its position in the marine pumps industry.
Also, the acquisition of Micro-Mode Products in May 2023 enhanced its product portfolio and customer base, specifically for long-term defense programs. The buyouts of Svanehøj and Micro-Mode had a contribution of 5% to ITT’s sales growth in first-quarter 2024.
Shareholder-Friendly Policies: ITT remains committed to increasing shareholders’ value through dividend payments and share repurchases. For instance, in the first quarter of 2024, it paid out dividends of $26.5 million, up 9.5% year over year. Also, in 2023, it paid dividends of $95.8 million and repurchased shares worth $60 million. The quarterly dividend rate was hiked by 10% in February 2024.
Healthy Liquidity Position: Solid liquidity position adds to the company’s strength. Exiting the first quarter of 2024, ITT’s cash and cash equivalents were $423 million, higher than the total short-term borrowings of $322.7 million. This implies that the company has sufficient cash to meet its current debt obligations.
Despite the positives, escalating costs and expenses have been a concern for ITT over time. In the first quarter of 2024, its cost of sales increased 13.8% year over year while general and administrative expenses rose 4.7%. Escalating costs, if not controlled, may impede the company’s bottom line.
Other Key Picks
Some other top-ranked companies from the same space are discussed below.
Carlisle Companies Incorporated CSL currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The company delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 17%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSL’s 2024 earnings has increased 6.5%.
Griffon Corporation GFF presently carries a Zacks Rank #1. It has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 33.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GFF’s fiscal 2024 earnings has increased 10.6% in the past 60 days.
Federal Signal Corporation FSS presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.6%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSS’ 2024 earnings has increased 3% in the past 60 days.
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ITT Inc. (ITT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Carlisle Companies Incorporated (CSL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Federal Signal Corporation (FSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Griffon Corporation (GFF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
