Street Justice: Banking On Bruker

I don't know about you, but I'm convinced we're on our way out of the darkness. It may just be a matter of taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Even with all this scary news swirling lately(Russian war and the financial world woes), the market manages to hang on to last weeks gains if just barely.
As I promised I have a "special presentation" for you today. You probably guessed the name of the company(it's in the title of today's post). That's right, it's BRKR/Bruker Corp and I have dug up all the relevant data I could find on them. I had planned on having a comment from a BRKR executive to add to today's post, but I had a deadline(which I already broke) and although I was assured it would, it hasn't arrived yet(they're busy making money). O.k, BRKR/Bruker Corp. is a leading provider of high performance scientific instruments and solutions for molecular and material research as well as for industrial applied analysis. BRKR is the publicly traded parent company of Bruker AXS, Bruker Biospin, Bruker Dlatonics Inc, and Bruker Optics. Bruker AXS is a leading global developer and manufacturer of analytical x-ray systems, optical emission spectrometers and combustion analyzers for elemental analysis, material research and crystallographic investigations. They have customers in many industries including chemistry, pharmaceutical, steel, semiconductor, cement, mining, automotive, forensics, environmental art and conservation, nanotechnology and life sciences. Bruker Biospin is THE global market and technology leader in analytic magnetic resonance instruments including NMR, preclinical MRI and EPR. They are also the leading global manufacturer of superconducting high and ultra high field magnets. Bruker Daltonics manufacturers mass spectrometry(MS) instruments and accessories for life sciences, pharmaceutical and chemical research. They are also a global leader in nuclear, biological and chemical detection utilizing a vast array of technology. Bruker Optics manufactures and develops advanced infrared and neer infrared spectrometers for academic and industrial research and quality control. With these 4 segments BRKR supplies the services and technologies needed for companies and governments across the globe to thrive. BRKR($2.36 billion market cap) was 1 of the 14 companies that met the Street Justice One requirements and their relative numbers(value, timing and safety) are great. BRKR has a forecasted earnings growth rate of 36% and a P/E ratio of 25.82. EPS for Bruker were up 160% over last quarter and 72% 5 years historically. Sales for BRKR were up 137% over last year and 30% over last quarter with net income jumping 3,265% for the quarter and 70% for the year. BRKR offers a 30% ROE and has a 6% net margin. BRKR is up(price) 98% over the past 52 weeks and 15% over the last month. The executives at BRKR have a lot of faith in themselves as well. There have been 5 insider buys over the past 3 months and 12 over the last 12 months for Bruker, with only 2 sales. The CEO Frank Laukien has bought over 100,000 shares himself since May 2008 and has spent $200,000 on BRKR stock in August alone. Talk about putting their money where their mouth's are. BRKR has 2 upward sales revisions(for next fiscal year) over the past 4 weeks and they have raised fiscal 09's sales estimates by 33% over the last month as well. Any stock screening program I use says the same thing, BRKR is undervalued and poised for great growth.
There's no denying today was a bit of an off day, but considering the state of things I don't think it's as bad as it could've been. I mean any other day oil would've taken off like a Russian missile in response to the news from overseas(Russia and Georgia) and we've all seen what the market is capable of when it comes to bad news from the financial world(JPM and Company). Still with all this scary stuff going on the market is relatively unscathed.
JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs both took a big hit today(Goldman was downgraded and JP Morgan announced $1.3 billion in write-offs). Was this a surprise to you? Or, is this just the next obvious step in the financial worlds woes? Let me know.
I've had some good runs in both my practice and real investments since I've started about 12 years ago, but none were as awesome as the action I saw in Forex trading over the past week or so. The dollar mounted an unprecedented comeback run against the euro and rallied against other key crosses. The best part is, we aren't done yet. Oil and Gold keep coming down giving the dollar momentum and the world is beginning to experience the same slowdown the US is dealing with. Even in the face of uncertainty the dollar maintains it's comeback run.
When I receive the comment from BRKR I will add it to the next post and I'll be back tomorrow with a few stocks that just made the Street Justice One cut, cause we're all in this together. Thanks for reading.