Dallas, Texas 10/11/2013 (Financialstrend) – On October 10, Alberta based Stantec Inc. (USA) (NYSE:STN) announced that its 3Q operations earning report will be announced on October 31. In a related development, Zacks Investment announced that it is upgrading the ratings on this technical services firm to a Strong Buy. The rating agency has sighted strong performance on key parameters during the firm’s second half as the primary reason for the upgrade. STN has delivered strong back to back quarter performances over the last four quarters with its positive earnings per share being the standout performance. Zack has explained that in the second quarter of STN increased its sales by 18% compared to previous quarter. Its earnings per share also grew by a healthy 15.2%.
The firm has paid out dividend of $0.64 per share. This translates to a 1.19% forward looking annual dividend yield. The stock comprises of 46.1 million shares outstanding which at current market valuations are trading just 1% lower than its 52 week high valuation. 11% of this stock is owned by insiders of the firm while institutions own close to 79%. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion with close to 13,000 employees. In the past 12 months, sales of $1.64 billion has been recorded leading to net income of 126 million.
As of close of business on October 10, the stock was trading at $53 per share. This was 0.62% up when compared to previous day close and up 59% from its 52 week low valuation. In spite of seeing an appreciation in value, the stock witnessed an extremely low trade volume at 14,900 shares changing hands all through the day. The stock has gained by close to 23% in the past 90 days and the strong backing of the rating agency indicates that the stock has potential to rise up even further.
