Controls industry aiming at a good year

By George J. Blickley, consulting editor December 1, 1999

T he performance of the controls industry in 3Q99 followed the performance of industry in general. All the market indexes shown here were down, except the NASDAQ index, which was up 2%. This is surprising in light of the beating small caps took in the quarter and can be partially attributed to big gains made by small Internet companies during that period.

The CE Index was down 7% in 3Q99, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 6% and the S&P 500 declined about 6.5%. The CE Index includes figures for some large companies with revenues that are about 25% of total sales. Six companies in the CE Index had double-digit drops in their market price; two experienced increases.

This negativity is not reflected, however, in the CE Market Value Index, which increased about 5% in 3Q99. This is due mainly to large gains in market value by National Instruments and Tyco, while the index’s other companies posted slightly negative or insignificant changes in market value.

The Earnings per Share Index presents an even more favorable picture due to a 16% increase for 3Q99. There are two good reasons for this: only one firm’s earnings declined in the 12-month period reported in the quarter, while Rockwell made a dramatic turnaround from negative to positive earnings for the same period.

The market declined in October, but then reversed itself, a trend that should continue until the end of 1999. If the controls field continues to parallel the overall market, it should produce a very satisfactory year for the industry.

Control Engineering Stock Index

Stock prices at close 6/30/99
($) close 9/30/99
% chg. in quarter
52-wk. high
Annual div. yield
Price/earn. ratio
12-mo. EPS ($)

Ametek Inc. 18.25
23.00
26.03
31.06
0.87
15
1.51

Allied Signal 2.49
63.00
59.94
-4.86
68.63
1.17
24

Ametek Inc. 1.53
23.00
19.81
-13.86
25.75
1.01
13

Badger Meter Inc. 2.39
34.75
34.25
-1.44
41.00
2.04
14

Eaton Corp. 4.70
92.00
86.31
-6.18
103.50
2.09
18

Emerson Electric Co. 2.93
62.94
63.19
0.40
71.44
2.06
22

Flowserve 1.07
18.94
16.63
-12.21
21.56
3.61
16

Honeywell Inc. 4.67
115.88
111.31
-3.94
126.31
1.08
24

K-Tron Int’l. 2.14
17.63
14.88
-15.60
19.75
0.00
7

Moore Products Co. 1.08
22.94
22.63
-1.36
29.00
0.00
21

National Instruments 0.81
40.38
35.34
-12.46
48.25
0.00
44

Rockwell Int’l. 1.46
60.75
52.50
-13.58
64.94
1.90
36

Transmation Inc. 0.17
3.13
2.75
-12.00
5.38
0.00
16

Tyco Int’l. Ltd. 2.67
94.75
103.25
8.97
105.88
0.10
39

NC = noncalculable or not meaningfulYield = % based on closing price
EPS = earnings per shareDiv. = dividend

Source: Control Engineering with data from Nordby International Inc. (Boulder, Colo.), 303/938-1877, www.nordby.com.