Here's Why it is Worth Investing in IDEX (IEX) Stock Now
IDEX Corporation IEX currently boasts promising prospects on strength in its end markets, solid product portfolio, acquired assets, and a sound capital-deployment strategy.
The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a market capitalization of $16.4 billion. In the past six months, it has gained 8.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 1.4%.
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Let’s delve into the factors that make investment in the company a smart choice at the moment.
Solid End Markets & Projections: IDEX’s results were solid in the second quarter of 2021, as evident from the 22.2% year-over-year increase in net sales, driven by strength in its end markets. The company anticipates strength in agriculture, industrial, automotive, dispensing, semiconductor, life sciences, and analytical instrumentation markets to drive its top-line performance in the quarters ahead. For 2021, it anticipates organic sales to grow in the range of 11-12% on a year-over-year basis, higher than 9-10% guided earlier.
Acquisition Benefits: The company intends to solidify its product portfolio and leverage business opportunities through the addition of assets. Its buyout of Abel Pumps L.P. (March 2021) has been strengthening the company’s pump platform within the Fluid & Metering Technologies segment. Also, the acquisition of Airtech Group, as well as US Valve Corporation and other entities (June 2021), is anticipated to add 6 cents to IDEX’s earnings per share in the second half of 2021. Acquired assets boosted the company’s sales by 1% in the second quarter of 2021.
Rewards to Shareholders: IDEX remains committed to rewarding shareholders through dividend payouts apart from using its fund for acquiring lucrative businesses. In the first six months of 2021, the company paid out dividends worth $79.2 million. Also, in May 2021, it announced an 8% hike in its quarterly dividend rate.
Initiatives: The company’s focus on operational execution, pricing actions, and growth investments (including exposure increase in emerging markets, productivity enhancement and digitization) is likely to boost its performance in the upcoming quarters.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IDEX’s earnings is pegged at $6.35 for 2021, up 3.4% from the 60-day-ago figure. The consensus estimate for 2022 earnings is pegged at $7.01, up 4.2% over the same time frame.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the same space are Kadant Inc KAI, Helios Technologies, Inc HLIO, and EnPro Industries, Inc. NPO. While Kadant currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Helios and EnPro carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Kadant pulled off an earnings surprise of 22.26%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.
Helios pulled off an earnings surprise of 36.46%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.
EnPro pulled off an earnings surprise of 80.64%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.
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