Williams Cos. Inc. (WMB)

[eastunder]

Williams (WMB) Stock Down as Auction Moves to Second Round

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13247652/1/williams-wmb-stock-down-as-auction-moves-to-second-round.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

08/06/15 - 03:16 PM EDT

By Amanda Gomez


NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Williams Cos. (WMB - Get Report) stock is falling by 1.28% to $48.53 in afternoon trading on Thursday, following reports suggesting Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) advanced to the second round of bidding for the oil transportation company, sources told Reuters.

Energy Transfer offered $53.1 billion for an all-stock acquisition of Williams, but the company rejected the deal in favor of an auction.

Other buyers are interested in Williams, but it is not known which ones made it to the second round, Reuters sources said.

Kinder Morgan (KMI) and Spectra Energy (SE) have shown interest in acquiring Williams, but Kinder Morgan's market share may be too large to receive regulatory approval.

Industry sources said other bidders may include TransCanada (TRP), Enbridge (EEP), Enterprise Products (EPD), Phillips 66 (PSX) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Reuters added.

Additionally, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager of the Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio said Williams stock "is really a buy here" because it is "very, very cheap."

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates WILLIAMS COS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate WILLIAMS COS INC (WMB) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

Net operating cash flow has significantly increased by 50.00% to $669.00 million when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, WILLIAMS COS INC has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -53.49%.

The gross profit margin for WILLIAMS COS INC is rather high; currently it is at 50.52%. It has increased significantly from the same period last year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 4.07% trails the industry average.

The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. In comparison to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, WILLIAMS COS INC has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has greatly exceeded that of the S&P 500.

Despite the weak revenue results, WMB has significantly outperformed against the industry average of 38.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 1.9%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

WILLIAMS COS INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, WILLIAMS COS INC increased its bottom line by earning $2.82 versus $0.64 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 66.7% in earnings ($0.94 versus $2.82).