kipp, re USAP
Great numbers as expected. Q2 fully-taxed earnings of .50/share vs. .25/share last year. Q2 revenues up 44%. Happy to see the improving margins and a continued strengthening of the backlog, which rose sequentially from $88M to $105M.
Q3 earnings estimate is .45-.50/share, which I think they will exceed as they have done for the past several quarters. Wish they had mentioned that the .43/share in the year ago Q3 included a 1-time gain of .06/share.
CEO was again bullish on the CC, saying demand remains strong in the aerospace, power generation, and petrochemical markets. During the Q&A part, the CEO seemed kind of confrontational with some of the callers. Not sure what that was about. Not very professional.
With the big earnings and backlog numbers, a favorable demand environment, and a new furnace coming online in October...there are a lot of positives here. Main negative I see is the guilt by association with others in the steel sector. Stock getting a decent pop today to the $14's. I think there could be an additional 20% upside in the coming weeks, maybe more if the low float traders decide to run it.
