As Company's Rebuild Their Supply Channels, Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Is Coming Back To Life

I thought Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (USAP) looked undervalued back in the fall, but little did I suspect (or expect) that the shares would shoot up more than 80% in only about nine months. While I did expect service centers to look to replenish their inventories in order to be better-positioned for growing aerospace deliveries and recoveries in markets like oil/gas and heavy industry, the market seems to be much more inclined now to believe in a sharper recovery trajectory.

I have shifted my recovery expectations ahead by more than a full year, lifting my fair value estimates, but I'm hesitant to go too far too fast. Expectations for aerospace deliveries aren't exactly swelling right now, and sell-side analysts have been trimming back their expectations for the steepness of the oil/gas recovery. Universal Stainless still has places where it could outperform (better expense control, better mix of higher-value alloys), but these shares have pretty much trounced peers and comparables like Allegheny (ATI), Carpenter (CRS), and Haynes (HAYN) over the last year and its going to take a significant improvement in financial results just to support this level of valuation.

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As Company's Rebuild Their Supply Channels, Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Is Coming Back To Life