Crane's Results And Guidance Were A Relief, But The Growth Outlook In 2020 Isn't Great

Judging by the reaction to Crane’s (CR) reported results and guidance for 2020, I think investors were largely relieved that things weren’t worse. The suspension of production of the 737 MAX is going to hurt the Aerospace business in the near term, and Crane’s Fluid Handling business is seeing the expected slowdown in process-oriented industries. Amidst that, the performance of the Payments business is still something of a wildcard.

I like Crane primarily for the valuation, but the markets tend to reward growth and margin leverage and both could be lacking for Crane in 2020 as the process slowdown and the MAX suspension push the progress on those fronts out a year. Calling this a “neutral” for the next quarter or two would probably be better for my own performance numbers, but that’s more of a trading call and I still see underlying value in this business.

Click here to continue:
Crane's Results And Guidance Were A Relief, But The Growth Outlook In 2020 Isn't Great