Seeking Alpha: Excellence At Spectris Has Not Gone Unrewarded

The last year has not been all that great for the shares of European specialty instrumentation and controls company Spectris (OTCPK:SEPJY) (SXS.L), though the stock has done pretty well compared to peer group members like Mettler-Toledo (MTD), Danaher (DHR), and MTS Systems (MTSC) over the past two and five years. As a leader in a collection of niche specialty instrumentation markets, Spectris has not only established strong margins and returns on capital, but is also uncommonly diversified across industries and geographies.

As a play on automation, Spectris should have a pretty good long-term outlook. Spectris is still small enough to benefit from bolt-on acquisitions, but large enough to compete globally without sacrificing margins. Though the valuation on these shares isn't very cheap, companies that combine good market positions and margins seldom trade for what looks like a low valuation at the time.

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Excellence At Spectris Has Not Gone Unrewarded

Seeking Alpha: Are Investors Too Thirsty For Growth From Xylem?

As I mentioned about a month ago in a discussion of Gorman-Rupp (GRC), almost any company with substantial operations in water infrastructure gets a premium in the market. As one of the largest and most diversified pure-plays on the water sector, it's no surprise that Xylem (XYL) too carries such a premium. That leaves investors with a valuation quandary - absent acquisition interest from a larger company, is this a good name to add to a portfolio today?

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Are Investors Too Thirsty For Growth From Xylem?

Investopedia: FEI Still A Big Play On The Very Small

The big upswing in the market has swept up many high-quality names and taken a lot of value with it, including the shares of nanoscale microscopy specialist FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC). Fast-growing new markets and a recovery in the semiconductor industry offer significant long-term revenue generation opportunities, but order patterns can be lumpy. While not an obvious bargain today, these shares are nevertheless worth watching by investors looking for an analytical instruments company with broad industry exposure.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2013/FEI-Still-A-Big-Play-On-The-Very-Small-FEIC-DHR-WAT-TMO0211.aspx

Investopedia: Renewed Realism May Make Life Tech A Buy

It's easy to get sucked into the "gee-whiz" aspect of a lot of new technology, and that probably explains why bubbles are much more common in tech and health care than in industrials or transports. It's easy to dream of how gene sequencing might change the world; quite a bit harder to imagine the same from a new hydraulic component. Unfortunately, the reality is that life sciences is not the eternal growth engine that investors have long hoped.

Although investors in life sciences stocks like Life Technologies (Nasdaq:LIFE) have seen a lot of pain as Wall Street reorients its expectations, the worst may be over. With more realistic expectations in place, it may be time to consider Life Tech as a good blue-chip play on a sector that may not be the stuff of dreams, but is hardly a nightmare. (For related reading, see A Primer On The Biotech Sector.)

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Renewed-Realism-May-Make-Life-Tech-A-Buy-LIFE-PACB-ILMN-DHR-A-MTD-WAT-AFFX-BRKR-PKI1130.aspx

Investopedia: Agilent Beaten Down To Bargain

You would think that a company with a global revenue base, diverse industry exposure and solid returns on capital would get the benefit of the doubt. But in the case of Agilent (NYSE:A), you would seem to be wrong. Agilent may not command as much respect for technology leadership as a company like Illumina (Nasdaq:ILMN), but Agilent's diverse and growing business deserves more respect and investors should consider using this market pullback as a chance to buy some shares in this high-quality company.


Third Quarter Results Better than Feared
Even though there was not much sign of it in the published analyst estimates, sentiment had definitely been souring on Agilent going into this earnings cycle. Nevertheless, Agilent reported that sales grew more than 22% in the fiscal third quarter, with 19% organic revenue growth. Growth was led by the electronic measurement segment (up almost 24%), where growth in the communications business was especially strong. Life sciences delivered solid 21% growth (18% organic), and chemical analysis was the "laggard" with 16% reported and 11% organic revenue growth.


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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Agilent-Beaten-Down-To-Bargain-A-ILMN-DHR-AFFX-BRKR-ARX-WAT0817.aspx