World Fuel Services Corporation

Highlighted stocks include World Fuel Services Corporation (INT - Snapshot Report), Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (KND - Snapshot Report), Airvana, Inc. (AIRV), Odyssey Healthcare Inc. (ODSY) and Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL - Analyst Report).

---

World Fuel Services Corporation (INT - Snapshot Report), which sells marine, aviation and land fuel products and services to airports, seaports and tanker truck loading terminals, on Feb 26 reported its second straight record quarter.

Net income rose 58.5% to $28.7 million, or 98 cents per share, from $18.1 million, or 63 cents in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company posted record profits in 2008 as the marine segment grew 78% year over year and the aviation segment increased 35%.

Dividend Doubled

World Fuel Services also announced it was increasing its regular quarterly dividend by 100% to 7.5 cents from 3.75 cents per share. The first quarter dividend will be payable on Apr 8 to shareholders of record as of Mar 20.

Acquiring TGS Petroleum, Inc.

On Feb 26, the company also announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, World Fuel Services Inc., was acquiring select assets of TGS Petroleum, Inc., a wholesale motor fuel distributor based in Chicago. TGS distributes gasoline and diesel to 160 retail customers with long-term contracts.

World Fuel Services forecasts the acquisition to be 3 to 5 cents accretive to earnings in the first 12 months after closing. The deal is expected to be completed within the next 60 days.

Value Fundamentals

World Fuel Services is a Zacks #1 Rank (strong buy) stock. It is still cheap, trading at only 7.2x forward earnings. It has a PEG ratio of 0.8.

Read the Dec 9, 2008 analysis.

Update to Previous Value Zacks Rank Buy Stocks

Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (KND - Snapshot Report), the healthcare provider, saw its hospital business jump in the fourth quarter as the company surprised on estimates by 47.37%. KND is trading at 12x forward earnings. Read the Feb 24 analysis.

Airvana, Inc. (AIRV), the network infrastructure product provider, recently beat fourth quarter estimates by 28.57% as shipments jumped 19% from the same period in 2007. AIRV has surprised 3 out of the last 4 quarters. The company is trading at 12.5x forward earnings. Read the Feb 25 analysis.

Odyssey Healthcare Inc. (ODSY), the hospice provider, saw revenue leap 63.7% in the fourth quarter after acquiring the VistaCare business in March 2008. Analysts expect 5-year earnings growth of 12%. Read the Feb 26 analysis.

Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL - Analyst Report), the maker of SPAM and Dinty Moore stews, is seeing consumers flock to its stay-at-home canned meats and food products as dining out becomes unfashionable. Hormel is trading at 13.4x forward earnings. Read the Feb 27 analysis.

Read the full analyst report on INT