Crane Company

Crane Company (CR - Snapshot Report) recently surprised on first quarter estimates and said the full year would trend to the higher end of its guidance range.

Founded in 1855, the company has managed to navigate several depressions and severe recessions and each time has made it through to the other side.

Crane is a diversified manufacturer with employees in 25 countries. Most people would know the company through its vending machine segment but it operates in 5 segments including designing landing systems for aircraft and fluid control systems.

Crane Topped the Zacks Consensus by 12%

On Apr 19, Crane reported first quarter results which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third time out of the last four quarters. Earnings per share were 56 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus of 50 cents. This also beat the first quarter of 2009 which saw earnings per share of 48 cents.

Sales did fall 4%, however, to $530.3 million from a year ago. But the company is moving in the right direction of the recovery as it was the smallest year-over-year decline since the third quarter of 2008.

Guided to the High End of Its Range

Given the better than anticipated first quarter results and its current order trends, Crane guided to the high end of its previous guidance range of $2.15 to $2.35.

Analysts are even more bullish as the Zacks Consensus Estimate has jumped to $2.39 from $2.30 in the last 30 days as 3 estimates moved higher. Analysts now expect 2010 earnings growth of 19%.

Still a Value Stock

When I last reviewed Crane in Oct 2009 it was a value stock with a forward P/E of 14.4. The stock has gotten slightly cheaper as it now sports a forward P/E of 14.2. It still has an attractive price-to-book ratio of 2.2 which is within the value parameters.

Crane is a Zacks #2 Rank (buy) stock.

Read the Oct 30, 2009 article.

Update to Previous Value Zacks Rank Buy Stocks

Quaker Chemical Corporation (KWR - Snapshot Report) is in the hot specialty chemicals sector which is seeing a big rebound as global manufacturing comes out of the recession. Quaker recently surprised big on estimates for the fourth quarter in a row. Read the full article.

The Lubrizol Corporation (LZ) has seen its earnings skyrocket in the past year as customer end market demand returned. The stock has been on fire since March 2009 but it is surprisingly still a value stock with a forward P/E of just 10.7. Read the full article.

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF - Analyst Report) is expected to report first quarter earnings on Friday, May 7. It has surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate 3 out of the last 4 quarters by an average of 32.7%. Read the full article.

Lexmark International (LXK - Analyst Report) recently saw revenue grow 10% in the first quarter. The company is an attractive value stock with a forward P/E of 9.6. Read the full article.

Tracey Ryniec is the Value Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. She is also the Editor in charge of the market-beating Zacks Value Trader service.

Read the full analyst report on CR