Techne Corp.

Techne Corp. (TECH - Snapshot Report), a Zacks #1 Rank (“strong buy”), recently declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share thanks to the company’s solid performance. Techne is yielding 1.5%, which is well ahead of the industry average as most of the company’s industry peers pay no dividend.

Company Description

Techne Corporation develops and manufactures biotechnology products as well as hematology calibrators and controls primarily in the United States and Europe. It is a holding company, operating two subsidiaries, Research and Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (R&D Systems) of Minneapolis, Minnesota and R&D Systems Europe, Ltd. (R&D Europe) of Abingdon, England.

R&D Systems is a specialty manufacturer of biological products. It has two operating divisions, which are Hematology and Biotechnology. The Hematology Division develops and manufactures hematology controls, which are used in hospitals and clinical laboratories to check the accuracy of blood analysis instruments. The Biotechnology Division develops and manufactures biotechnology products including purified proteins (cytokines) and antibodies that are sold primarily to the research market, and assay kits which are sold to the research and clinical diagnostic markets.

Over 95% of TECH’s revenues are derived from products manufactured by R&D Systems.

Solid Income

The Zacks #1 Rank (“strong buy”) company recently declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share thanks to the company’s solid performance. Techne is yielding 1.5%, which is well ahead of the industry average as most of the company’s industry peers pay no dividend.

Strong Quarterly Results

Techne also recently announced fiscal first-quarter results. Consolidated net sales totaled $69.3 million, an increase of 19.6% from year-prior.

Earnings per share of 74 cents topped the previous year’s 58 cents and exceeded the consensus estimate by 12%. The company has been ahead of analyst estimates by an average 9%.

Analysts are upbeat on TECH going forward. For the year ending June 2009, Wall Street forecasts of $2.93 per share were increased from last month’s $2.89.

More Outstanding Fundamentals

Techne’s balance sheet shows no debt, while the company’s return on equity (ROE) of 23% is high above the industry average.