Stock of the Day
Houston Wire and Cable Company
Tuesday’s Intra-day Price: HWCC – $25.18

As I said late last week, HWCC is a stock showing solid CANSLIM characteristics and a chart pattern that is trending higher with an ideal entry above the 50-d m.a. or near support at $23. Looking at the weekly chart, we can see that a favorable risk-to-reward entry point can be established along the trendline near $23.

We have had two distribution weeks in the past month but support has not been violated. I can also say that fund managers are accumulating the stock by looking at the most recent institutional numbers below. Finally, the PEG ratio is excellent at 0.54 and earnings increased by 135% year-over-year from 2005 to 2006. HWCC is the type of CANSLIM stock that can double or triple over the next couple of years with its fair share of up-and-down swings.

Next Earnings Date: June 2007
Sector: Industrials
Industry: Trading Companies & Distributors

Institutional Holdings:
Held by Institutions:
Money Market: 81
Mutual Fund: 72
Other: 3

Top Holder: Wells Fargo & Company
2.005 mil Shares for < 0.01% of Portfolio
Total Equity Value of Portfolio: $86.3 billion

New Positions: 66
Positions sold out: 22
Shares bought: 8.9 mil
Shares Sold: 2.9 mil
Value of Shares Bought: $240 mil
Value of Shares Sold: $79 mil

The stock has a 3-to-1 buy to sell ratio from institutional investors since the last reporting period. This translates into stronger accumulation versus distribution.

Key Fundamental Numbers:
Market Cap.: $524.89M
Outstanding Shares: 20.87M
Float: 10.13M
Operating Margin: 16.41%
Net Income $M: 30.7M
ROA (%): 31.00
ROE (%): 74.4
P/E (TTM): 15.57
P/E (Forward): 12.84
Price to Sales Ratio: 1.68
Earnings per Share (EPS) (TTM): 1.61
PEG Ratio: 0.54
Price to Book Ratio: 7.42

Next Quarter 0.27
Next Year 1.11

Earnings:
Yearly (2006): 1.62
Yearly (2005): 0.69

135% Increase in earnings (year-over-year)

Revenue (millions):
Yearly (2006): 323.5
Yearly (2005): 214.0

51% Increase in revenue (year-over-year)

Houston Wire & Cable Company, through its subsidiaries, distributes specialty wire and cable products in the United States. Its distribution products include continuous and interlocked armor cables; control and power cables; electronic wire and cables; flexible and portable cords; instrumentation and thermocouple cables; lead and high temperature cables; medium voltage cables; and premise and category wire and cables. The company also offers private branded products, including LifeGuard low-smoke and zero-halogen cable, DataGuard engineered cables, and Houwire low-voltage cables. It serves a range of industries, including communications, energy, engineering and construction, general manufacturing, infrastructure, petrochemical, transportation, utility, and wastewater treatment. The company was founded in 1975. It was formerly known as HWC Holding Corporation and changed its name to Houston Wire & Cable Company in 2006. Houston Wire & Cable Company is headquartered in Houston, Texas. – Yahoo Finance