Construction materials specialist Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. (SSD) returned -6.65% as short-term issues obscured the company's normalized earnings power. First, the company made four strategic acquisitions for a cost of roughly $115 million in 2010 and 2011. It did not take on debt in order to fund the takeovers and had more than $150 million in cash on the balance sheet afterwards. These purchases have crimped margins recently, largely due to lower research and development costs. Second, big box retailer Lowe's replaced one of Simpson's products with a lowercost competitor because negotiations over price broke down. We took this as a good signal: Simpson would not slash prices when housing construction remained slow. The housing market is recovering fast, and housing construction is advancing in sync, which we believe will boost Simpson's earnings back toward normalized levels.
From John Rogers’ first quarter 2013 commentary.
From John Rogers’ first quarter 2013 commentary.
