In for a few shares of metal fabricator, Chart Industries ([t]GTLS[/t]). It was mentioned here earlier as turning up in a Greenblatt screen.
4Q and full-year earnings call will be released tomorrow. I'm in today based on a fill from today's general stock market fall.
From this week's Barron's interview with money manager Roger Vogel:
"Chart provides highly engineered cryogenic equipment to the industrial-gas markets and to the energy markets. It's basically heat exchangers that enable the industrial-gas companies to break or separate atmospheric air into oxygen, nitrogen and argon. That's a great business. The industrial-gas companies over time have been stable, so Chart is a capital-goods supplier to that segment of the market. They also provide liquefied natural gas [LNG] storage. We are bullish on the future of LNG over time, and Chart is allied with Bechtel in that business, and it is one of the bigger players in providing capital equipment to the LNG industry."
Analysts (per Yahoo) are predicting much lower 2010 earnings than 2009 though. Mr Vogel says, "Their (GTLS) peak earnings were $2.60 a share in '08, and they should be able to surpass that level in 2013 or 2014. Our estimate of current fair value is about 24."
I like that the company apparently has expertise ("cryogenic solutions") that's used in diverse businesses and that the company operates in many countries. I'm also partial to industrial-gas companies (still own APD from Feb 2009 buys), and so I'm going to be interested in a supplier (GTLS) to these businesses. There may also be a retail aspect to the company, because the company manufacturer's portable oxygen devices for people with breathing problems.
GTLS's doing okay now, but has had loss years too ('01-'03). Also, there's not much public history with the company (about three years only).
Just a small position for me. Just saying what I'm doing, not recommending this stock to anybody else or suggesting it as a great value play (which it isn't).
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