Pall Corp. and Entegris - Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

Pall Corporation (PLL) was easily the top-performing Zacks #1 Rank company on Monday, but it had nothing to do with earnings season. Last Friday, this filtration equipment company announced that its CEO will be retiring soon, which has at least one analyst believing that a merger or acquisition of PLL is now on the horizon.

As a result, shares of PLL jumped nearly 14% today; the only company on the list with a double digit gain. This came on a pretty good day for the market with the Dow up 68.23 points, or 0.58%, while the NASDAQ and S&P moved higher by 0.49% and 0.77%, respectively. Volume for PLL was almost 7.3 million shares, which just crushed the average daily volume of around 650,000.

However, neither the announcement on Friday nor the significant share advance on Monday has anything to do with the fact that Pall Corp. is a Zacks #1 Rank. The impetus behind this enviable rating comes from a strong fiscal first quarter report in December, followed by upward earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fiscal year ending July 2011 is $2.63 per share, which is up 6.9% from 2 months ago. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the year ending July 2012 is up 6% in that time to $2.98 per share, which also suggests year-over-year profit growth of 13.3%.

PLL said its strong fiscal first quarter report showed that the economic recovery is continuing. The company reported earnings per share of 61 cents, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 22%. This was the third straight quarterly surprise. Sales were up 10.7% to $605.5 million.

It forecasted fiscal 2011 earnings per share between $2.48 and $2.63 per share, which was above our expectations at the time. For more on the company's quarterly report, read: Pall Corp. Beats Estimates.

Because of the strong quarterly report, we recently raised Pall Corp's longer-term recommendation to "Outperform". We especially liked the reemergence of the company's Industrial Segment from the global recession. We also appreciated the double-digit growth in both of its segments.

PLL is part of the pollution control industry. On Monday's Zacks #1 Rank List, there was only one other name from that space: Fuel Tech, Inc. (FTEK).

Entegris, Inc. (ENTG) was another Zacks #1 Rank with a solid performance on Monday. Shares gained 5.23% on the eve of its fourth quarter report, which will come before the bell on Feb 1. Volume was north of 1.5 million shares today, compared to the daily average of almost 1.3 million.

ENTG is a leading provider of a wide range of products for purifying, protecting and transporting critical materials used in processing and manufacturing in the semiconductor and other high-tech industries. Entegris is part of the electrical – manufacturing machinery industry. There are 4 other companies from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List: Brooks Automation (BRKS), MKS Instruments, Inc. (MKSI), Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (UCTT) and Ultratech, Inc. (UTEK).

In ENTG's third quarter report from October, the company forecasted fourth-quarter earnings per share between 17 cents and 19 cents. At the moment, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is 19 cents, which is up a penny in 30 days and compares to 12 cents last year. Meanwhile, the company also forecasted sales of $173 million to $183 million.

For the rest of the third quarter, ENTG announced earnings per share of 18 cents that topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by nearly 6% while reversing a year-ago loss. Over the past 6 quarters, the company has beaten 5 times and matched once.

Sales in the quarter jumped 61% to $178.2 million. According to the company, sales to its core semiconductor market were strong, while its liquid filtration and gas filtration businesses achieved record-level quarters.

You can still see the impact of that solid quarter in its earnings estimate revisions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2010 is at 67 cents per share, which is up 3% from 2 months ago. As for 2011, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 81 cents per share is up 8% in 3 months and 3.8% in 30 days. What's really nice to see is that earnings are expected to grow 21% in 2011 over 2010.

 
BROOKS AUTOMATN (BRKS): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
ENTEGRIS INC (ENTG): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
FUEL TECH INC (FTEK): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
MKS INSTRUMENTS (MKSI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
PALL CORP (PLL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
ULTRA CLEAN HLD (UCTT): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
ULTRATECH STEP (UTEK): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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