Techne Corporation

November 20, 2008

Ticker: TECH

Techne Corporation is into development and manufacture of biotechnology products, and hematology calibrators and controls mainly in the United States and Europe. It operates 2 subsidiaries - Research and Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (R&D Systems) and R&D Systems Europe, Ltd. It distributes biotechnology products in Europe through its subsidiary, R&D Systems Europe Ltd. (R&D Europe). R&D Systems Europe Ltd. has a sales subsidiary, R&D Systems GmbH, in Germany.

The Company competes with Amersham Biosciences, BD Biosciences, EMD Biosciences, Inc., Invitrogen Corporation's BioSource Division, Millipore Corp., PeproTech, Inc., Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Co., Thermo-Fisher Scientific, Abbott Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Streck Laboratories, Inc., Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics and Sysmex. (More from Reuters)

Earnings

		Actual (USD)	Estimates (USD)	Surprise
Q1 2009		0.74	0.66	$0.08(12.63%)
Q4 2008		0.70	0.67	$0.03(4.79%)
Q3 2008		0.76	0.66	$0.10(14.63%)
Q2 2008		0.60	0.54	$0.06(10.50%)

The company has been reporting solid earnings. The earnings estimates have consistently beaten the analyst estimates over the last 4 quarters (Click here for earnings history). The company recently declared a dividend of $0.25 per share (Ex Date: 30-Oct-08 Payable: 17-Nov-08).

View the full TECH chart at Wikinvest

Margins (Profitability)

Techne's Gross Margin (a whopping 79.96%) is more than 83% of other companies in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry, which means it has more cash to spend on business operations as compared to its peers.

The Operating Margin is at – 61.50% - which is the best among its peers, indicating a control over its costs and expenses. The company's profit margin is a solid 40.59%.

ROE

Techne's return on equity at nearly 23% is an indicator of its management's effectiveness to reinvest its earnings efficiently – this is further boosted by the fact that the company's balance sheet shows virtually no debt.

Analyst Research

Reuters report has the company at 'Outperform'

Jaywalk consensus detail - Techne's consensus score is higher than 93.9% of the Biotechnology Industry and higher than 87.8% of the Healthcare Sector.

TheStreet.com has given it a rating of 'Buy'