About 30 miles from me sits printed-circuit-board manufacturer Jabil Circuit's (NYSE: JBL ) St. Petersburg, Fla., headquarters, from whence it issued last night's Q4 and FY 2006 earnings report. Wait, hold on. That's not an earnings report at all!
Because of another twist in the ongoing options-backdating saga, Jabil only reported a selection of numbers, not including earnings. Let's look at what the company did give us, then.
Revenues for the quarter grew 45% to $3 billion, or $10.3 billion for the full year, up from $7.5 billion in 2005. Cash on hand as of Aug. 31, the end of the period, totaled $774 million, down from $796 million one year earlier. Capital expenditures in the quarter barely budged, at $95 million compared to $92.8 million last year. The cash conversion cycle shortened to 14 days, from 17 days in 2005 and 26 days in Q4 of 2004, and annualized inventory turns were down to eight after two consecutive year-end quarters at nine.
In a surprise move that might indicate internal confidence in future prospects, Jabil also paid out its first-ever dividend, $0.07 per share, on Sept. 1. It also bought back $200 million of its stock, in another first. Other than an apology for the incomplete filing, and a promise to deliver by the Nov. 14 deadline, that's it.
The full filing is late because Jabil is considering whether or not a set of guidelines issued by the SEC last week will have any affect on its numbers. The company is under formal investigation by both the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office for its historical options-granting practices. This delay does not indicate any new findings of problems, though -- just a time-consuming review of new directives.
The company's internal review of backdating practices did not find anything wrong, but comparing grant dates to stock charts still casts doubt on Jabil's dealings. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal pegs the odds that favorable grants to CEO Timothy Main were due solely to blind luck at a million to one.
If you think that sounds unlikely, try the WSJ's projected 1-in-6 billion probability for the grants to former Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT ) CEO Kobi Alexander -- who fled the country and was recently arrested in Namibia -- or former VitesseSemiconductor (Nasdaq: VTSS ) CEO Louis Tomasetta's 1-in-26 billion jackpot. Some people are just really lucky, right?
Anyway, we're one Jabil report short until further notice. I'll leave the finding of guilt to the SEC and our court system. In the meantime, Jabil shareholders can enjoy their newfound dividends and buybacks.
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Anders Bylund
holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and then have a generous helping of Foolishdisclosure.
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