Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, drug maker KV Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KV-A ) has received a distressing two-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at KV's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
KV facts
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Headquarters (Founded)
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Bridgeton, Mo. (1942)
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Market Cap
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$235.3 million
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Industry
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Pharmaceuticals
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Trailing-12-Month Revenue
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$7.3 million
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Management
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CEO Gregory Divis, Jr. (since 2010)
CFO Thomas McHugh (since 2010)
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Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)
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(25.4%)
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Cash/Debt
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$31.65 million / $342.37 million
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Competitors
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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ )
Teva Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: TEVA )
Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI )
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Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 9% of the 386 members who have rated KV believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include robertshrestha and greenbreen.
Late last month, robertshrestha listed a few factors working against KV: "Too much uncertainty right now, still coming under heavy fire, significant price drop on Makena will hurt margins going forward, stock still up quite a bit since FDA approval (even with recent plunge). Too risky for my blood."
Currently, KV even trades at a particularly steep price-to-sales ratio of 32.2. That represents a huge premium to listed rivals like Johnson & Johnson (2.9), Teva (2.6), and Watson (2.2).
CAPS member greenbreen elaborates on the KV bear case:
Why get back in? The pipeline? Personally, the local obstetrics community's reaction here was/is that Makena was a pathetic attempt to manipulate the FDA, doctors, insurances and patients and I could see this leading to a backlash and blacklisting led by physicians, who in the US, are gatekeepers to pharmaceuticals. Unless KV demonstrates some value over the compounded product the pharmacist has been mixing on the bench for forever AND does some serious physician PR work (despite their altruism, doctors tend to hold grudges against those that arm twist them and profit unethically from their patients that were being served well ), I think the company may have bet the farm and lost big here.
What do you think about KV -- or any other stock, for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!
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