By
Brian Orelli
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May 12, 2008
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Motley Fool Hidden Gems
advisor Bill Mann sure knows how to pick 'em. American Oriental Bioengineering (NYSE: AOB ) is up more than 45% since he recommended it to readers at the end of March. Of course, last week's strong earnings didn't exactly hurt.
The Chinese plant-based pharmaceutical maker saw revenue jump more than 50% year over year. Sales of over-the-counter products rose 138%, and pharmaceutical sales increased 72% thanks to a pair of acquisitions, CCXA and Boke, last September and October.
Most of the revenue trickled through to the bottom line, as net income rose 46% year over year. Earnings per share, however, lagged -- up just 20% year over year. The company had many more shares outstanding this quarter, because of a secondary stock offering last June. In retrospect, the offering might look ill-timed, since the stock is selling for almost 40% more than American Oriental Bioengineering received in the secondary offering. However, the cash allowed it to make the purchases that drove up the stock price. Sometimes a smaller piece of a bigger pie is preferable -- especially if it's one of those magical pies that grows over time.
The company still has almost $160 million in cash and equivalents in the bank, and it hinted strongly that it plans to make more acquisitions. If AOB decides to move stateside with an acquisition, MartekBiosciences (Nasdaq: MATK ) or NBTY (Nasdaq: NTY ) are probably out of its reach for now, but it could conceivably pick up a smaller player like Nutraceutical International (Nasdaq: NUTR ) . Staying in China for its next acquisition wouldn't be a bad move, either, given its current performance.
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