Mine Safety's Rock-Solid 2005: Fool by Numbers

On Mar. 1, Mine Safety (NYSE: MSA  ) released full-year 2005 earnings for the period ended Dec. 31, 2005.

• Revenue increased 6% to a record $912 million.
• EPS grew 18%, beating expectations by $0.03.
• Operating margins ticked up on better North American cost controls.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Avg. Est.	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Sales	$903,600	$911,970	$857,513	6.4%
Net Profit	--	$81,783	$71,047	15.1%
EPS	$2.16	$2.19	$1.86	17.7%

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Gross Margin	39.42%	40.28%	(0.86%)
Op. Margin	14.23%	13.76%	0.47%
Net Margin	8.97%	8.29%	0.68%

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Cash+ ST Invest.	$44,797	$76,545	(41.5%)
Inventory	$119,731	$124,846	(4.1%)
Accounts Rec.	$169,436	$157,824	7.4%

Liabilities	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Long-Term Debt	$54,642	$60,841	(10.2%)
Accounts Pay.	$40,935	$40,705	0.6%

Inventories at work.

Cash Flow Highlights

Data not provided. (Boo!)

Related Companies:

• 3M (NYSE: MMM  )
• Armor Holdings (NYSE: AH  )
• Ceradyne (Nasdaq: CRDN  )
• Lakeland (Nasdaq: LAKE  )
• Lacrosse Footwear (Nasdaq: BOOT  )
• Tyco (NYSE: TYC  )

Related Foolishness:

• Ceradyne Ascendant
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• The Great Corporate Breakup
• Rocky Goes Down for the Count

Tyco and 3M are Motley Fool Inside Value selections. Mine Safety is a Motley Fool Hidden Gems pick. Tom Gardner and his team are always hunting for small-cap winners like Mine Safety, which is up 140% since Tom selected it in 2003. You can join in that kind of fun by taking a 30-day free trial .

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean.

At the time of publication, Fool analyst Andy Cross did not own shares in any company mentioned above. Fool rules are here.