What happened
Shares of industrial supplier Heico Corp. (HEI -0.66%) jumped as much as 10.5% in trading Tuesday after the company reported fiscal third-quarter 2018 results. Shares were holding nicely and were still up 10.1% at 2:50 p.m. EDT.
So what
Revenue was up 19% to $465.8 million in the quarter on the back of 35% growth for the Electronic Technologies Group to $186.4 million. Net income jumped 47% to $67.1 million, or $0.49 per share, $0.04 above analyst estimates.
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The tax bill passed late in 2017 helped drive earnings growth and lowered Heico's effective tax rate from 29.8% in the first nine months of 2017 to 17.9% in the first nine months of 2018. This is one company where lower taxes are a huge benefit to the bottom line.
Now what
There are a lot of tailwinds behind Heico right now, including growing aircraft sales and the lower tax rate. But I would also watch a total debt to equity ratio that fell from 54% at the beginning of the fiscal year to 43.6% at the end of last quarter. This could allow enough room on the balance sheet to acquire adjacent companies. There doesn't seem to be anything Heico can do wrong in the current economic environment. And given the growth rate, shares may have higher to run.
