Is Terex a Buffett Stock?

As the world's third-richest person and most celebrated investor, Warren Buffett attracts a lot of attention. Thousands try to track his investments and glean what they can from his thinking processes.

Although we can't know for sure whether Buffett is about to buy Terex (NYSE: TEX) -- he hasn't specifically mentioned anything about it to me -- we can discover whether it's the sort of stock that might interest him. Answering that question could also tell us whether it's a stock that should interest us.

In his most recent 10-K, Buffett lays out the qualities he looks for in an investment. In addition to adequate size, proven management, and a reasonable valuation, he demands:

1. Consistent earnings power.
2. Good returns on equity with limited or no debt.
3. Simple, non-techno-mumbo-jumbo businesses.

Does Terex meet Buffett's standards?

1. Earnings power
Buffett is famous for betting on a sure thing. For that reason, he likes to see companies with demonstrated earnings stability.

Let's examine Terex's earnings history.

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Free cash flow is adjusted based on author's calculations.

Terex lost money over the trailing-12-month period.

2. Return on equity and debt
Return on equity is a great metric for measuring both management's effectiveness and the strength of a company's competitive advantage or disadvantage -- a classic Buffett consideration. When considering return on equity, it's important to make sure a company doesn't have an enormous debt burden, because that will skew your calculations and make the company look much more efficient than it actually is.

Since competitive strength is a comparison between peers, and various industries have different levels of profitability and require different levels of debt, it helps to use an industry context.

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

Terex earned a negative return on equity over the exhibits' lower returns on equity over the past year and averaged a negative return on equity over the past five. Its debt burden is a bit lower than some of its peers'.

3. Business
Although no industry is completely immune to the vicissitudes of time, machinery isn't the most prone to technological disruption -- we're not talking astro-nanorobotics here.

The Foolish conclusion
Regardless of whether Buffett would ever buy Terex, we've learned that the company operates in a more-or-less simple industry and has a lower debt burden than some of its more heavily indebted peers. However, it doesn't exhibit other characteristics of a quintessential Buffett investment: consistent earnings power and high returns on equity.

Interested in any of these companies? Add them to My Watchlist:

• Add Terex to My Watchlist.
• Add Caterpillar to My Watchlist.
• Add Deere to My Watchlist.
• Add Paccar to My Watchlist.