IBD：DXP走稳跨地区多元化产业线路

DXP Enterprises(代號:DXPE) 作为一家业界领先的机械维修服务及电气器材提供商供货商，几年前的俄克拉何马州门店的月销售额仅为20-30万美元，之后地方管理部门开始大量招聘具有轴承和切削工具使用经验的专业技术工人，公司销售额开始大涨，攀升至每月120万美元。公司副总裁Mac McConnell表示：“我们的拥有专业技工和员工。”这家位于休斯顿的企业在跨地区多元化产品销售线方面极为出色，这也是公司营收蒸蒸日上的重要促动因素，但并不是唯一的。

业界的经销商通过加大油气市场份额以获得高额利润，DXP Enterprises也不外如此，有30%的营收是来自油气市场，同时公司还在食品和饮料市场有所涉猎，分析师表示：“公司在广泛市场中拥有大量的客户，其品牌知名度颇广。”这使得DXP Enterprises连续11个季度保持了20%以上的销售和营收增长。二季度公司每股收益达到0.93美元，同比上涨66%，比分析师预期的高了 8%；营收同比上涨了120%至1.878亿美元。分析师预期08年每股收益为3.68美元，同比上涨36% 。

每年，养护、维修和操作设备市场价值达到2000亿美元，DXP Enterprises 07年的总销售额在这样一个肥沃的市场中排名22位，通过近期不断的收购计划，此排名将进一步上升。DXP Enterprises在1908年只是南部一家小型的引擎和抽水机供货商，David Little在上世纪80年代收购了这家企业并进一步扩大，在1996年更名为DXP Enterprises并进军工业产品领域。而今抽水机设备仅占公司业务的30%，而养护、维修和操作设备成为公司的主打业务。公司在12个行业中拥有 40,000个客户。

公司为包括Exxon Mobil(代號:XOM)，Dow Chemical(代號:DOW)，Whirl pool(代號:WHR)以及Coca-Cola(代號:KO) 在内的大公司提供抽水机、链轮齿、保险丝、研磨机、离合器以及供应线管理服务。通过不断的并购活动，公司营收和市场份额与日俱增。自05年以来公司收购了 10家企业，最大的一次收购价值1.06亿美元，对象是一家国内工业经销商Precision Industries。

近几个季度中，公司的营收上涨了31% 。考虑到客户将进一步精简供应链，公司表示将对供应业务进行整合。“我们相信整合后的供应链将更能够吸引重要客户，他们将多数业务进行外包。”除此以外，公司还着手于扩大公司规模，出售三条以上的产品线，目前公司拥有108家门店，以及数以千计的专业技术工人。

公司面临的最大风险问题在于多数业务的周期性特征。一旦油价下降，或是食品饮料行业萎缩，公司将岌岌可危。在一个竞争激烈的市场中运营，商品价格日益高涨导致公司成本价格不断攀升，因此公司也在着力于解决成本上涨的问题。Dutton Associates分析师Paul Resnik表示，DXP Enterprises的长期前景依然看好，“在经济低迷的大环境中，DXP Enterprises不仅在传统能源业务方面取得了稳固业绩，还在食品饮料、农业和采矿市场中享有一定份额。”

Investor's Business Daily
Industrial Equipment Maker Diversifies Beyond Its Traditional Pumps
Thursday August 7, 6:10 pm ET
Kevin Harlin

A few years ago a DXP Enterprises store in Oklahoma City was pulling in $200,000 to $300,000 a month selling the industrial supplier's line of pumps.

Then, local managers started hiring people with the expertise to sell bearings and cutting tools and safety equipment. Sales climbed to about $1.2 million a month.

It was one of the company's first "Super Centers."

"They went out and showed us the right way to do this. They experimented," said Mac McConnell, senior vice president and chief financial officer for DXP (NasdaqGS:DXPE - News). "Just adding the product doesn't do it. Just having more things on the shelf doesn't do it. It's having the people and the expertise."

Better cross-selling Houston-based DXP's diverse product line is one of the strategies for driving revenue growth.

But it's not the only way DXP is growing.

Energy Exposure

The industrial distributor is benefiting from high exposure to the booming energy and gas markets. It gets about 30% of its revenue from there. And customers in the food and beverage industries provide a nice balance from the cyclical energy markets, analysts say.

"They have people in place who really know the products, who can offer different solutions to different clients," said Morgan Joseph analyst Christopher Bamman.

That's helped DXP deliver 11-straight quarters of at least double-digit sales and revenue growth.

In the second quarter, it posted earnings of 93 cents per share, up 66% from last year. That was 8% better than analysts expected. Revenue was $187.8 million, up 120% from a year ago.

The company doesn't issue guidance. Analysts expect $3.68 per share for all of 2008, a 36% gain from last year's $2.71.

Estimates vary, but most watchers peg the maintenance, repair and operating equipment market at north of $200 billion a year. DXP was the 22nd-largest firm in that busy and fragmented market by 2007 total sales, according to Industrial Distribution Magazine. The ranking is likely to climb with some recent acquisitions.

DXP formed in 1908 as Southern Engine and Pump Co. In 1979, it rechartered as Sepco Industries (an abbreviation of Southern Engine and Pump Co.). An employee group lead by Chief Executive David Little bought out the company in the 1980s.

It changed its name to DXP Enterprises (short for distribution experts) in 1996 as it was expanding into other industrial product lines. Pumps today are only 30% of its business.

The company distributes maintenance, repair and operating equipment and services, to 40,000 customers in a dozen industries. Its pumps, sprockets, fuses, abrasives, clutches and supply chain management services go to customers such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - News), Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW - News), Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR - News), and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO - News).

DXP has grown its revenue, geography and product mix through acquisitions.

It has bought 10 companies since 2005. The largest was a $106 million deal for Precision Industries, a national industrial distributor with long reach in the food and beverage industry.

But it's also focusing on organic growth. Revenue was up 31% in the most recent quarter, not including companies purchased in the last year.

DXP thinks its customers will continue to try to simplify their supply chains.

The company says its integrated supply business, where it takes over the inventory management functions for a company, has strong growth potential. That business was hit in the quarter when a long-time customer was acquired. But DXP says that was an anomaly.

"We believe that integrated supply will continue to gain importance to customers as they continue to drive more of their supply chain to outsource providers," Little told analysts in a conference call.

As part of that push to grow organically, DXP is expanding its superstore format, which are locations that sell three or more of its product lines. It now has 14 of them and 11 more of its 108 total stores are slated for upgrade.

Those provide some nice growth, though Bamman notes that developing or hiring the necessary expertise makes upgrading stores a slow process.

Another major risk the company faces is the cyclical nature of many of its businesses. If energy prices fall or the food and beverage industry slumps, that could slam DXP.

Commodity Prices

The company also operates in a competitive environment with numerous small niche players and some that are divisions of much larger companies.

Commodity prices have gone up, which affects the cost of products DXP offers. But so far, the company says it's able to pass most of those increases on.

DXP is also rolling out new pricing software and other internal initiatives, which is says will help it improve margins and increase sales.

Paul Resnik, analyst with the paid-research firm Dutton Associates, thinks DXP's long-term outlook is strong.

"In the midst of a sluggish economic environment, DXP has seen solid growth not only in its traditional energy business, but in the food and beverage, agriculture and mining sectors as well," Resnik wrote in a research note.