Here's Why You Should Add Fortive (FTV) To Your Portfolio

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is currently a well-performing technology stock and a rise in share price and strong fundamentals signal its bullish run. Therefore, if you haven’t taken advantage of the share price appreciation yet, it’s time you add the stock to your portfolio.

The company has performed extremely well so far this year and has the potential to carry on the momentum in the near term.

Here are a few reasons why the stock is worth considering

An Outperformer

A look at the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run on the bourse year to date. Fortive has gained 35.7%, significantly outperforming the S&P 500’s rally of 15.7%.

Solid Rank & VGM Score

Fortive carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has a VGM Score of B. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 offer the best investment opportunities to investors. Thus, the company appears to be a convincing investment proposition at the moment.

Northward Estimate Revisions

For the current year, 10 estimates moved north over the past 30 days versus no southward revisions, reflecting analysts’s confidence in the company. Over the same period, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year increased 1.8%.

Positive Earnings Surprise History

Fortive has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average positive earnings surprise of 3.8%.

Strong Growth Prospects

The company’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 earnings of $2.85 reflects year-over-year growth of 13.4%. Moreover, earnings are expected to register 12.3% growth in 2018. The stock has long-term expected earnings per share growth rate of 10.1%.

Solid Growth Drivers

Fortive has a well-diversified product portfolio, which consists of professional and engineered products, software and services. These products are sold to a variety of end markets with secular tailwinds such as communications & networking, sensing, traffic management, and franchise distribution, among others. This ensures consistent top-line performance and indicates potential for improvement. Fortive’s recently reported third-quarter 2017 revenues surged 7.5% year over year.

Fortive Corporation Revenue (TTM)

Fortive Corporation Revenue (TTM) | Fortive Corporation Quote

Fortive’s foray into the Cloud computing segment is very encouraging. The recent acquisition of eMaint Enterprises by its subsidiary, Fluke and the acquisition of Global Traffic Technologies has accelerated Fortive’s push into the rapidly growing cloud computing market. The deal provides cloud/SaaS solutions for asset and equipment management mainly for industrial applications.

Fortive is quite active on the acquisition front. It closed acquisitions of Industrial Scientific, Orpak and Landauer during the third quarter. These acquisitions are expected to strengthen Fortive’s product technology expertise and boost recurring revenues, going forward. In the third quarter, acquisitions contributed 1.8% to top-line growth.

Management is focused on improving gross and operating margins. The company is making efforts to improve its existing portfolio and acquire businesses over time that will aid its top- and bottom-line trajectory.

The company’s Fortive Business System (“FBS”), which is a set of tools that include voice of the customer, value stream mapping, Kaizen basics, lean conversion, accelerated product development, daily management and problem solving, is aimed at expanding its operating margins.

Other Stocks to Consider

Other stocks worth considering in the broader technology sector include Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) , Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings per share growth rate for Activision, Applied Materials and Alibaba is projected to be 13.8%, 16.9% and 30.7%, respectively.

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