Furmanite Corporation (NYSE: FRM)
Richardson, Texas
http://www.furmanite.com/

52-week low / high: $4.90 / $13
Shares Outstanding: 36 million
Market Capitalization: $341 million

If “everything’s bigger in Texas,” then it would only be apropos for Richardson, Texas-based Furmanite Corporation (NYSE: FRM) to be one of the world’s biggest specialty technical service companies delivering engineering solutions that keep facilities operating.

Founded in 1927, Furmanite, formerly Xanser Corporation, primarily caters to electric power generating plants, petroleum refineries and other process industries in 25 countries, including the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

The company operates in two segments: technical and government services, and conducts its principal businesses through subsidiaries operated through Furmanite Worldwide, Inc., along with domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates.

Within its tech services segment, Furmanite’s offerings get down and dirty with online repairs of leaks in valves, pipes, onsite machining, bolting, valve repair and valve testing. The small cap also provides hot tapping, fugitive emissions monitoring, passive fire protection, concrete repair and diagnostic services on valves and motors by utilizing its Trevitest system, among other methods.

In its government services segment, Furmanite operates through its subsidiary, Xtria LLC, which offers products and services ranging from Web-hosted data processing to policy analysis and program implementation to agencies of state and federal government.

Though the industry Furmanite inhabits isn’t one of the sexiest, it still has its rewards.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2007, revenues rose 23% to $74.2 million, from $60.3 million a year earlier. It reported net income of $3.6 million for the third quarter, compared with a net loss of $3.3 million for the prior year’s quarter. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Furmanite reported revenues up 21% to $217.4 million, compared with $179.6 million, and net income of $9.1 million, compared with a net loss of $2.6 million for the prior-year period.

Based on its recent numbers, Furmanite has the potential to push the growth envelope even more in the future. Because the company is an essential element to the operation of many process manufacturers, energy producers, and suppliers in a quilt of countries across the globe, there is no foreseeable dearth of business for Furmanite.

Michael L. Rose, president of Furmanite, has a confident outlook on the company’s future.

“Going forward, we see continuing opportunities for growth in every region we serve around the world," he said, in a press release on Nov. 8.

For an investor, what’s sexier than that?

Note: Furmanite Corporation (NYSE: FRM) is on the “Watch List” of Rising Star Stocks, a subscription investment newsletter from Business Financial Publishing, which also publishes SmallCapInvestor.com. As a Watch List company, Furmanite displays many characteristics found in successful stock winners, and is being closely monitored for possible inclusion in the Rising Star Stocks portfolio at a later date.

---You can read the FULL article when you register (registration is free!) or sign-in to SmallCapInvestor.com---