Engelhard Corporation When deciding to purchase stocks, ma

When deciding to purchase stocks, many investors rely on companies with which they are familiar either from personal experience or from media exposure. Yet there are thousands of publicly traded companies in the United States and many more available throughout the world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is based on only 30 companies, most of which--such as Disney--are well known to even casual investors. There are, however, other investing opportunities for investors willing to look beyond the well-publicized stocks; investing in these companies may mean that investors must learn about entirely new industries and business operations. This research considers a lesser known company, Engelhard Corporation, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and which participates in the specialty chemicals industry.

Engelhard Corporation is one of the nation's leading manufacturers of specialty chemicals serving the petroleum, automotive, refining, chemical, paper and related industries. Its products include fluid catalytic cracking catalysts, reforming catalysts and environmental protection catalysts. In addition, the company processes and mines clays into pigments and additives and is active in precious metals refining and management. Its operations are therefore sensitive to changes in the price of precious metals, but the company has demonstrated a strong performance record over the last several years and has remained a strong

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ears. The company's current ratio shows that it is able to meet current obligations without relying on selling long-term assets (other ratios were covered on the discussion of the first page). Other financial information is presented here as a convenience to current and potential investors. The stock price indicates that the stock is holding steady relative to previous years while the long-term debt has indeed increased significantly from 1994. Capital expenditures are down from 1995, but up relative to the other years. This may explain the company's increase in long-term debt as the debt may have been used to finance the capital acquisitions. On the income statement (statement of earnings), we see the information in raw form that was presented on the first page. We learn here that the company suffered losses from affiliated organizations and also that there was a profit made on an investment. Interest expenses have gone up while contango on hedging instruments (contango) have gone down from 1995. Overall, the company's performance is stronger in 1996 than in 1995 when measured by earnings per share (1996 Annual Report 34). On the balance sheet, we see the components which make up some of the financial ratios already pre

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