Company Description
Atlanta-based John H. Harland Company (NYSE:JH - News)
(http://www.harland.net) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol ``JH.'' Harland is a leading provider of
software and printed products to the financial institution
market. Harland's software solutions include, deposit & loan
origination, platform, teller, call-center, mortgage, business
intelligence, core systems, and customer relationship management
systems. Harland's printed products offerings include checks,
direct marketing and financial forms. Scantron Corporation
(http://www.scantron.com), a wholly owned subsidiary, is a
leading provider of software services and systems for the
collection, management and interpretation of data to the
financial, commercial and educational markets.
[Source: Company Press Release]
Reasons to Invest:
John H Harland (NYSE:JH) is this week's Drip of the Week. Shares
of JH had sunk 16 points from May of 2002 to November of 2002
before forming a bottom. Once that bottom was formed
(approximately in the 18 range), the stock has never looked back.
I am upbeat about their dividend offering, as well as their point
and figure chart, which notes a bullish price objective of 50.50
- more than 60% higher than it's current trading range of 30.
On May 7th, John H Harland announced that they had been chosen to
supply their Harland Financial Solutions' Encore! to standardize
and add functionality to Banknorth N.A.'s branch operations.
On April 30th the company completed their acquisition of
Electronic Mortgage Document Product Line from Greatland
Corporation, based out of Michigan. This acquisition gives JH
over 2,400 state and federal compliant lending forms, which
should serve to help them land more mortgage based business.
The company raised their fiscal 2004 earnings (April 20th) to
$1.94 - $1.99 - including an estimated $0.19 per share of exit
costs and severance charges - citing a strong first quarter as
their primary backing for this guidance increase.
John H Harland's Board of Directors announced on the 23rd of
April that they had approved their quarterly dividend of $0.10
per share for the quarter. The annual dividend of $0.40 per
share tallies out to a 1.30 percent dividend yield. Over the
next year JH is expecting a 16.67 percent dividend growth rate.
I drew a May 03 regression channel on JH's chart and was
intrigued to see that the stock has only closed below this
channel twice, only to rebound in the following trading session.
Currently the stock is about to retest the middle bar of its
regression channel (approximately 50 cents away on the daily
chart). The MACD indicator is giving off a bullish signal and
has done so since the stock fell out its channel in the middle of
last month. The weekly MACD indicator is showing signs of a
bullish crossover, which could occur late next week. The
stochastics indicator is in neutral territory on the weekly
chart. This is generally an indication that the stock has room
to move higher. When a given stock is in overbought territory it
could mean that traders may use this information as a chance to
take profits, while waiting for the stock to travel back into
neutral territory.
Another positive sign on the stock is the fact that the 20-DMA is
about to crossover the simple 10-DMA, which is usually a sign of
bullish things to come.
As mentioned before JH has a PnF price objective of 50.50, which
is $19.72 higher (or 64%) than today's close of $30.78. I would
be happy to see the stock break over the 45.00 range, but
dividend investors should be aware that we may see some of the
2002 highs holding up as resistance. However, if we could get a
close over 35.00 there is no telling where the proverbial glass
ceiling is, and how far the profit train will travel.
This ends another exciting episode of the DripAdvisor.com Drip of
the Week. Stay tuned next week, as we will spotlight another
stock worthy of the DripAdvisor.com limelight.
Until Next Week,
Nich Sheldon
Editor
Broker Recommendations
Strong Buy 2
Buy 0
Hold 2
Sell 0
Strong Sell 0
Brokers Covering 4
DRIP Information:
Shares to Qualify = 1
Auto-reinvestment = Yes
Accept Foreign Accounts: Yes
Temper Enrollment: Yes
Min/Max Investment = $50-$250,000/year
Reinvestment Fees -
Dividend investment fees: $0.00
Cash investment fees: $5.00 +$0.03 per share
Auto reinvestment fees: $2.00 + Commission
Transfer Agent:
First Chicago Trust
800-519-3111
Corporate Headquarters:
2939 Miller Road
Decatur, GA 30035
Phone: (770) 981-9460
Email: hbond@harland.net
