- Hello Customer - Log in or Register!
Robert McCarthy, vice president-investor relations, and other Rexnord Corp. executives have just moved into new offices in the Global Water Center building in Milwaukee, joining other companies that will have water-related research activities there.
You don't always see Rexnord Corp.'s products, but you frequently see what they do.
From the office building plumbing that brings water to the faucet, to the guides that move bottles along a conveyor line in a factory, to parts that enable landing gear to emerge from a large commercial aircraft, Rexnord's many products often play a behind-the-scenes role in making things move the way they should.
"When you look out an airplane window from your seat and you notice the flap on the wing is moving, the shaft that's controlling that movement is probably riding on a Rexnord bearing," said Robert McCarthy, vice president-investor relations for the Milwaukee-based company.
While Rexnord's diverse array of globally marketed products may be out of sight, shares of its company stock haven't been.
On a percentage basis, its stock price has been the 10th-biggest gainer among Wisconsin's public companies over the past 12 months, according to data from Morningstar Inc.
The company, which traces its origins to the Chain Belt Co. in the late 1800s, went public more than two years ago.
It had been purchased in 2006 by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC, which still is majority owner.
Money manager John Collopy, who follows Wisconsin public companies, said Rexnord shares have tended to outperform other industrial stocks, although he is concerned that an economic slowdown abroad could affect sales.
"The stock sort of hangs in there," said Collopy, director of research for Oshkosh-based Carl M. Hennig Inc. "I think it's the perception that capital spending over time — over the next 12 months, say — is going to pick up and they'll be the beneficiary of it. We'll have to wait and see."
Rexnord, whose 2014 fiscal year ended in March, had annual sales of nearly $2.1 billion. Through the first half of the new fiscal year, sales were up about 2.4%, to $1.05 billion from $1.02 billion a year earlier. Net income was $49.3 million in the first six months of fiscal 2015.
The company has about 7,400 employees worldwide and plants in Grafton, Cudahy, New Berlin and West Milwaukee.
Rexnord operates in two key business segments: process and motion control, and water management.
Its products include gears, couplings, chains, bearings and many other industrial components.
Putting it simply, McCarthy said, Rexnord produces components for things that "need to be moved or handled."
"It tends to be big stuff, and we make the elements of the mechanical system that would control that movement," he said.
In the water management segment, "Our market presence is basically source to tap," McCarthy said.
The water business came to Rexnord with its acquisition of Zurn Industries Inc. in 2007, a move that helped Rexnord diversify.
"We've made some acquisitions since that time to strengthen and expand the scope of the platform," McCarthy said.
Executives from Rexnord recently moved their offices into Milwaukee's Global Water Center building, joining other companies that will have water-related research activities there.
Rexnord also is the parent company of Milwaukee's Falk Corp., which makes gearing and gear boxes.
Rexnord keeps its eyes peeled for acquisitions, and has picked up the pace of buying other firms over the past few years.
Just this month, the company's Rexnord Euroflex Transmissions Corp. agreed to acquire a firm in India that supplies disc couplings used in power generation, gas compression and other industrial process machinery applications.
Rexnord, with about $2billion in debt and still a relatively young public company, isn't conducting stock buybacks or paying quarterly cash dividends.
"We think we've got a lot of opportunities to create value for shareholders by reinvesting in the business," McCarthy said.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| 22320BK+AHX2320 NTN | 95 | 90 | |
| 21320K+AHX320 NTN | 95 | 59 |