There are no safe havens in the stock market. Every stock carries risk. But some less than others. This column features stocks that have shown one or more of the following characteristics: less volatility, better earnings, larger market caps, safe and increasing dividends. In these times of turmoil, our goal is to show readers better opportunities for investing with fewer risks.

September 1, 2009 - Millipore Corp. (MIL-NYSE), a life science company, provides technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments: Bioprocess and Bioscience.

The Bioscience segment manufactures and sells instrumentation, consumable products, and services used in drug discovery and other laboratory applications. This segment serves research laboratories at academic institutions, research departments at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, life science research companies, privately funded research laboratories, hospitals and clinical laboratories, clinical research organizations, and environmental, industrial, and other analytical laboratories.

The company sells its products through a direct sales force, its Web site, and independent distributors. Millipore Corporation has partnership agreements with Luminex; Gen-Probe; Novozymes; Novo Nordisk; Rohm and Haas; and Microbix Biosystems Inc. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts.

In this tough economic time, finding a stock with increasing earnings is a challenge. Millipore is up to the task, having delivered earnings per share (eps) that improved since 2001 when it reported $1.54. The following years were: $1.71, $1.94, $2.10, $2.58, $2.89, $3.36 and $3.53. Over the last 5 years, earnings grew annually by an average of 13.5%. This year's consensus estimate from 11 analysts is $3.94, then in 2010, $4.38. For the last 5 years, earnings growth was 14.7% a year, on average. For the next 5, expect 12.7% annual average increases.

Revenues followed the same pattern. In 2006, they were $1.225 billion, then $1.53 billion, followed by $1.60 billion. This year, analysts see the final total at $1.64 billion, then $1.73 billion in 2010. Foreign sales in 2008 were 52% of all revenues, with 43% in Europe and 9% in Asia/Pacific. For the last 5 years, the average annual increase was 12.5%. For the next 5, look for 6% a year growth.

For the next several years, earnings should continue to improve, thanks to cost cutting measures, new acquisitions and strong demand for Millipore's consumable products which should see increased orders. On the negative side, the instrument business has seen reduced sales and may take a while to recover.

More numbers: Trailing P/E is 21.6 while the Forward P/E is 15. Price to sales is 2.31. Price to Book is 2.58. Operating margin for the last 12 months was 17.57% while Profit margin was 10.60%. Return on Equity was 12.81%. Total cash is $146.5 million, making $2.64 in cash per share. Total debt is $1.01 billion. Current ratio is 2.71. Book Value per share is $25.86. Institutions own 98.7% of the stock. The financial strength is rated A by Value Line.

Millipore is a high-tech bioscience company whose products aid in the development and production of new therapeutic drugs. With the aging population, demand for new therapies will only increase. That makes this stock one most investors should find of interest. And because of its strong cash position as well as robust cash flow, conservative investors in particular may want to spend more time delving into it.

- Company Web site: www.millipore.com

- Ted Allrich