NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of SunCoke Energy Inc. are higher by 4.89% to $18.03 on heavy volume in mid-afternoon trading on Friday, as investors are suggesting that the company consider a sale if it cannot show significant growth. SunCoke is an Illinois-based independent producer of coke, which is a raw material used in the process of making integrated steel. Hedge fund Jet Capital Investors LP, SunCoke's third largest shareholder with a 6.2% stake along with affiliates, is asking the company to sell itself if it cannot show it is able to grow, Reuters reports. Exclusive Report: Jim Cramer's Best Stocks for 2015 Jet Capital has some concerns regarding SunCoke's slow transformation to a general partnership/limited partnership structure, Reuters added. "Execution on growth initiatives have been virtually non-existent with not a single acquisition completed in 2014...Given the failures of 2014, the market currently ascribes zero growth in perpetuity to SunCoke, and zero value to its advantaged GP/LP structure," Mathew Mark a general partner with Jet Capital said in a letter to the SunCoke board. At Thursday's closing price SunCoke was valued at $1.14 billion, Reuters noted. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates SUNCOKE ENERGY INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate SUNCOKE ENERGY INC (SXC) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. Among the primary strengths of the company is its revenue growth. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and poor profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 1.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.1%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. SUNCOKE ENERGY INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, SUNCOKE ENERGY INC swung to a loss, reporting -$0.30 versus $0.58 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.66 versus -$0.30). The share price of SUNCOKE ENERGY INC has not done very well: it is down 23.50% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Turning toward the future, the fact that the stock has come down in price over the past year should not necessarily be interpreted as a negative; it could be one of the factors that may help make the stock attractive down the road. Right now, however, we believe that it is too soon to buy. The gross profit margin for SUNCOKE ENERGY INC is rather low; currently it is at 18.80%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -16.87% is significantly below that of the industry average. The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 695.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $11.00 million to -$65.50 million. You can view the full analysis from the report here: SXC Ratings Report
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