Foster Wheeler Ltd. (NDAQ: ) shares may be down sharply on the year, but that didn't stop Jim Cramer from reiterating his recommendation. The hedge fund manager turned television star believes CEO Raymond Milchovich's departure is certain bad news, but insists that the firm remains substantially undervalued. Cramer insists that the company is trading at less than 1x is backorder book, which means the stock is trading at less than its backlist of customer orders.
Many investers are concerned that lower oil prices may hurt business for Foster Wheeler, which provides construction and engineering services to the oil and gas industry. However, experts like Jim Cramer believe that, unless oil goes down to $35 a barrel, their customers aren't going to cancel any orders. In other words, these projects still make economic sense with oil trading above $100 per barrel, which is a price that many expect to remain a bottom.
Foster Wheeler Limited operates through two business groups, the Global Engineering & Construction Group (Global E&C Group) and the Global Power Group. The Global E&C Group, which operates globally, designs, engineers and constructs onshore and offshore upstream oil and gas processing facilities, natural gas liquefaction facilities and receiving terminals, gas-to-liquids facilities, oil refining, chemical and petrochemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology facilities and related infrastructure, including power generation and distribution facilities, and gasification facilities. The Global Power Group designs, manufactures and erects steam generating and auxiliary equipment for electric power generating stations and industrial facilities globally.
Shares of Foster Wheeler jumped $1.62, or 3.55%, to $47.83 per share.