Value Scouter's  Instablog

Some nice write up are already available on MHH, VOL and CBR, see link below for further research:
MHH:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/158565-something-good-is-going-on-at-mastech
VOL:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/163860-volt-information-services-going-where-the-panic-is
CBR:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/155088-ciber-a-healthy-small-cap-with-huge-upside
Since they are in similar business, i.e. staffing company for private or government agencies, I decided to take a look at these three companies and compare.
First off, VOL appears to be quite cheap after the run down last month or so, presumbly due to the delay in 10Q filing which might be related to some past revenue reinstatement. 
It is losing money for the past few quaters, have not filed the latest 10Q as mentioned above, so the latest info one can gather for VOL is from its quarter ended May 3, 09.  VOL has lots of cash and other short term investment, it has 382 M of net Account receivable.
However, if you look closely at the their numbers, VOL is hit on non cash items such as impairment and depreciation. It is still cash flow positive, for 6 months ended May 3, 09, it generated 33.2M operation cash flow. 
With a market cap of 193M on Friday and is still way below the net of current asset less total liability. 
MHH looks the best among three.  It has very high quality balance sheet numbers.  For instance, cash accounts for 48% of current asset, it is also accounting PPE, good will etc. very conservatively. In addition, MHH has a OI margin of 4.2% the latest quarter, that compared to 2.7% for CBR.  It is also accumulating cash at ~1.3M/Q. The only drawback that appear to me is in a year to year comparison, MHH revenue falls more than that of CBR and VOL (28% vs. 14.5% vs. 20%).  Bigger firms like CBR can weather the recession better, which makes sense. 
CBR has sequentially improved performance.  Its latest quarter would have generated 0.08 EPS, if the one time charge on law suit settlement was not incurred, and that is an improvement vs. 2Q's 0.07 EPS with comparable revenue numbers.  Its SGA # looks high, but that is more related how does CBR accounts for Cost vs. SGA.  The latest filing for NEO compensation was not that comforting given the "performance", so that is one piece worthy watching.
In addition, good will accounts a good portion of the balance book and is steadily increasing. The good will size and increase definitely contributed to the trending of equity. 
In terms of cash flow, CBR generates 61M from operation for 9 month ended 9/30, Another thing going against CBR is that it has increase shares outstanding over the last two quarters by 4million. 
All in all, MHH and VOL probably are relatively better investment, with MHH has the best safety.  However, slightly improvement in VOL by turning it number into positive could have very positive effect on the price.
CBR has a few things worth monitoring, but its ~30% cash yield is also tempting.   

LVB - Steinway Musical Instruments
The company has 20-30million free cash flow for the last five years except 2008, it currently trades at market cap of 122.5million at today's close after a 2.37% price appreciation. 
They announced a private placement of 27million at price of $16 per share from Samick, which is 37% primium of Nov. 5 close price.  The proceeds from this private placement will be used to pay down debt and/or acquisition.
As is, LVB has a fairly healthy balance sheet, with 456.2MM in total asset, of which 302MM is current asset. LVB has total liability of 290MM, and 47MM of this is current liability.  Both current and total liability was done from Dec. 2008.  One thing worthy noting is LVB has a fairly large inventory on its current asset, 168MM currently, meaning it takes 200+ days to move its inventory, so that is quite significant.  However, given LVB's line of business, it is not uncommon to have a large inventory (grand piano takes time to sell, particular high end line).  and a comparison across with historical numbers indicate that the curren inventory level is not of alarm.  Compare with year end inventory from 2008, it is also comparable.
Coming to income statement, the company has turned profitable this quarter, this is commendable at the current operating environment, which demonstrated the operation discipline the company has in not lowering the price and controlling cost.  compared with 2008, operation expense reduced from 29MM to 18MM, and quarterly comparison for top line decreased 18% vs. 27% in Q2. 

The recent private placement, overall economic recovery and Steinway's moat in musical instrument industry should be able to drive LVB's EPS back to its historical level of 1.5, which would translate into a target price of 18-22 with normal multiples.  The company used 1.5 MM cash for nine months ended Sept. 2009 from operation, of which 3.4 MM was used for debt repayment.  With condition improves, its rich cash yield would also helps to bring the stock price higher. 

Disclaimer: The author holds LVB shares at time of writing.

http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/783005/000095012309055230/c54368e8vk.htm
Impact on top and bottom line ~10%.  Cash yield still high taking away one time impairment charge.  Good investment long term.