Since the start of the month, G.O.P. candidates have also solidified their leads in Alaska, Arkansas, and Louisiana, three states where Democratic incumbents are seeking reëlection, and they have opened up narrow but steady margins in the contests for two more Democratic-held seats, in Iowa and Colorado.
With steady margins, good operating cash flow and impressive free cash flow (up from $70 million to $258 million), Family Dollar has a lot going for it, including a consistent history of paying dividends.
Although margins for big-screen (and flat-panel) displays have been extremely attractive over the past two years, there is now a major concern that prices are falling too fast to ensure steady margins in advanced TVs from the second quarter of 2005 onward.
The hospital price-setting system the state imposed in 1983 essentially guaranteed every hospital a small but steady profit margin.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart sells at one times revenues with a steady pretax margin of 5%.
While they have grown only slowly in recent years, they command steady profit margins of around 18percentt.
If the Palm OS can win the battle over Microsoft to become the standard for handheld devices, revenue from licensing fees would give the company steady, high-margin income.
They have resurrected an aging Oracle foe–Ingres, which uses database technology developed 32 years ago by two Berkeley scientists to target Oracle's biggest source of profit: the steady, high-margin fees it charges for regular upgrades and support.
In order to maintain steady gross margins, salaries and advertising expenses are not likely to increase within the first two years of operation, unless cash flows significantly increase.
We doubt the steady increase in margin debt since the end of 2006 has been due to individual investors borrowing to buy U.S. equities.
