On June 16, 2003, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook to stable from negative on Precision Castparts Corp. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its ratings, including the 'BBB-'/'A-3' corporate credit ratings, on the company. Rated debt is about $700 million. The outlook revision is based on credit protection measures that remain strong for the rating, despite very challenging conditions in Precision Castparts' two key markets--commercial aerospace and industrial gas turbine. Solid operating profit margins, driven by a sharp focus on cost cutting, coupled with continued debt reduction from free cash flow, has enabled the firm to maintain an overall appropriate financial profile. In the near term, funds from operations to debt should be in the
