Earlier Wednesday, Joy Global announced third-quarter earnings and raised its full-year profit forecast. That sounds good, and the stock has risen nearly 2% on Wednesday, but should you buy Joy Global’s stock?

Here are four reasons why you might consider doing so:

• Cheap. Joy Global’s price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio of 0.7 (where a PEG of 1.0 is considered fairly priced) means its stock is cheap. It currently has a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.5 and its earnings per share are expected to grow 23.8% to $7.12 in 2012.
• Strong earnings reports. Joy Global has been able beat analysts’ expectations co in all but one of its past five earnings reports.
• Increasing sales and profit with a cash-rich balance sheet. Joy Global has been increasing sales but its profit has fallen. Its revenue has grown at a 9.9% annual rate since 2006, while its net income has increased 2.7% — yielding a wide 13% net profit margin. Its debt has risen but not as fast as its cash.
• Out-earning its cost of capital — and improving. Joy Global is earning more than its cost of capital – and it’s improving. It’s producing EVA Momentum, which measures the change in “economic value added” (essentially, after-tax operating profit after deducting capital costs) divided by sales. In the first six months of 2011, Joy Global’s EVA momentum was 3%, based on first six months’ annualized 2010 revenue of $3.3 billion, and EVA that rose from first six months’ annualized 2010’s $140 million to first six months’ annualized 2011’s $228 million, using a 12% weighted average cost of capital.

This company looks like it might be worth considering as a place to park your money.

Peter Cohan has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.