Tag - GEOY

Battered stocks limped to a dismal Monday close, with the Dow and S&P 500 falling to levels seen in 1997 as investors continue to pull money out on decreased confidence. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were GeoEye Inc.. (Nasdaq:GEOY), Agilysys (Nasdaq:AGYS) and Main Street Capital (Nasdaq:MAIN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index dropped 2.41%, and large-cap tech bellweathers bled red.  
• Tech stocks were getting pummeled today on news from The Wall Street Journal that Yahoo’s new CEO is planning a companywide reorganization.  
• News that the Treasury Department would lead a new bank bailout program that would include the option of allowing the government to increase its ownership in financial institutions did little to support investor confidence.  
• Battered stocks limped to a dismal Monday close, falling to levels seen in 1997 as investors continue to pull money out on decreased confidence.

Small Cap Gainers:

• GeoEye Inc. is up 18% after attaining full operational capability with its GeoEye-1 Satellite. See (Nasdaq:GEOY).
• Arrow ECS helps Agilysys with largest-ever independent system test for utility meter data management industry; shares rise nearly 5%. See (Nasdaq:AGYS).  
• Main Street Capital announces additional SBIC borrowing capacity from stimulus bill; shares climb 7%. See (Nasdaq:MAIN).  

Small Cap Losers:

• HealthSpring shares drop 33% on Medicare rate worries. See (NYSE:HS). 
• Chiquita Brands International is down another 22% today after reporting disappointing earnings on Friday. See (NYSE:CQB).  
• PetroQuest Energy Slips another 24% after reporting a Q4 loss late last week. See (NYSE:PQ).  

Stocks are expected to open higher this morning on news that Citi is in negotiations with the U.S. government to get increased aid.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the government (which has already invested $25 billion in the ailing financial institution) is being asked to increase its aid to Citi by as much as 40%. The government would convert its preferred shares to common shares, which would leave Citi shareholders with a diluted stake, the Journal said.

Stock markets around the globe were rising on the fact that the Obama administration was not planning to nationalize one or more of the big U.S. banks and was instead looking at ways to raise its stake in Citigroup Inc.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.84% from 2.79% late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, . . .

Small-cap stocks reversed course mid-morning, sinking to fresh move lows as worries about the economy and credit crisis overwhelmed optimism about spending on technology. At 12:22 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was off 7.33, or 1.34%, at 539.23. The Dow and S&P 500 also slipped into the red, but the tech-laden Nasdaq 100 remained solidly higher, up 1.75%.

Tech stocks started out the day with a feel-good earnings lift from bellwether IBM, which provided some confidence that spending in the tech arena would not fall off a cliff amid the ongoing credit crisis. However, gains were rapidly trimmed away in techs as other index products slipped into negative territory — once again unable to sustain an opening bounce. IBM shares were also unable to build on the morning highs, up only about 1.2% after rising some 4% early on.

Investors seem concerned that even with the extraordinary measures to provide liquidity and help businesses access credit that neither the economy nor the credit crisis has hit bottom yet. And if the economy isn’t near the worst yet, it’s difficult to embrace buying equities. Some of the best researchers on the planet also are forecasting further pain on the economic front, which likely filters out to the rest of the investment world. For example, Goldman Sachs said in a research report this morning that “while the shifts may begin to turn around the acceleration in negative sentiment that has gripped financial markets, there is likely to be significant further easing around the world before we are done. In essence, we continue to believe that immediate financial risk stresses will probably begin to fade in the face of concerted policy efforts but that the more standard forces of slower growth and lower inflation will continue. We expect another 50bp cut from the Fed at the October . . .

Small-cap stocks closed out the week with a meager advance Friday, bucking the red ink seen in the Dow and S&P 500, which is a supportive sign for stocks in general as small caps tend to lead the way for equities — especially in recent years on the way up. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) rose 0.50, or 0.07%, to 720.05. For the week, small-cap shares were down 0.78%, which seems pretty tame in the face of renewed fretting about the credit crunch crisis and the highest crude oil prices in the history of the planet.

Crude oil futures shot above $126 dollars a barrel Friday, and have now soared about 11% since the beginning of May amid supply jitters out of Africa, geopolitical tension in the Middle East and tightening stocks of distillates. Not to mention a feeding frenzy from the bulls and a panic scramble by the shorts. With national pump prices already north of $3.50 a gallon, this week’s surge in crude oil prices will be a bitter pill for many Americans, already squeezed by rising food costs and sinking home equity. The ballyhooed economic stimulus package may lose some impact as the funds simply go to pay off consumer debt and fill the gas tank, not to “fuel” economic growth. Some airline carriers have announced fuel surcharges in recent days, and Northwest Airlines (NYSE:NWA) and Air Canada joined that chorus today.

The market came into Friday’s session on the defensive amid renewed concern about the credit crisis after American International Group (NYSE:AIG) reported larger-than-expected quarterly losses. AIG tumbled about 8% for the day, and was . . .

Deltek Inc. (Nasdaq:PROJ), 3D Systems Corp. (Nasdaq:TDSC) and GeoEye Inc. (Nasdaq:GEOY) are among the biggest percentage losers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Omega Protein Corp. (Nasdaq:OME), PowerSecure International Inc. (Nasdaq:POWR) and Knot Inc. (Nasdaq:KNOT) are also among the biggest percentage losers.

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Small-cap stocks opened sharply lower, pressured by a renewal of the credit crisis fears and reeling from a dramatic surge in crude oil that could crimp consumer spending habits and weigh on sentiment. At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 4.43, or 0.62%, at 715.12.

Financial shares sparked a wave of overnight selling after American International Group (NYSE:AIG) released earnings that disappointed investors and renewed concerns about debt write-downs among financial institutions. AIG tumbled 5% on the regular opening (which was better than the overnight showing), and the largest bank Citigroup (NYSE:C) was basically flat — also not as bad as overnight action — as the CEO spoke at an investor meeting.

There also was talk of asset allocation plays being back in vogue this morning, with investors shifting money away from equities and into treasury products. The old stock market adage “sell in May and go away” appeared to have a life this first full week of May trading.

In a Goldman Sachs research report released overnight, analysts say that the underlying shock of mortgage credit defaults is large and “still has a ways to go.” Although they say that some of the markets that have been beaten down will normalize and create positive spillover on sentiment in the broader economy, they said that excess housing supply, acceleration of home price declines and over leverage in the U.S. housing market will not go away anytime soon.
 
“We believe that such losses (from over leverage) imply further adverse surprises for balance sheets in parts of the financial sector, with correspondingly adverse effects on lending and economic activity. The focus of the pain is likely to shift away from subprime mortgages, where the markets are already discounting very large losses, to other residential mortgage debt, including prime mortgages. This is one reason why we are expecting a renewed slowdown in economic activity after the stimulus-fueled bounce in mid- to late 2008. In turn, it makes us fairly confident that . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) futures have declined and the small-cap index will open in negative territory.

Small-cap stocks are poised for a bearish opening on news that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell in February. The U.S. Commerce Department reported this morning that sales dropped 0.6%, defying economists’ forecasts for a small increase.

The Russell 2000 was unable to extend Tuesday’s big rally, and tumbled 6.50, or 0.97% to 667.31 on Wednesday. After the dramatic rise the previous day, a little bit of a “breather” session was not a surprise, but the market still needs to hold above 660 to help validate Tuesday’s huge rise. Look for chart resistance Thursday at 677.50, 683 and 688. Meanwhile, initial support should be seen at 660, then critical support comes in approaching 650.

The Business Inventories report at 10:00 a.m. will get a little more attention from traders. Still, the next big data risk comes with Friday’s CPI release.

You know they’re watching you; those satellites in the sky spying for government spooks or taking pictures for Internet mapping services. One company you can thank for taking pictures for both the government and commercial interests is Dulles, Va.-based GeoEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY), which designs and launches satellites to keep an eye on the world.

But there are few views of GeoEye from Wall Street. Only one independent analyst, Jeff Evanson at Dougherty & Co., follows the stock. Perhaps that limited coverage is why the stock is trading at $33 per share, while Evanson raised his target price to $45 from $40 after the company reported stellar third-quarter earnings on Nov. 1. Excluding a one-time insurance payment, net income almost doubled to $19.6 million from $10.4 million a year ago. Revenues were up nearly 23% to $53.8 million, from $43.5 million last year.

GeoEye went public on the Pink Sheets in January 2004 as Orbimage Holdings and quickly peaked at about $27. Since then, its stock chart has looked like a Jack-O-Lantern’s crooked smile, dipping as low as $6 in September 2004. In January 2006 it completed the acquisition of competitor Space Imaging LLC, which added the IKONOS satellite to its own OrbView satellite arsenal, and changed its name to GeoEye. On Sept. 14, 2006, it graduated from the Pink Sheets to Nasdaq.

From a price of about $11 at the time of the acquisition, its stock has steadily risen to about $33.44 now, a P/E of 10.08. Its 52-week high of $34, was established earlier this week, about eight months after the low for the year of $15.98 was put into place. It has a market cap of $621 million, and 86% of its 17.59 million shares outstanding are owned by institutional investors. Its primary competitor is privately-owned Digital Globe, but GeoEye says it’s the larger of the two companies.

GeoEye’s biggest customer is the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Although the government has its own spy satellites, it has made it clear that it wants to increasingly rely upon commercial entities to supply its arsenal of eyes in the sky, especially since the 2004 cancellation of an ambitious but overzealous new satellite project, called Future Imagery Architecture, at a loss of at least $4 billion.

GeoEye Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY) CEO Matthew O'Connell said the firm’s fourth-quarter results may be affected by the delayed timing of the satellite imaging company’s task order with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). O’Connell made the remarks during a midday conference call.

“The task order is for imaging alone and doesn’t include value-added work,” O’Connell said. “There might be a fourth-quarter hit. We think that delay could hit our numbers.”

The Dulles, Va.-based company is in discussions with the NGA for a new $60 million task order, but the U.S. Government has not finalized its 2008 fiscal budget, which began Oct. 1.

O’Connell said GeoEye is making “good progress” toward the launch of its GeoEye-1 satellite. Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has set a target launch date of April 16, 2008, for the satellite, he said.

“There are many factors beyond our control that can affect that date,” he said. “Meanwhile, the program remains fully funded.”

During September, GeoEye secured $220 million of launch plus first year on-orbit insurance coverage and $50 million of launch plus three-year on-orbit insurance coverage. GeoEye owes its insurers $41.4 million for the coverage and will be capitalized as part of the GeoEye-1 satellite’s cost and depreciated over its lifetime, which is estimated to be seven years. During October, GeoEye paid $2.2 million of the insurance premium.

During the conference call, O'Connell acknowledged its competitor DigitalGlobe’s successful launch on Sept. 18 of its satellite Worldview-1.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) has not joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) in positive territory on news of upbeat manufacturing data. At 12:06 p.m. ET the Russell 2000 was down 0.77 points, or 0.09%, to 855.00. The Dow had added 71.21 points, or 0.51%, to 13,978.46.

Shares of Pointer Telocation Ltd. (Nasdaq: PNTR) are higher on news the Israeli provider of services to insurance companies and automobile owners has entered into a definitive agreement with vehicle security and fleet management products maker Cellocator Ltd. for the purchase of its assets worth about $18.5 million. The transaction will close within the coming weeks. Shares are up $0.38, or 4%, to $9.03.

High-definition television maker Syntax-Brillian Corp. (Nasdaq: BRLC) says it expects fourth-quarter sales between $190 million and $210 million, which is inline with Wall Street estimates. The Tempe, Ariz.-based company also raised its calendar year sales guidance to between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion. Previously, Syntax-Brillian said it expected annual sales of between $0.9 million and $1.1 billion.

Shares of satellite imagery company GeoEye Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY) are up more than 6% in pre-market trading. The Dulles, Va.-based company was added to the Russell 3000 index earlier this month. On Friday, CNBC pundit Jim Cramer recommended GeoEye as an “incredibly risky play.”

The following are the most actively traded companies in Monday pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:

Technology company Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN) went public Thursday. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Infinera manufactures photonic chips that use light rather than silicon to transmit data for optical networking gear.

Herley Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: HRLY) third-quarter net income more than doubled to $3.9 million, or $0.27 a share, up from $1.7 million, or $0.11 per share, a year earlier. The military communications equipment maker beat Wall Street predictions of a $0.22 profit per share.

The Spectranetics Corp. (Nasdaq: SPNC) appointed Donald Fletcher as vice president of quality assurance and regulatory compliance. Fletcher replaces Adrian Elfe, who is retiring.

According to New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, Dune Capital Management LP is considering making an offer for Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: TRMP) casinos.

These are the biggest percentage gainers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million:

The following are the most actively traded companies in pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million: