Tag - Ico

ICO, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOC)
Houston, Texas
http://www.icopolymers.com/

52-week low / high: $4.77 / $16.50
Shares Outstanding:  27.22 million
Market Capitalization:  $351 million

ICO, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOC) has one word, just one word, for you. Plastics.

The small-cap company manufactures polymer powders and provides polymers processing services; in turn, synthetic polymers are widely used as adhesives and lubricants, as well as structural components for plastics and a dizzying array of other products.

That helps explain why the Houston-based company has been growing at a double-digit pace and is expected to maintain that impressive performance in the future.

ICO sells its powders to large producers of polymers and has long-term contract arrangements with many polymers processing customers to process or manufacture certain polymer products for an agreed-upon fee. The company’s customer base is diverse, with no single customer accounting for more than 10% of global sales during the fiscal years 2006, 2005 or 2004.

Production occurs at ICO’s 19 operating facilities located in 10 countries in North America, Europe, Australia, South America and the Middle East. The company’s record operating income for the fourth quarter 2007, the most recent three-month period for which data is available, was driven by growth in Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as the North American operation.

Operating income for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2007 was $9.7 million, an increase of 75% compared with operating income of $5.5 million a year earlier. Net income was $0.21 per share, outpacing Wall Street’s projections for a net income of $0.15 per share. That result looks even better when compared with the same quarter of 2006, when ICO earned $0.05 per share.

Shares of ICO, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOC), bolted in pre-market trading after the global producer of custom polymer powders and plastic film concentrates, reported fiscal fourth-quarter results above Wall Street’s expectations.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the Houston, Texas-based company recorded net income of $5.98 million, or $0.22 per share, above the $0.15 two analysts polled by Thomson Financial were on average forecasting. For the fourth quarter of 2006, the small cap earned $1.32 million, or $0.10 per share.      

Revenues were $123.6 million, above the $98.32 million an analyst polled by Thomson Financial had projected. The current quarter top line represents a 42% increase over the $87 million earned in 2006.

Shares of ICO (ICOC) gained $2.52, or 21.61%, to $14.18 ahead of the opening. Shares of ICO have been trading in the range of $4.77 to $16.50 for the past 52 weeks.