Tag - Si

A picture’s worth a thousand words, but in the medical and security imaging industries, a picture is worth millions of dollars.

One company happily straddling these two profitable sectors and offering both some of the best imaging technology available is Peabody, Mass.-based Analogic Corp. (Nasdaq:ALOG).

The $930 million market-cap company is a leader in the design, manufacture and sale of high-precision data acquisition, and signal and image-processing-based medical and security systems and subsystems. Think computed tomography (CT) scanners, magnet-resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, digital radiography, ultrasound systems, x-ray detectors and CT-based airport security scanners.

Much of the company’s business is derived from selling its technology through contracts with OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers, such as Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Phillips and Toshiba on the medical side, and through a security and detection systems unit of L-3 Communications Holdings (NYSE:LLL) on the security end, a seller of end-market machinery to hospitals and airports.

If you were one of those folks who just looks at net income, you would have missed the story that sent Analogic’s stock up almost 10% to its $72.77 June 5 close from its June 4 close, when fiscal 2008 third-quarter results came out.

Even though the bottom line fell slightly in the quarter because of a reduction in interest income, a subsequently higher effective tax rate and a 10% dip in security sales, the company reported 23% year-over-year revenue growth driven by better-than-expected medical product sales and strong sequential growth. Total revenue and net income excluding one-time items were both ahead of analysts’ expectations.

By segment, digital radiography was up 138%, medical imaging products were up 29% and sales of its BK-Medical unit’s ultrasound products rose 17%. The company says it’s expecting a pickup in orders for its high-performance CT scanners among other products that analysts are scrambling to find market values. 

For instance, Stanford Group analyst Josephine Millward noted in a June 6 report that because Analogic recently signed on to produce for three leading digital radiography OEMs, it could be poised to sit on up to 50% of the estimated $125 million . . .

Who says the good old-fashioned style of business (schmoozing, shaking hands and face-to-face selling) is a thing of the past?
 
This year's China Sourcing Fair, a four-day event held last month at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong's largest convention and exhibition facility, saw record attendance, featuring 3,200 suppliers, 26% more than the previous year (and a 33% increase in exhibitors from Mainland China). The fair brought together manufacturers, distributors, sales professionals and purchasing agents from all over Asia. Additional China Sourcing Fairs are scheduled for Dubai next month and Hong Kong again in October. These events are attended by representatives of some of the world's largest brands, including Samsung, Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO), Radio Shack (NYSE:RSH), Philips (NYSE:PHG), Siemens (NYSE:SI) and The Chubb Corporation (NYSE:CB).
 
The annual fairs are but one of several marketing venues being used by Global Sources Ltd. (Nasdaq:GSOL), the event's organizer, to help its clients pitch new products, make valuable contacts and nail sales in China's hot marketplace.

Based in Bermuda, Global Sources is a China-focused business-to-business media, communications and marketing agency that uses trade shows, exhibition fairs, marketing websites, trade publications and seminars to connect international buyers with pre-screened suppliers. Its clients do business across a wide range of industry sectors, including computer products (hardware, software and peripherals), electronic gadgets and components, telecom and security products, clothing and textiles, auto parts and accessories, household goods and gifts. In all, the company . . .

Leo Fasciocco is a technical expert who focuses on isolating “breakout buys” – stocks that have either just broken above resistance levels or are poised to do so. For short sale candidates, he does the reverse, finding stocks that are breaking below previous support levels. Each day, breakout candidates are featured in his newsletter, Ticker Tape Digest.

A recent breakout buy to the upside is Park Lake Mary, Fla.-based FARO Technologies (Nasdaq: FARO), a small cap that is a maker of control and measurement systems. The company has annual revenues of $152 million and a market capitalization of $550 million.

FARO manufactures a mechanical arm known as the FARO's Control Station measuring system. “With a touch of this arm, the system can facilitate reverse engineering of an undocumented part or a competitor's product,” Fasciocco says.

The FARO Arm, he explains, is a portable, jointed device that simulates the human arm's movement and works with FARO's CAM2 3-D measurement software to take measurements, perform reverse engineering, and inspect parts by comparing them to digital designs.

Aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, and heavy equipment companies such as The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), and Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) use FARO Arm units in their factories, Fasciocco points out. Overall, he notes, the company has some 6,000 customers worldwide.

“FARO has finally come to life,” Fasciocco says. The stock has “broken out powerfully,” after the company on July 31 reported a “massive 550% surge” in net for the second quarter to $0.39 a share from $0.06 a share a year earlier.