Archive for March, 2009

Buzz Stock of the Day- Perma-Fix Environmental Services (PESI)

Monday, March 30th, 2009


Nuclear waste management is quickly becoming a hot topic both on Wall Street and Capitol Hill.

In late February, the government affairs arm of the nuclear industry called for President Barack Obama to convene a blue ribbon nuclear waste commission, a move that could be a first step toward forming alternatives to burying radioactive power plant fuel at Yucca Mountain, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The idea of forming a blue ribbon commission has been floating quietly around Washington for several months as Obama during the presidential campaign and Steven Chu, his energy secretary, have said it is necessary to revisit the management and disposal of used nuclear fuel currently stored at power plant sites.

Late last week, Chu said he, not Congress, will establish a blue-ribbon commission to develop a new strategy for managing the country’s nuclear waste.

This could be good news for our Buzz Stock of the Day, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: PESI).

The company’s expansive portfolio of nuclear waste treatment includes radioactive and mixed waste treatment services for hospitals, research labs and institutions, federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and nuclear utilities.

Perma-Fix CEO, Dr. Louis Centofanti recently stated that he was “optimistic that Perma-Fix will be a beneficiary of the stimulus plan,” which allocates more than $6 billion for nuclear waste clean-up throughout the Department of Energy’s complex. “In addition, the DOE fiscal 2009 annual budget has been increased to $6.4 billion, from $5.2 billion in fiscal 2008. “

The company’s fourth-quarter revenue was up 46 percent to $23.5 million, from $16.1 million a year ago. Perma-Fix generated EBITDA of $2.2 million, and net profit of $725,000, or a penny a share.

Shares of PESI trade at about 50 percent of their 52-week high, and are down about 11 percent over the past 52-weeks — substantially less than the S&P 500 and many of the company’s much larger competitors including American Ecology Corp. (Nasdaq: ECOL) and URS Corp. (NYSE: URS).

Join the discussion on Perma-Fix Environmental Services on the company official Buzz Stock thread.

Buzz Stocks for the week of 3/16/09- CELG, RMDX, LOCM, RJET, PANL

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Here’s a quick recap of this week’s Buzz Stocks.

3 out of our 5 daily buzz stocks ended the week higher.

Monday
Buzz Stock of the Day:

Celegene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG)
Open (3/23/09): $47.19
Close (3/27/09): $46.04
Percentage Change: -2.4 percent
Click here to read the post

Tuesday
Buzz Stock of the Day:

RemoteMDx, Inc. (OTCBB: RMDX)
Open (3/24/09): $0.13
Close (3/27/09):
$0.17
Percentage Change: +23.5 percent
Click here to read the post

Wednesday
Buzz Stock of the Day:

Local.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOCM)
Open (3/25/09): $2.36
Close (3/27/09): $2.26
Percentage Change:
-4,2 percent

Click here to read the post

Thursday
Buzz Stock of the Day:
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RJET)
Open: (3/26/09): $5.11
Closed (3/27/09): $5.96
Percentage Change: +16.6 percent
Click here to read the post

Friday
Buzz Stock of the Day:
Universal Display Corp. (Nasdaq: PANL)
Open (3/27/09): $9.29
Close (3/27/09): $9.34
Percentage Change: +0.5 percent
Click here to read the post

Buzz Stock of the Day- Universal Display (PANL)

Friday, March 27th, 2009

A paradigm shift in display technology is right around the bend.

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology is threatening the Liquid Crystal Display, or LCD, standard because of its flexibility, low power consumption and versatility.

Our Buzz Stock of the Day, Universal Display Corporation (Nasdaq: PANL) is one of the companies leading this change. Universal Display engages in the research, development and commercialization of OLED technologies and materials.

Unlike LCD panels, where a backlight sends light through thin-filmed transistors reflect off the liquid crystals, OLED technology actually lights up the pixels by sending a current through the thin-filmed transistors.

Here’s a clip that details some of the advantages of Universal Display’s OLED display technologies:

With more 750 patents, Universal Display intends to continue to employ a licensing model, rather than become a manufacturer.

The strategy seems to be paying off. Universal Display’s Q4 sales clocked in at $3.6 million, a 24 percent increase over the same period last year. The company’s net loss per-share grew from $0.08 to $0.11.

The good news is that the company’s breakthrough technology is gaining traction. Some of the biggest names in display technology including Samsung, LG Display, Sony, and Nokia all showcased their latest OLED prototypes at this year’s CES, and mostly all developers of OLED use some of Universal Display’s intellectual property.

Universal Display has also been working with the U.S. Army for years to produce a low-power, wearable display that can fit it tight spots–why? Because it’s bendable. The prototype, manufactured by LG Display and L-3 Display Systems, is a grainy, monochrome proof of concept, but the full-color and truly flexible versions are getting closer to becoming a reality every day, according to a recent article.

Buzz Stock of the Day- Republic Airways Holdings (RJET)

Thursday, March 26th, 2009


The Russell 2000 (NYSEArca: IWM) small-cap index was up more than 3 percent this afternoon, as investor sentiment in small-caps was buoyed after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiled a financial plan to the House Financial Services Committee that outlined the Obama administration’s proposal for an exhaustive overhaul of financial regulations.

Among the big winners was our Buzz Stock of the Day, Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RJET).

The Indianapolis-based airline holding company just acquired 50 percent of Hawaiian airline, Mokulele. Republic paid roughly $3 million in cash, and coverted $3 million of its $8 million loan to Mokulele, for a 50 percent stake in the company.

Republic Airways Holdings also owns Chautaqua Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America, and offers scheduled passenger service on 1,300 flights daily to 104 cities in 36 states, Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica.

In September 2008, Midwest Airlines hired Republic Airways Holdings Inc. to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

We like RJET because we think it’s a resilient company. Despite a huge downturn in travel, Republic’s has only shed 3 percent in it’s year-over-year quarterly revenue growth–substantially less than competitors ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: XJT) (-63.2 percent), Mesa Air Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: MESA) (-18.8 percent) and SkyWest, Inc. (Nasdaq: SKYW) (-13 percent). Republic Airways Holdings also has a healthier operating margin than most of its competitors, and earned about $84 million, or $2.40 a share on revenue of$1.5 billion.

RJET shares have taken a beating this year, like most other airline stocks. Shares are down almost 80 percent and trade near their 52-week low.

Buzz Stock of the Day- Local.com (LOCM)

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009


There are about 14.6 million small-to-medium-sized businesses in the United States, and they spent more than $6.9 billion in local online advertising in 2008, according to a recent Media Life article.

Big firms have shied away from doing business with SMBs, primarily because of how difficult and time consuming it can be. Many times media sellers spend the same amount of time chasing SMBs, as they do larger businesses, and end up with a much smaller payday when they close a deal.

But sellers can’t ignore SMBs. They have the spending power and they’re spending.

The question is: Where?

Search and rich-media, according to Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates.

Borrell predicted that SMB spending on paid search will increase by 34.9 percent to hit $3 billion and spending on streaming audio and visual will increase 274.6 percent to hit $563.2 million.

That’s where our Buzz Stock of the Day, Local.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOCM) comes in.

[–quote–]

The company provides paid-search advertising services to local and national businesses on the Internet in the United States and Europe, primarily through its destination Web site, Local.com, and also through private label search listings that are used by newspapers and other local publishers across the country.

Chief executive, Heath Clarke recently stated that the company has a “very bullish view on the near and long-term prospects for our business, and why Local.com is nearing break-even and has the confidence to project 30 percent revenue growth to about $50 million this year and turn to net income despite the tough economy.”

Ad budgets are being cut across the board, but Local.com is predicting that the plumber who stops running an ad in the Yellow Pages is going to look to spend his savings on a service like Local.com that may offer a better ROI on his marketing spend.

“Not only will our industry and Local.com receive some of the spend in the near-term, but in the long-term we believe our industry will permanently win this ad spend,” Clarke said in a conference call with analysts.

Clarke cited a study by Kelsey Group, which stated online online ad revenues will grow about 15 percent this year and local online ad revenues will grow about 25 percent, and expected Local.com to outperform the industry growth rates and gain market share “for the fourth year in a row.”

Here’s a quick overview of the company’s full-year results:

Revenue – Revenue was $38.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2008, a 78% increase over $21.5 million in 2007.

Net Loss – Net loss for the full year 2008 was $8.6 million or $0.60 per common share, an improvement over the $18.2 million or $1.58 loss per common share in 2007.

Adjusted EBITDA – Adjusted EBITDA was ($4.7 million), an improvement from ($7.2 million) in 2007. Adjusted EBITDA is net loss excluding: provision for income taxes; interest and other income (expenses), net; depreciation; amortization; and stock based compensation charges.

Balance Sheet – On December 31, 2008, the company had $12.1 million in cash and no debt.

Shares of Local.com, Inc. trade near their 52-week low.