Posts Tagged ‘Technology Stocks’

Quepassa Corp. (QPSA) leaps on myYearbook buyout

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Quepassa Corp. (AMEX: QPSA) shares gained 33.5% to $9.52, after the social-media company said it would acquire the owner of myYearbook.com in a cash-and-stock deal worth $100 million. Volume for the stock topped five million shares, compared to a daily average of just over one million.

The company, based in West Palm Beach, Florida and owner of popular Latino social network Quepasa.com and cross-platform social game development studio Quepasa Games, announced in a news release Wednesday that it has executed a definitive agreement to merge with Insider Guides, Inc., DBA myYearbook, the best place to meet new people on the web or mobile device, for $100 million, comprised of approximately $82 million in Quepasa common stock and approximately $18 million in cash.

Quepassa CEO John Abbott was quoted in the same release as saying, “With this merger, we intend to create nothing less than the public market leader in social discovery.Combination with myYearbook nearly doubles the size of Quepasa’s existing user base while positioning the new company for significantly higher growth in mobile and social games, advertising, and virtual currency. The myYearbook team is product-oriented and hungry to continue building innovative products at the convergence of social and mobile. We expect the scale of this combination to enable a new class of investor in Quepasa.

Abbott concluded, “We believe myYearbook’s proven track record in monetization and engagement will fuel significant future growth.”

myYearbook makes meeting new people fun and easy online and on your mobile phone. myYearbook combines innovative social games, virtual goods, social applications, and a robust virtual currency called “Lunch Money” to facilitate introductions and break the ice. myYearbook started in a single high school in 2005 and has grown to over 32.7 million members worldwide.

ENGlobal (ENG) surges on new contract

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

ENGlobal (Nasdaq: ENG) shares hiked 15.4% to $3.60, after the leading provider of engineering and related project services announced that it has been awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction services agreement from Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, a leading chemical manufacturer. Volume for the stock topped 159,000 shares, dwarfing an all-day average of around 62,000.

The contract scope includes prioritizing and performing engineering and detail design support services for various plant systems. GP Chemicals has directed ENGlobal to evaluate equipment, data availability and delivery, as well as required unit start-up and commissioning dates.

It is anticipated that ENGlobal’s procurement responsibilities will include managing the overall purchasing process, including preparing requests for proposal (RFP) documents, evaluating commercial and technical terms, purchasing equipment, and managing purchase orders and contracts, among other services.

ENGlobal CEO Edward L. Pagano was quoted in the July 6 release announcing the contract as saying: “We are especially pleased to announce this significant award from Georgia-Pacific Chemicals, which demonstrates a successful cross-selling initiative between our Automation and Engineering & Construction segments.

“In addition,” Pagano concluded, “this award achieves one of our Markets Strategy initiatives, which is to provide multiple services across our core client base.”

ENGlobal, founded in 1985 and headquartered in Houston, is a provider of engineering and related project services principally to the energy sector throughout the United States and internationally.

Hutchinson Technology Inc. (HTCH) leaps on prelim Q3 numbers

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Shares of Hutchinson Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: HTCH) jumped 17.6% to $2.67 after the company reported strong fiscal third-quarter preliminary results. Volume for the stock totaled 2.5 million shares, about eight times its daily average.

The company, based out of Hutchinson, Minn., issued a release Wednesday, saying shipped approximately 118 million suspension assemblies in the fiscal 2011 third quarter, up 15% from its second quarter shipments of 102.3 million. Net sales for the quarter totaled approximately $72 million, up 14% from its second quarter net sales of $63.3 million.

Wayne Fortun, Hutchinson CEO, was quoted in the release as saying “Our shipments over the last nine weeks of our third quarter averaged approximately 10 million suspensions per week, and we expect this pace to continue into the fourth quarter.

“As a result, we currently expect our fourth quarter shipments to exceed our third quarter shipments. It appears that demand has shifted to some customer programs where we have stronger positions, and we believe that we are beginning to regain market share. We are leveraging available capacity to respond to the additional customer demand.”

The final numbers are slated to come out on July 26,

Hutchinson Technology is a global technology leader committed to creating value by developing solutions to critical customer problems.

Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) is just that, let it BeKnown

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) shares rose 10.6% to $15.01, a day after the company announced the launch of BeKnown, a networking app designed to allow Facebook users to establish a professional network and find career opportunities. Volume for the stock was 4.6 million shares, outdistancing a daily average of 3.1 million.

The company, based in Maynard, Massachusetts, put out a press release Monday saying that with BeKnown, users can seamlessly identify and connect with friends and professional contacts from multiple sources and grow their professional network, enhance their online professional identity and discover enriching career opportunities.

BeKnown is now available for download at http://apps.facebook.com/beknown in 19 different languages, and is accessible by any Facebook user.

Monster Worldwide’s Chief Information Officer Darko Dejanovic was quoted in the same release as saying, “BeKnown answers the need and challenge in the marketplace for people to build their professional networks on Facebook while keeping personal and work-related contacts and content completely separate.

Dejanovic continued, “An estimated 700 million people globally live their lives through Facebook and 97% of the Fortune 500 companies turn to Monster to find talent. BeKnown now gives people and companies the ability to utilize that vast network for professional gain by tapping into the power of Monster and Facebook.”

Monster Worldwide, Inc., parent company of Monster®, the premier global online employment solution for more than a decade, strives to bring people together to advance their lives.

Takeover target WPCS International Inc. (WPCS) leaps in price

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

WPCS International Inc. (Nasdaq: WPCS) shares gained 30.9% to $2.92 today after home-security and media-services provider Multiband Corp. (Nasdaq: MBND) signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy the communications-infrastructure firm for $3.20 a share. Shares in WPCS totaled 876,000, compared to average daily volume of just over 23,000.

The acquisition, which will be subject to customary due diligence, negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and other conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of WPCS, is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2011. Multiband is offering $3.20 in cash per share for WPCS shares.

In conjunction with the LOI announcement, Multiband has entered into a separate agreement with a third party to acquire for cash at $3.20 per share approximately 710,000 shares of WPCS’s outstanding common stock, representing an approximate 10% interest in WPCS.

In the June 16 press release announcing the takeover, Multiband CEO James L. Mandel commented, “This strategic acquisition will be significant for Multiband, expanding our service offering across a similar geographic footprint to our current presence and creating opportunity for significant operational leverage through the consolidation of real estate, training, and overhead expenses.

“Once integrated, we expect the acquisition to be immediately accretive, adding more than $100 million in revenue and between $5-8 million in EBITDA, on an annual basis.”

The LOI with WPCS has been approved by the Board of Directors of Multiband.

WPCS, based out of Exton, Pa., is a design-build engineering company that focuses on the implementation requirements of communications infrastructure.