Wednesday February 14, 3:18 pm Eastern Time
Newport stock rises, buy recommendation buoys shares
By Cyntia Barrera Diaz
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Newport Corp. (NasdaqNM:NEWP - news), whose products are used for assembling and testing fiber optic and semiconductors, rose 14 percent on Wednesday, helped by a buy rating on its stock as the company readies to make a presentation at a technology conference.
Newport executives are expected to attend on Thursday a technology investors conference held by Robertson Stephens in San Francisco.
Newport shares were up $8, or 14.2 percent, at $64-5/16 on heavy volume of 5 million shares that moved above the 20-day average volume traded. The share price was well above its year low of $22-5/16 but still 66 percent below its 52-week high of $192-1/16.
On Monday night Jesup & Lamont analyst Vincent J. Glinski initiated coverage of Newport with a buy rating and a 12-month target price of $80.
``We feel that automated assembly and testing of active and passive fiber optic components holds the greatest potential for improving yields and lowering costs in the photonics industry,'' he wrote in a research note.
``Lower costs are required in order to penetrate the largely untapped metro optics market,'' Glinski added.
Late on January, the company posted fourth-quarter results, with sales totaling $86.72 million, more than double the amount reported in the year ago period. Newport's earnings per diluted share were 36 cents compared with 10 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Robertson's analyst Sue Billat, who last week initiated coverage of Newport with a buy recommendation, saw the company as an "attractive play on the growth opportunities in the assembly and test sectors of optical component manufacturing.
Billat told Reuters in a telephone interview that she hadn't heard about any specific news that could be pushing the stock higher or that the company was planning to make any particular announcement during Thursday's conference.
biz.yahoo.com
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