Martek stock jumps on new sales estimates
Thursday February 9, 12:38 pm ET
Martek Biosciences Corp. raised revenue estimates for its first quarter by at least 7 percent, and its shares leapt in Thursday morning trading on the news.
Martek said in a regulatory filing late Wednesday that it expects revenues for its first fiscal quarter of $62 million to $63 million, up from its earlier projections of $58 million to $59 million. The increase, Martek said, comes from growth in sales to its core customers, infant-formula makers.
Martek now wants to break into the adult food market. The company said in the regulatory filing that it expects a major consumer packaged-goods company to introduce a food or beverage product containing Martek oils before the end of March. Martek did not name the company.
Martek (NASDAQ: MATK - News) shares were trading up 19 percent to $33.59 Thursday morning -- still far below the company's 52-week high of $70.50.
Martek, one of Greater Baltimore's most mature bioscience companies, has been on a roller coaster for about nine months. Last spring, the company, which uses microalgae to make nutritional oils for food, slashed its earnings projections for the rest of the year. Martek had been plagued by production problems, and its customers had amassed big stockpiles of its product.
Martek also updated investors on the status of an agreement with another major packaged goods company, but also did not name that company. That company signed a deal with Martek a year ago, and Martek expects it to launch a food containing the nutritional oils in 2007.
Martek's first fiscal quarter ended Jan. 31.
Published February 9, 2006 by the Baltimore Business Journal
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