For real this time? who knows? who cares?
Signal Technology Announces First-Quarter Sales and Earnings
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 1998--Signal Technology Corp. (AMEX:STZ) Tuesday reported sales and earnings for its first quarter ended March 31, 1998.
For the quarter, sales totaled $23.4 million, compared with $27.1 million for the first quarter of 1997, while gross profit for the periods was $5,795,000 and $6,141,000, respectively. Net income for the 1998 quarter was $370,000, or $0.05 per diluted share, vs. $745,000, or $0.10 per diluted share, for the corresponding period last year.
Commenting on the results, Dale L. Peterson, Signal Technology's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "While our first-quarter results were down from last year, we were pleased to see all operating units, including our Keltec division, return to profitability by March. Although we will not reap the full benefits of Keltec's turnaround until the second half of 1998, we are confident that the situation there is now under control.
"As an indication of this recovery, this quarter Keltec received its initial production order from Lockheed Martin for the Power Conversion System of the PAC-3 missile. This order, valued at $1.2 million, represents the successful completion of more than two years of development and qualification activities. Given the program's long-term potential, follow-on business could approach $15 million.
"We are also encouraged that gross profit as a percentage of sales improved from 23 percent in the first quarter of 1997 to 25 percent in 1998, reflecting our continued efforts to control costs and increase unit prices on our way to reaching historical and acceptable gross margins," Peterson continued.
"Finally, we completed the quarter with a healthy backlog of $82.8 million on new orders of $19 million. This should enable us to deliver stronger results as we proceed into subsequent quarters."
Based on a stock repurchase program announced in December 1997, the company used $427,000 to buy back 71,000 shares of its common stock this quarter. The company has until July 31, 1998, to acquire up to $2 million of its common stock in private and open markets. |
