Instock.. TAXI... One strange situation. I've been bullish on this really nice growth company for the third straight quarter. Now today at about 3:48 a very large block of 150,000 goes through and the stock goes from 18 to 20 in 5 minutes. It finished the day at 18 1/4. I expect a "pop" in this one really soon.
This company has no problems but great fundamentals and sustained growth. Today it reaches 52 week low on high volume after posting record earnings. Rumour are about a regulation for the NY city taxi drivers, but they say its a mistake.
DATE OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE VOLUME
08/06/98 24.625 24.625 15.875 18.125 1,072,500
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Investment Income Increases 50%
Total Assets Increase 53%
Signs Option to Acquire Taxi Top Advertising Company
NEW YORK, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Medallion Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: TAXI - news), a specialty finance company with a leading position in the financing of loans for the purchase of taxicab medallions and related assets, announced record earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 1998 of $4,461,726, before a one-time pooling related expense of $1,494,491, as compared to earnings of $2,804,233 for the quarter ended June 30, 1997, an increase of 59%. Earnings were $0.32 per share ($0.21 per share after the one-time expense) on a fully diluted basis for the quarter ended June 30, 1998, compared to $0.24 per share on a fully diluted basis for the quarter ended June 30, 1997.
Total assets increased to $397,034,742 for the period ended June 30, 1998 from $259,839,556 for the period ended June 30, 1997, an increase of 53%. Total Investment Income grew to $8,884,496 from $5,901,248, an increase of 50%. Net Interest Income grew to $5,008,665 compared to $3,631,870, an increase of 38%.
In association with Medallion's purchase of Capital Dimensions, now known as Medallion Capital, which closed during the second quarter, as required by the pooling method of accounting, Medallion has restated its first quarter earnings for March 31, 1998 from $0.30 to $0.31, as Capital Dimensions earnings resulted in a $0.01 accretion to earnings.
The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has increased the quarterly cash dividend from $0.22 from the prior year's comparable period to $0.30. The dividend is payable on August 27, 1998 to the shareholders of record on August 17, 1998.
''We are very pleased with our second quarter results,'' stated Andrew Murstein, President. ''We are especially pleased with our continued growth in our core line of business, medallion lending. Medallion loans grew to $267,000,000 at June 30, 1998 from $163,000,000 at June 30, 1997, an increase of 64%.''
Dan Baker, Medallion's Chief Financial Officer, also added, ''We are very proud that every single quarter since our initial public offering in May 1996, we have reported increased growth. We hope to continue these trends in the years ahead. Furthermore, we are pleased to have completed a new $57.5 million credit facility with Fleet Bank N.A. for our parent company, which will help fund future growth.''
Medallion's taxi top division, Medallion Media, reported that revenues nearly tripled for the quarter to $1,515,000 for the period ended June 30, 1998 from $540,000 for the period ended June 30, 1997. Pre-tax earnings also grew dramatically to $337,000 from $27,000 for the respective periods. |
