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Non-Tech : FRPT - Force Protection, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Labrador who wrote (425)	12/19/2007 9:13:02 AM
From: rrufff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 447

Ahead of the Bell: Force Protection Wednesday December 19, 9:09 am ET Force Protection Shares Plunge As Defense Department Orders Few of Company's Vehicles NEW YORK (AP) -- Force Protection Inc. shares dropped sharply in premarket trading Wednesday, on pace to open at an annual low, after the Department of Defense placed a disappointingly small order for the company's armored vehicles. The Pentagon ordered more than 3,000 mine-resistant ambush resistant vehicles, or MRAPs, from several companies on Tuesday. Force Protection received a $377.8 million contract for 358 bombproof Cougar vehicles, or just under 12 percent of the total number of vehicles ordered. Analysts had predicted Force Protection would get a much larger portion of the order. David Gremmels of Thomas Weisel Partners said he thought the company would make about a third of the vehicles. The stock plunged $1.73, or 29.3 percent, to $4.18 premarket. Shares ended Tuesday trading at $5.91, and have traded between $4.52 and $31.16 in the last year. Gremmels cut his price target on the stock to $7 per share from $12. Stephens analyst Tim Quillin maintained an "Underweight" rating on the stock, and slashed his price target to $4 per share from $9. "Given the Marines' and Army's stated intentions to reduce their MRAP requirements, this could be the last meaningful order placed for the vehicles," he said. He noted that about half of the order will be filled by a joint venture between Force Protection and General Dynamics Corp. Quillin added that the military did not place any test orders for Force Protection's lighter Cheetah vehicles, which the company is building despite a lack of orders. Unless the U.S. Marine Corps or a foreign military orders a significant number of Cheetahs, he said the stock could fall to $2.