Bucfan, these are two interesting cases.
CMKG had a non-cash charge that would have added about 0.03 to fd, ft eps in the quarter, but they still missed their guidance of 0.04 - 0.06. They appeared to just break even in Q4. Minority interest expense and tax expense were higher than I anticipated, but pretax margins were a disappointment for me. Backlog is way up y/y however:
"At March 31, 2005, our sales backlog, exclusive of
reimbursable costs and expenses, amounted to approximately $22,602,000 compared
to a sales backlog of approximately $15,809,000 at March 31, 2004."
The stock has been falling ever since the Q3 eps, so the seasonally weak quarter was difficult to overcome for the company. They still have some savings coming next year from consolidating operations, and easier comps in the next two quarters, so perhaps the stock can rebound.....but they did disappoint.
ETEC.ob had a great quarter in terms of sales and margins and earnings. Some of that was pumped up by the sale of their geothermal investment, but it was a very strong quarter. However, they cautioned not to expect similar results going forward.....so which one do you like over the next 6 mos??
If I had to guess, ETEC.ob will open strongly and CMKG will probably drop. Note: CMKG has yet to issue a PR, so if they give an upbeat forecast and decent eps growth, perhaps the stock can recover.
AI
