Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd (LPMA) (LPMA)

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Oscar Gruss repeats Buy for Lipman but lowers forecasts
03.7.2005 / 11:09
Omri Cohen

Oscar Gruss repeated a Buy recommendation for Lipman Electronic Engineering (Nasdaq, TASE: LPMA ), but lowered its second-quarter forecasts for the electronic clearing systems maker.

On June 30, Lipman warned investors that its second-quarter results would be slightly disappointing. The company blamed the shortfall on the delay of several orders that had been expected to close toward the end of the second quarter.

Rosh Haayin, Israel-based company said it expects its revenues for the quarter to be between $57 million and $58 million and its net income per share to be between 20 cents and 24 cents. On average, analysts forecast income of 30 cents per share on sales of $61.5 million.

Lipman, a maker of electronic payment systems, said it expects the delayed orders to come through in the third quarter. The company maintained its 2005 guidance for income ranging from $1.39 to $1.42 per share on sales of $273 million to $285 million. Excluding $5.4 million in stock-based compensation, the company said it expects earnings between $1.59 and $1.62 per share.

Oscar Gruss analyst Roni Biron set Lipman a 12-month price target of $35, which is 21.5% above the stock's closing level on Nasdaq last week.

Biron projects Lipman will learn 27 cents per share in the second quarter on revenues of $57.3 million, and for the year 205 he lowered his forecast by $3 million to $277 million. He narrowed his pro forma earnings per share forecast by two cents to $1.59 per share, or $43 million, though Lipman had left its forecast for the year unchanged.

He is relatively pessimistic: for the year, analysts expect $1.61 earnings per share on sales of $280.7 million.


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