[Satellite TODAY 06-04-10] Comtech’s 2010 third quarter financial results, released June 3, shattered market expectations with revenues increasing 68 percent to $216 million over the same period in 2009, beating consensus projections by 14 percent.
    Comtech’s earnings-per-share grew 31 percent to $0.67. The company’s Mobile Data segment revenue, aided by accelerated shipments of MTS computers, jumped $50 million, sequentially, to $134 million.
    Raymond James analyst Chris Quilty said Comtech Mobile EF Data’s revenue performance far exceeded his own forecast of $113 million. “Although the [MTS computer] order has been painfully slow to ship and Comtech warned that $90-100 million of revenues could slip into 2011, it now appears that shipments back on track and could potentially be ‘pulled forward’ into the fourth quarter,” Quilty said in a report. “Mobile Data EBIT margins also were surprisingly strong at 20.5 percent against our forecast of 14.4 percent in light of the heavy volume of (low-margin) MTS computers shipped in the quarter. If these factors can be sustained, our 2011 [Comtech] EBIT forecast of 22.5 percent could prove to be too low.”
    Comtech’s bookings jumped $100 million to $181 million. The company said commercial spending is beginning to improve as it exits the quarter with a $411 million backlog.
    Comtech recently was awarded ceiling increases for both the Blue Force Tracking and MTS contracts with the U.S. military. The Blue Force Tracking-2 source selection is scheduled for later this year. Quilty said the company’s chances of being selected are strong. “We have a high degree of confidence that Comtech will eventually win this competition and investors will want to own the stock before the announcement is made official.”