Blonder Tongue Laboratories, In (BDR) research, news, and more from GeoInvesting

Company description

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. provides system operators and integrators serving the cable, broadcast, satellite, IPTV, institutional and professional video markets with comprehensive solutions for the provision of content contribution, distribution and video delivery to homes and businesses. With 60 years of experience, the company designs, manufactures, sells and supports an equipment portfolio of standard and high definition digital video solutions, as well as core analog video and high speed data solutions for distribution over coax, fiber and IP networks.

Research

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:43:25 GMT

BDR ($0.57) is a stock we have been following for several years, with the observation that management has over-promised and under-delivered. BDR delivers television signal encoding, transcoding, digital transport, and broadband product solutions for a range of applications. The following table illustrates this point.

The long term performance of the stock further illustrates this point.

It appears the Company is still experiencing significant headwinds. Commenting on the first quarter results, Bob Pallé, Chief Executive Officer of the Company noted:

“We were pleased with the comparable period improvement in our first quarter net sales as well as the reduction in the size of our net loss. These improvements were in large measure driven by fulfillment during the period of a majority of a large order for a key customer in the retail space, with the balance of that order having now shipped in April. Looking forward, while we are realizing the benefits of our multiphase cost reduction efforts, the outlook for sales for the remainder of the year remains flat, as we continue our efforts to conclude several large opportunities that we have been working on for some time and to identify new opportunities.”

The price action on Friday has recaptured our attention:

On Friday we saw interesting price action as shares during the day rose $0.48 to a high of $1.10 before closing at $0.51. We were unable to identify any press releases or filings to account for the activity. But we noticed a theme from Twitter centered around a posting on the Company website talking about a potential new emergency alert product for the campus environment. However, the following release that explains this product is from 2014 and thus we are not sure of its relevance today:

“Blonder Tongue and Monroe Electronics have teamed up to create a powerful emergency alert information and distribution platform for the campus environment – whether it be University, Government, Enterprise, Retail, or Stadium – without requiring a set-top box (STB). Monroe Electronics' One-Net™ SE emergency alert system (EAS) has been seamlessly integrated with the EQAM-420B with EAS from Blonder Tongue, allowing cable operators to deliver customized, local emergency alert information to viewers in a manner that is easy, cost-effective, and scalable.”

We presume that momentum investors who want to play the gun violence trade theme may have stumbled upon this stock. We will try and contact the Company to see if this product offering is gaining traction.

Investors need to take note of the following developments as the company moves through a struggling restructuring process with its new CEO promoted from within the company, as of March 2015.

The 8-K from June 3, 2016 showing a change in debt covenants.

The Fifteenth Amendment extends the termination date of the Loan Agreement and the “Additional Availability Period” under the Loan Agreement from June 1, 2016 to September 1, 2016 and amends certain of the Company’s financial covenants. In particular, the amended covenants (i) extend the existing requirement that the Company maintain a balance sheet leverage ratio of not more than 2.00 to 1.00, to include the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2016 and (ii) require the Company to achieve EBITDA of not less than negative (-) $82,000 as of June 30, 2016 (calculated on a trailing six month basis). In addition, the Fifteenth Amendment eliminates the Company’s ability to request LIBOR Loans under the Loan Agreement.

Stock given to directors as opposed to compensation:

“Pursuant to the company's Amended and Restated Director Stock Purchase Plan, the reporting person has elected to receive a fully vested stock award for shares of the company's common stock in lieu of cash payment of director fees otherwise payable to the reporting person. The number of shares of common stock awarded represents the quotient of (i) the director fees payable to the reporting person divided by (ii) $0.40, representing the high and low trading price reported on the NYSE MKT on June 17, 2016.”

Caveat:

Looking into possible additional dilution from convertible debt. The current fully diluted share count after factoring in options/warrants is 8.7 million.

Research

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 05:00:00 GMT

We disclosed our long position on 9/2/2014 after the company reported strong Q2 2014 results and added to our position after strong Q3 2014 results. Today, BDR announced that the Company's HDE-8C-QAM w/Opt 2 encoder is now approved for use in high definition (HD) deployments over coax infrastructure by a major US satellite digital television provider. Pass rumors of BDR striking a deal with DirecTV have circulated. We feel there is some risk holding into the Q4 2014 results, as the company has over-promised and under-delivered in the past. However, we will hold our long position as recent events our beginning to give us more confidence in management ability to be able to deliver.

Comments & Business Outlook

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 05:00:00 GMT

Reported Third Quarter 2014 Results

Net sales increased $1,836,000, or 26.9%, to $8,659,000 in the third three months of 2014 from $6,823,000 in the third three months of 2013.
Net earnings for the third three months ended September 30, 2014 were $584,000 or $0.09 per share, compared to a net loss of $(688,000) or $(0.11) per share for the comparable period in 2013.

Quotes from managment:

"Third quarter 2014 results, as with the second quarter, are a significant improvement over 2013. Our solid gains in both sales and gross margins, are driven by our ability to develop new products which are serving specific customer needs. Our price performance ratio relative to competition, is another driving factor. Our digital product strategy remains on course with planned releases of new products scheduled through the rest of 2014 and thereafter."

Comments & Business Outlook

Thu, 14 Aug 2014 04:00:00 GMT

Second Quarter 2014 Results

Net sales increased $1,682,000, or 23.5%, to $8,828,000 in the second three months of 2014 from $7,146,000 in the second three months of 2013.
Net earnings for the second three months ended June 30, 2014 were $347,000 or $0.06 per share, compared to a net loss of $(660,000) or $(0.11) per share for the comparable period in 2013.

The increase in sales is primarily attributed to an increase in digital video headend products and an increase in analog video headend products offset by a decrease in sales of contract manufactured products. Sales of digital video headend products were $7,526,000 and $6,408,000, sales of analog video headend products were $3,661,000 and $2,595,000 and sales of contract manufactured products were $214,000 and $2,030,000 in the first six months of 2014 and 2013, respectively.

Commenting on the second quarter 2014, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James A. Luksch noted, "the significant improvement in our results this past quarter is a result of robust sales of certain recently released products and is evidence that our digital product strategy is on point. There have been improvements in all areas: sales, gross margin, profits and EBITDA. We believe that as other recent product releases take hold we should be able to sustain the gains enjoyed in the second quarter for the remainder of the year."

GeoSpecial Notes

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Removing BDR from the GeoSpeicial List

Added to the GeoSpecial list August 3, 2010 @ $1.84

Catalyst: Strong second quarter 2011 and bullish conference call.
Current road block: Economy putting pressure on customers. EPS growth rate comparison for next few quarters will most likey be negative. However still watching story as a potential take over canidate.

Current Price: $1.32
Peak performance: Reached a high of $2.84 on November 4, 2010

Comments & Business Outlook

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:00:00 GMT

OLD BRIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE Amex:BDR) today announced its sales and results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2011. Net sales for the second quarter 2011 were $7,206,000, compared to $8,266,000 for the second quarter 2010. Net earnings for the second quarter of 2011 were $105,000 or $0.02 per share, compared to $901,000 or $0.15 per share for the comparable period in 2010. Net sales for the six months ended June 30, 2011 were $13,204,000, compared to the $13,860,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2010. Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2011 was $(211,000) or $(0.03) compared to net earnings of $696,000 or $0.11 for the comparable period in 2010.

The decrease in the Company’s overall performance can be attributed to reduced sales of digital video headend products, which includes the EdgeQAM product subcategory. The expected (and previously disclosed) decrease in EdgeQAM was offset by an increase in other digital video products as well as contract manufactured products. In addition, the Company continues to benefit from the operating expense reductions previously announced in 2010.

For the second quarter of 2011 and 2010, on a comparative period basis, sales of digital video headend products were $2,467,000 (including $522,000 of EdgeQAM product sales) and $3,876,000 ($2,228,000 of EdgeQAM), respectively. For the same comparative periods, sales of contract manufactured products were $939,000 and $584,000, and operating expenses were $2,436,000 and $2,600,000.

Sales of digital video headend products were $4,604,000 ($1,000,000 of EdgeQAM) and $5,618,000 ($3,036,000 of EdgeQAM) in the first six months of 2011 and 2010, respectively. For the same comparative periods, sales of contract manufactured products were $1,563,000 and $797,000, and operating expenses were $4,865,000 and $5,276,000.

“Despite the sales decrease from the comparable period in 2010, sequential sales showed a significant increase in the second quarter relative to the first quarter, with sales improving more than 20% and our period net earnings improving by more than $400,000. In our first quarter release I anticipated we would be profitable for the next three quarters and, as noted, we did have a small profit in this second quarter and a healthy EBITDA,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James A. Luksch. “The results relative to the second quarter 2010 were largely due to the expected lower EQAM volume. We released new digital products serving our traditional market and these have been adopted by our top customers, resulting in improved sales to our premier distributors,” he added.

Looking to the remainder of the year, Mr. Luksch said, “It is difficult to evaluate the effects of recent negative macro-economic trends, however, key building blocks have been positioned in our long term strategy. We have released new EdgeQAM and digital products to serve the franchise cable market and we have on-going product evaluations and field trials in six of the top MSOs (multi system operators). We are in the game, we may not win every play, but we are cautiously confident that the last two quarters should have increased sales and profits as our new EdgeQAM and digital devices are successful and sales are made to a reasonable portion of the many opportunities that we are now pursuing.”

Comments & Business Outlook

Mon, 09 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

OLD BRIDGE, N.J.-- today announced its sales and results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Net sales for the first quarter 2011 were $5,998,000, compared to $5,594,000 for the first quarter 2010. Net loss for the first quarter of 2011 was $(316,000) or $(0.05) per share, compared to a net loss of $(205,000) or $(0.03) per share for the comparable period in 2010.

The Company’s overall performance can be attributed to the increase in sales of digital video headend products and contract manufactured products along with the reduction in operating expenses due to the previously announced head count and outside consulting fee reductions offset by the decrease in sales across most of the Company’s other product lines.

Sales of digital video headend products were $2,137,000 and $1,742,000 in the first three months of 2011 and 2010, respectively. Sales of contract manufactured products were $624,000 and $213,000 in the first quarter of 2011 and 2010, respectively. Operating expenses were $2,429,000 and $2,676,000 in the first three months of 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Commenting on the first quarter 2011, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James A. Luksch noted, "As we’ve noted over the years, our first quarter is historically our weakest quarter and 2011’s first quarter is no exception. Although we had a small increase in sales relative to 2010, we recorded a slightly higher loss due to lower gross margins. The lower gross margins were primarily due to product mix and are not indicative of any significant trend. Our key individual product margins remain strong and annualized margins should be consistent with last year. We expect to release two new EdgeQAM products that will expand our coverage of satellite applications and a new EdgeQAM product for CATV applications. Expansion of our encoder line should also increase our digital sales. Assuming reasonable success with the many opportunities available to us, we should experience profitable quarters for the balance of the year on increased sales.

Comments & Business Outlook

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

OLD BRIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. today announced its sales and results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2010.

Net sales for the fourth quarter 2010 were $7,497,000, compared to $7,001,000 for the fourth quarter 2009.
Earnings from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2010 were $368,000 or $0.06 per share, compared to a loss of $(32,000) or $(0.01) per share for the comparable period of 2009.

For the year ended December 31, 2010, net sales were $30,508,000, compared to $29,034,000 in the comparable period of 2009.
Earnings from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2010 were $1,785,000 or $0.29 per basic share compared to a loss of $(33,000) or $(0.01) per basic share for the comparable period in 2009.

Commenting on the fourth quarter and the year end 2010, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James A. Luksch noted, "2010 started slowly, consistent with our first quarter traditionally being our weakest quarter. We introduced our first EdgeQAM product toward the end of 2009 and closed a significant order with (and exclusive to) World Cinema for product that shipped in the second and third quarters of 2010. In the fourth quarter, the exclusive agreement was extended for this application shipping at a lower volume through 2011. During 2010, additional digital products were introduced in addition to the EdgeQAM, notably Standard and High Definition encoders. We achieved the first stage of our digital strategy and successfully sold to our existing customers. The goal for 2011 is to continue with our vision by securing new markets and customers with new variations of the extremely successful EdgeQAM, encoder and other digital products."

GeoSpecial Notes

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Please note Blonder Tongue insider activity:

August 20, 2010 (SELL)

September 10, 2010 (BUY)

September 20,2010 )BUY)

Research

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

This morning we coded Blonder Tongue Labs as a GeoSpecial @ $1.90. The stock closed the day at $2.25, off its high of $2.45.

The company reported 2010 second quarter tax adjusted EPS of $0.10, reversing a year ago loss. Sales increased 32.1% to $8.26 million. We have followed this company in the past, but never subscribed to it due to a lack of financial consistency.

However, after participating in its conference call we learned that the company:

Expects the second quarter performance to be at least maintained throughout the rest of the year.
Business is benefiting from the company's plight to shift its product portfolio to a digital offering rather than an analog offering.

We also like the markets BDR serves:

This is a typical stock the GeoTeam® has often gravitated towards. One that has fallen asleep by the beat of unexciting company developments, but about to possibly enter a new growth cycle fueled by new management vision.

Also consider the following:

The company has a 6.2 million share count of which management owns 43%.
The company is about to experience robust growth for at least the next two quarters, yet the stock trades below its book value per share of $3.37.
While we are not chartists, BDR has what we call a "flat liner": literally, a straight horizontal pattern for at least 3 months with low volume, until it breaks out into a vertical leap. This tells us that there will be little selling pressure for a period of time as the stock rises.

We are not about to pound the table on BDR until we attain an idea of 2011 prospects, but we think that in the short-run, investors will minimally take BDR to its book value per share and maybe even to $4.05 (P/E of 15 on our 2010 expectations of $0.27).

Liquidity is intact:

"The Company anticipates that the cash generated from operations, existing cash balances and amounts available under its credit facility with Sovereign, will be sufficient to satisfy its foreseeable working capital needs."