As you might expect, just about every Jacksonville-based public company’s stock dropped during the market’s correction this month, but you’d probably be surprised to find the one local stock that has defied the market.
It’s ParkerVision Inc. Sometimes, a stock has nowhere to go but up.
ParkerVision dropped 75 percent in 2015, finishing the year at just 23 cents. However, the stock reached as high as 37 cents Tuesday. Yes, that’s only a 14-cent rise, but that represents a whopping 61 percent spike.
The stock fell back but still closed at 27 cents Wednesday when the overall market hit new lows, representing a net 17.4 percent gain for 2016.
The only other Jacksonville-based company with a net gain at that point was Regency Centers Corp., at 0.8 percent.
Investors have lost confidence in ParkerVision, which is developing technology for use in wireless products and has so far unsuccessfully sued some major manufacturers for patent infringement. However, the company did report some positive news Tuesday morning on its legal battles that gave some investors a glimmer of hope.
Responding to a complaint filed by ParkerVision, the U.S. International Trade Commission said it will begin an investigation into the market for RF capable integrated circuits and products containing those circuits.
Jacksonville-based ParkerVision has alleged major electronics manufacturers are illegally using RF technology patented by the company in their products.
The complaint filed last month with the ITC against Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and several divisions of both LG and Samsung contends the four companies are illegally importing products into the country using that technology.
At the same time it filed that complaint, ParkerVision also filed a lawsuit against those four companies in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
ParkerVision has separate lawsuits pending against Qualcomm and Samsung alleging infringement of a different set of patents.
Before investors get their hopes up, ParkerVision has a long way to go to win any damages in this latest legal action. In announcing its investigation, the ITC said it has not made any decision on the merits of the case.
The ITC said it will set a target date to complete its investigation within 45 days.
“We look forward to the ITC’s investigation into the trade practices of the various respondents and the expedited relief that the commission can provide in the protection of our patented rights,” ParkerVision CEO Jeff Parker said in a news release last week.
ParkerVision also last week announced it is raising additional capital with its second private placement of stock in the past month.
The company agreed to sell about 4.5 million shares of common stock to an “accredited investor” for 22 cents a share, which will raise gross proceeds of about $1 million. ParkerVison in December raised $2.1 million in another round of private placements.
ParkerVision didn’t name the investor in its news release but a Securities and Exchange Commission filing identified the purchaser as Peter Sudler.
There was no information about Sudler in the filing, other than his name. Previous SEC filings did not name him as a significant shareholder.
You would expect the private sale to depress the trading price of ParkerVision’s stock, but it fell only 2 cents to 25 cents Thursday after the sale announcement.
That still left the stock 2 cents ahead for 2016, making ParkerVision one of the few winners in the market so far this year.
Analyst upgrades Web.com stock
When the market drops, some investors see it as a buying opportunity. At least one analyst is recommending Web.com Group Inc. after its recent fall.
Web.com’s stock spent much of 2015 rebounding from a sharp drop in the last half of 2014, after disappointing earnings reports.
However, the stock has been trending down again since early December and, exacerbated by the market’s plunge this month, it fell to an 11-month low of $17.05 last week.
The recent drop prompted Craig-Hallum analyst Mitchell Bartlett to upgrade his rating on Jacksonville-based Web.com from “hold” to “buy” last week.
“Web.com has fallen 28 percent from its recent highs and over 50 percent from its peak 2014 levels and we believe now represents a solid investment even if the economic environment were to slow,” Bartlett said in a research note.
“Revenue growth is likely to be modest this year, but we believe the bulk of the underlying subscriber base is very stable, allowing substantial cash flow to be directed toward continued debt reduction and stock repurchases,” he said.
“Results over the past year have been affected by several execution issues and the exit of a domain related business in the second half of 2014. Web is back on track, posting sequential revenue and margin gains since the fourth quarter last year, and the company is set to report a resumption of year over year growth in the fourth quarter,” he said.
Bartlett has a $24 price target for the stock.
GE bringing annual meeting to Jacksonville
General Electric Co. will be the next major corporation to bring its annual shareholders meeting to Jacksonville.
The Connecticut-based conglomerate announced last week it will hold its annual meeting April 27 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.
It is common for major companies to move their annual meetings around.
Jacksonville-based CSX Corp. has not met in Jacksonville since 2004. The company, which has not announced the site of this year’s meeting, met in Richmond, Va., last year.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM held its shareholders meeting at the Prime Osborn two years ago.
GE said in a news release it meets in a different city every year “to illustrate the diversity of the company’s businesses and the strength of its portfolio.”
GE said it has more than 1,000 employees in Jacksonville. That includes the GE Oil & Gas manufacturing facility in the Cecil Commerce Center that opened last year with a promise to eventually hire 500 people.
GE’s 2015 annual meeting was in Oklahoma City.
CSX closing West Virginia office
CSX last week announced it will close its administrative office in Huntington, W. Va., as it consolidates its operations administration from 10 divisions to nine.
The restructuring is related to the continued drop in coal shipments over CSX’s rail lines.
CSX said the Huntington office served customers in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio and its territory encompassed the Central Appalachian coal fields.
The company will continue to run trains in that territory with the administrative responsibilities assigned to other offices.
CSX last year announced cutbacks in operations in Tennessee and Kentucky related to the drop in coal business.
The company said the West Virginia closing affects 121 workers who will remain employed through a transition period over the next several months.
They will then be given opportunities to fill positions in other areas of CSX’s network.
Johnson & Johnson cuts don’t affect Vision Care
Johnson & Johnson last week announced it is cutting about 3,000 jobs, but its restructuring plan will not impact its Jacksonville-based contact lens business.
The New Jersey-based health-care products giant said it is restructuring its medical devices segment, specifically its orthopedics, surgery and cardiovascular businesses.
The company’s news release said Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. is not affected.
The 3,000 jobs Johnson & Johnson expects to cut over the next two years represent about 2.5 percent of its global workforce of 127,000, or 5 percent of its 60,000 workers in the medical devices segment.
The Vision Care business employs about 2,000 people in Jacksonville.
Johnson & Johnson said the restructuring will result in annual cost savings of $800 million to $1 billion by the end of 2018.
Acosta names ex-Kraft executive as COO
Jacksonville-based Acosta last week announced the recruitment of a former Kraft Foods Group executive as its new chief operating officer.
Tom Corley has more than 30 years of industry experience with Kraft and General Foods. He most recently served as Kraft’s executive vice president and president of sales/foodservice.
He left the company last year after it merged with H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. to form the Kraft Heinz Co.
At Acosta, a sales and marketing company for the consumer packaged goods industry, Corley will be responsible for overseeing the sales and foodservice divisions.
Kaman gets $11 million contract for local facility
Kaman Aerosystems announced an $11 million contract extension for production of parts at its Jacksonville facility for U.S. Navy aircraft.
The contract extension runs through 2018.
Kaman is actually supplying parts to CPI Aerostructures Inc. for outer wing panels for E-2D and C-2A aircraft. CPI in turn will ship the panels to Northrop Grumman Corp.
Connecticut-based Kaman said it has been working with CPI on the wing panel program since 2008.
Start-up IPO counting on One Spark festival
While the future of the One Spark crowdfunding festival is up in the air, one start-up company that has filed for an initial public offering is counting on the event to advance its business.
FundThatCompany is a Thailand-based company with no operating history, but it filed plans with the SEC to sell 5 million shares of stock for 3 cents each.
FundThatCompany said in last week’s filing it intends to create a “rewards-based on-line crowdfunding platform.”
Its research and marketing plan includes attendance at two conferences this year: One Spark in Jacksonville in April and a renewable energy conference in London in November.
The filing does not say what it will do if One Spark is canceled or postponed.