In July, I wrote that Eastman Kodak was well on its way to recovery. Their earnings yesterday, confirmed this trend. Sales of digital products increased 12% to $1.59 billion, making up almost 60% of Kodak's total revenues for the quarter. Additionall, revenues from their traditional film-based business fell 16%. Both these trends are great for their long-term success. Net income came in at $37 million compared with a year-earlier loss of $37 million, or 13 cents a share. Excluding restructuring charges (which were also lower than expected), profit came in at 45 cents a share, nearly double Wall Street's expectation of 23 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
With new products rolling out every quarter, technology improvements in their consumer products, enhancements to their commercial offerings, lower restructuring costs, and strong institutional ownership, and a good chart pattern that reflects the stock has bottomed.
Since my recommendation, the stock has been dead money and been moving sideways. But this should come as no surprise, after all, I did mention that patience would be required since EK is not a momentum stock. The company needs to complete its turn around, and then we can expect a move up.
-- Faisal Laljee
Full Disclosure: I own EK, but my position can change anytime without notice.