Still profitable despite the slowdown

Article Excerpt

LOJACK CORP. $5.52 (Nasdaq symbol LOJN; SI Rating: Speculative) (www.lojack.com; 781-326-4700; Shares outstanding: 18.1 million; Market cap: $99.8 million) sells systems that help track and recover vehicles after they’ve been stolen. Lojack operates in the U.S. and 30 other countries. The company’s Canadian subsidiary is Boomerang Tracking. In the three months ended June 30, 2009, LoJack’s revenue fell 31.1%, to $35.4 million from $51.4 million a year earlier. It lost $0.67 a share, compared to a profit of $0.06. However, LoJack was forced to write down the value of Boomerang Tracking during the quarter. Without this, it made a profit of $0.09 a share. Its $17.3-million debt is just 17.6% of market cap, and less than 32% of its cash holdings of $54.2 million. Because the U.S. accounts for over 75% of its revenue, LoJack will need a rebound in American new-car sales to show substantial growth. In the meantime, it will benefit from its efforts to find new uses for its…