The banking company ended a streak of two consecutive quarterly losses, caused by a drop in the value of some of its securities, to turn a profit that was better than analysts were expecting in the first quarter.
Buffalo-based information technology firm Computer Task Group also was red hot during the quarter, soaring by 77 percent to come within 6 per-cent of its Sept. 30 price.
While CTG is predicting a difficult 2009, with revenues expected to drop by about 20 percent to $285 million from $353 million last year, and profits forecast to drop by 29 percent to around 35 cents per share, down from 49 cents in 2008, even the reduced earnings would be CTG's second-highest in the last decade. Analysts at Boenning & Scattergood expect CTG's business to start picking up during the second half of this year.
Plus, the company is expecting a healthy shot of new business beginning next year from the $19 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked to start building a nationwide electronic medical records system.
Buffalo life sciences company Cleveland BioLabs jumped by 68 percent to return to its Sept. 30 price after the company completed a much-needed round of fundraising and continued to make progress in developing its Protectan drug to ward off the harmful effects of radiation exposure.
Cleveland BioLabs earlier this year completed the first phase of safety tests on healthy human volunteers -- research used to determine potential side effects and dosage limits. The drug also has been tested extensively on non-human primates. A second, larger phase of human safety tests on as many as 500 people could begin later this year, while additional testing on monkeys also will continue into next year.
"Our drug is projected to be safe, which ultimately should be confirmed in the larger study we are starting now," said Michael Fonstein, Cleveland BioLabs' chief executive officer. The company could seek approval for Protectan from the U. S. Food and Drug Administration late next year.
On the down side, Servotronics continued to give its shareholders a roller coaster ride. The Elma motion control equipment and cutlery manufacturer's stock lost 73 percent of its value during the final three quarters of last year, only to rebound with a 43 percent first-quarter gain that made it the shining star among the Buffalo Portfolio in an otherwise dismal quarter.
Sure enough, Servotronics shares reversed course again in the second quarter, tumbling by 25 percent as its first-quarter profits plunged by 85 percent. Servotronics said its customers were delaying or reducing their orders as the economy weakened, leaving the company with 16 percent drop in revenues.
Rand Capital Corp.'s shares dropped by 12 percent as the Buffalo venture capital firm was granted more flexibility by its shareholders to sell additional shares of its stock over the next year.
Rand has nearly $2 million in cash and could tap almost $2 million more through its small business investment arm, but company executives believe the credit crunch is creating an opportunity for Rand to make additional investments on more favorable terms as developing companies scramble to raise cash.
East Aurora aircraft lighting and electronics manufacturer Astronics Corp., which is struggling with a steep decline in its business jet market, as well as softness among commercial aviation customers, endured a 6 percent drop.
"They depend on the aerospace industry, and that's getting hit both ways, from the military and the commercial side," Carosa said.
drobinson@buffnews.com
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