NightHawk gains 29 percent in IPO
Coeur d’Alene-based NightHawk Radiology started its first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock market Thursday by gaining 29 percent in value; shares started trading at $16 and closed at $20.65.
Traded as NHWK, Nighthawk sold 4.9 million shares on Thursday. Its expected share range was set at $12 to $14 by underwriter Morgan Stanley.
The company, formed four years ago to provide long-distance radiology readings for U.S. doctors and hospital, announced plans for an initial stock offering in October 2005. It relies on a network of doctors based in Australia and Switzerland who perform the readings and send back their results.
NightHawk’s services are used at about 12 percent of the nation’s hospitals, according to company figures. Sales have grown from $4.7 million in 2002 to $39.3 million last year.
The company intends to raise roughly $90 million through the stock offering and will use it to pay off debt and expand operations.
Best Buy Co. Inc., the nation’s biggest consumer electronics chain, on Thursday raised its fourth-quarter financial forecast, and its shares jumped more than 8 percent in early trading.
For the quarter ending Feb. 25, Best Buy projected earnings from continuing operations of $1.25 to $1.30 per share, versus its previous view, which called for earnings at the high end of a $1.06 to $1.16 per share range. For fiscal 2006, Best Buy forecast earnings from continuing operations of $2.24 to $2.29 per share.
Analysts’ average estimates are $1.16 per share for the current quarter, and $2.14 for 2006, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
In the prior-year period, the retailer reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.04 per share.
Boeing Co. said Thursday it will close a repair facility in Melbourne by the end of June and attempt to find jobs for its 103 workers at other Boeing operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration repair station for MD and 700 series doors and flight controls opened in 1966 as part of Douglas Aircraft and was taken over by Boeing in 1997 in the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas Corp.
The company told workers Thursday the cuts are necessary because there is not enough work to maintain staffing levels, a key contract supporting the U.S. Navy’s E-6 Program has expired and potential for future business is limited.