Tuesday, August 11. 2009

DoD Wants More Imagery; GeoEye and DigitalGlobe Announce Quarterly Earnings

On Monday quite a bit happened in the satellite remote sensing arena:

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) issued a statement of requirements to get industry input and guide its own strategic planning process for imagery needed in the future. While the document is classified analysts and executives suggest a request for proposals later this year which could mean a few billion dollars in revenues for DigitalGlobe Inc and/or GeoEye in the coming years.

DigitalGlobe announced second quarter net income of $8.4 million (19 cents a share) down from $11.6 million (26 cents a share) last year. The forecast for the full year is expected below Wall Street expectations. The second quarter included a $7.7 million pre-tax charge for DigitalGlobe paying off debt early and was the first the company reported as a public company.

GeoEye had a surprisingly good second quarter. Net income for the second quarter was $9.6 million (46 cents per fully diluted share) up from net loss of $558,000 (3 cents per fully diluted share) last year. GeoEye said it would not plan for GeoEye-2 until the government stated its needs and funding plans.

- Reuters
- DigitalGlobe PR
- GeoEye PR