Investor Alan Parsow Now Owns 8.3% of Comarco, May Seek Place on Board
A Nebraska investor who specializes in underpriced stocks now owns 8.3% of Comarco Inc. in Anaheim and may try to place a representative on the company’s board of directors, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alan Parsow, a full-time investor who has made millions buying stock in companies he says are undervalued, has owned stock in Comarco for several years. He usually invests only in companies that he thinks are already well-managed, according to analysts.
“I talked to Alan this morning,” said Harry Young, Comarco’s president and CEO. “His intention is to make suggestions to management to try and increase our shareholder value and to try and do that in a friendly manner. There is nothing hostile in his intent or his actions.”
Parsow’s purchases of an additional 14,000 shares of Comarco stock over the past few weeks represent only 0.3% of the 4.6 million shares of common stock outstanding.
Comarco is a defense contractor that supplies engineering and technical services to various branches of the military and to government agencies. The company also builds the solar-powered cellular telephones installed in emergency call boxes alongside some of Southern California’s freeways.
Comarco’s performance has been rather dismal in recent years but analysts say the company is making a comeback. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 1989, Comarco reported revenue of $88.6 million, up nearly 17% from 1988. Net income was $6.1 million, contrasted with a loss of $12.9 million a year earlier.
The company’s stock has not enjoyed the same kind of recovery. While it traded for as much as $11.75 in January, 1987, Comarco common stock closed Monday at $2.88. News of Parsow’s investment was not released until after the markets closed.
Even though its annual revenue is almost $90 million, Comarco’s total market capitalization--the current value of its common stock outstanding--is a paltry $13.3 million.
“I’ve been surprised it’s taken someone so long to recognize what Comarco is--an incredibly cheap stock,” said Robert Hanisee, an analyst with Seidler Amdec Securities in Los Angeles.
Parsow could not be reached for comment. He is best known for his investment in New York’s Irving Bank. The stock soared from $52 to almost $80 a share in 1987 after the Bank of New York offered to buy a controlling interest in Irving. Fortune magazine estimated that the Parsow partnership’s portfolio was worth $40 million at that time.
More recently, Parsow in January joined the board of directors of National Lampoon Inc., the humor magazine and film company. Along with actor Tim Matheson and television producer David Grodnik, Parsow owns about 20% of the company.
“I expect that more than anything else, Mr. Parsow is looking at this as an investment,” said Gerald Griffin, Comarco’s chairman. “We are going to have to wait a while and see what happens next.”
