SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-Superconductor Technologies Inc. announced it received a purchase order for 27 of its SuperFilter Systems from an unnamed cellular service provider, increasing its backlog to 56 systems and causing its stock price to soar 135 percent last Wednesday.
The order helped to increase the company’s shares $17.75 to close at $30.87 Feb. 16. STI’s stock rose again Feb. 17 to close at $40.06, but fell to $33.87 by RCR press time last Friday, a 15.4-percent decrease from the high.
The SuperFilter Systems use high-temperature superconducting technology and cryogenic cooling to create a front-end filter and amplifier system to enhance the performance of wireless base stations, the company said.
M. Peter Thomas, president and chief executive officer of STI, said the company has shipped more than 200 SuperFilter Systems during the last two years.
“They are being used by our customers for both analog and digital mobile telephony base stations, supporting most transmission protocols with a particular strength in CDMA … ” Thomas said.
The company then announced it named Martin McDermut chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration. McDermut most recently served as CFO and vice president of finance and administration for International Remote Imaging Systems Inc., a medical equipment manufacturer.
STI also said it has completed the public offering of approximately 2.47 million shares of common stock, providing gross proceeds to STI of $8.04 million.
The majority of the shares were purchased by the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, one of the largest pension funds in the world, with the remainder purchased by Wilmington Securities Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hillman Co., STI said.
