Kamera Digital News

Kodak’s stock lift gives only a brief breather

June 18th, 2007

Kodak’s stock lift gives only a brief breather
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY
Matthew Daneman
Staff writer

(June 17, 2007) — Eastman Kodak Co. built its fortune on film photography. The imaging giant has had a tougher time figuring out how to make money in a digital world.

But after a couple of years of sluggish stock performance, the market rewarded the company last week after Kodak unveiled new photo sensor technology that it says could mean no more too-dark or muddy results when snapping shots in low light.

Kodak stock closed the week at $29.31, up 10 percent for the week from a close of $26.57 on June 8. The last time the stock was this high was March 2006.

It will be months yet before the first consumer products containing the new sensors show up on store shelves, assuming the company even finds customers for its invention.

“The impact of the product will show up when it gets into market,” said Gary Pageau, publisher of Photo Marketing Magazine.

Image sensors are a $7 billion market, with Kodak claiming about $100 million of that, mostly in industrial applications, according to an analysis by Citigroup Global Markets.

“In order to take on some of the more established names in the market, Kodak will need to provide a technological breakthrough leapfrogging the competition,” Citigroup said. Its analysis came out a day before Kodak publicly announced its camera sensor technology.

“Digital image sensors have captured color for 30 years,” said Chris McNiffe, vice president of Kodak’s consumer digital imaging group. “We do think it’s significant now we’ve come up with a new, elegant, innovative way to do that.”

The new image sensor is part of a series of sensor advancements the company is working on.

“We’re also looking at how to make the color itself more rich and full for the digital images and what kinds of features that are in the camera we can make more efficient, maybe different ways to do focusing or color correction,” McNiffe said.

Despite the jump in its stock, Kodak still has notable business hurdles, including anemic sales growth and low profit margins, according to an analysis by Matrix USA, which on Friday continued to rate Kodak stock a “hold.”

For the last couple of years, consumer camera manufacturers have focused largely on image resolution. But with even five- and six-megapixel cameras readily affordable, Pageau said, “the pixel race has kind of slowed down …, so now manufacturers are looking for things that will differentiate their cameras. Clearly something that would eliminate the need for a flash would be something different.”

MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Entry Filed under: World Digital Camera