Zacks.com announces that Gregory Spear highlights the following stock: Vasco Data Security

Business Wire, May 16, 2005

CHICAGO -- Gregory Spear, editor of Spear's Security Industry Analyst newsletter, urges investors not to underestimate the dangers of a down-trending market and profiles Vasco Data Security (NASDAQ:VDSI). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=84.

Highlights from the May 5th Featured Expert column by Gregory Spear include:

Smart cards and authentication tokens, some of which are biometrically enabled, are being used by banks, businesses and software vendors all over the world, with an increasing pace of adoption. Vasco Data Security (NASDAQ:VDSI) is a former A-List member that is a leader in this field. The company recently scored a supplier deal with Verisign, which is impressive, and the stock is starting to move. Spear and his team are placing VDSI on the "A-List Watch" and they re-profile the company below.

Vasco develops patented user authentication products for the financial world, remote network access, e-business and e-commerce. The company, which is doing about $44 million a year on an annualized basis, gets around. Over the years they have sold 15 million Digipass products to 370 international financial institutions and 1,700 "blue-chip" corporations and governments in more than 80 countries, with solid current representation in Europe. First quarter revenues increased 90% year-over-year and 23% quarter-to-quarter, which is great....but with earnings coming in at just 4 cents (compared to 2 cents a year ago), valuation is very high.

Can they grow the bottomline? That will be the key question. The company has a $10 million backlog of firm orders to be shipped in the second quarter, which is 120% higher than the backlog a year ago and 50% higher than the actual sales reported for Q2 2004. Much will depend on the profitability they can generate in Q2. If it is only a nickel or so, then the stock will have trouble.

Read Gregory Spear's commentary on the dangers of investing in a down-trending market, along with more information on the stock above, by clicking: http://at.zacks.com/?id=85.

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