WOBURN, Mass, Oct. 22, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bridgeline Digital, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLIN – News), a developer of award-winning web engagement management software and interactive technology solutions announced today that it has retained Genesis Select Corporation to enhance its institutional investor relations program.

Genesis Select will support Bridgeline’s efforts to cultivate long-term relationships with the investment community of portfolio managers and analysts by helping Wall Street gain a broader understanding of the Company’s growth prospects and true fair market value.

“Genesis Select’s has an excellent reputation of improving awareness in the investment community. We feel Bridgeline’s market-cap is very undervalued and the time is right for Bridgeline to proactively share its exciting story,” stated Thomas Massie, Bridgeline Digital Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

“We are excited to work with the management of Bridgeline Digital and close their valuation disparity,” said Budd Zuckerman, President of Genesis Select. “The Company has a great product suite that is rapidly growing its monthly recurring revenue base consisting of software subscriptions, managed services, and maintenance fees. Bridgeline is in the process of migrating over 600 brand name customers to a SaaS platform. The Company is growing both organically and by acquisition of regional boutiques where tremendous operating leverage exists. The Company has a solid balance sheet, and trades at a substantial discount to its peers with an Enterprise Value/ EBITDA of barely 5 times,” continued Zuckerman.

About Genesis Select

Genesis Select Corporation (www.genesisselect.com) is an independent investment advisory and financial communications firm that specializes in micro through mid-capital public companies. The firm’s senior professionals integrate knowledge and expertise gained over 50 years at prominent Wall Street firms. Genesis Select works closely with clients to maximize shareholder value through strategic institutional investor relations and financial communications programs.

About Bridgeline Digital

Bridgeline Digital is a developer of an award-winning web engagement management platform and award-winning interactive business technology solutions that help customers leverage best in class web-based technologies to achieve their business objectives. The iAPPS Product Suite is an innovative SaaS solution that unifies Content Management, e-Commerce, e-Marketing, and Analytics capabilities into the heart of websites, online stores, intranets, extranets, and portals – enabling business users to swiftly enhance and optimize the value of their web properties. The iAPPS Product Suite has been recognized by KMWorld Magazine as a Trend Setting Product of 2010. iAPPS Content Manager is the 2010 CODiE Award Winner for Best Content Management Solution, globally.

Combined with award-winning interactive technology development services by Microsoft Gold-Certified development teams, Bridgeline Digital helps customers to cost-effectively maximize the value of their rapidly changing web applications. Bridgeline’s teams of developers specialize in web application development, e-commerce development, usability engineering, SharePoint development, rich media development, and search engine optimization.

Bridgeline Digital is headquartered near Boston, with additional locations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Bangalore, India. Bridgeline Digital has hundreds of customers ranging from middle market organizations to divisions within Fortune 1,000 companies that include: Sun Chemical, Honeywell, Healthcore, LG Electronics, Marriott International, Berkshire Life, PODS, Budget Rental Car, Washington Redskins, AARP, National Financial Partners, The Packard Foundation, DTCC, Cadaret, Grant & Co., National Insurance Crime Bureau, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. To learn more about Bridgeline, please visit www.bridgelinedigital.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

All statements included in this press release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions including the risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Wall St. Journal Oct, 19, 2010

Gartner predicted media-tablet sales will reach 19.5 million units this year and to nearly triple in 2011, in one of the most aggressive forecasts published so far.

Analyst Carolina Milanesi said she believed tablet computers such as Apple’s iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Cisco’s Cius will cannibalize other portable devices such as e-readers, gaming devices and media players. Consumers are “tech–savvy, they want the fashion, and the tablet isn’t as complicated as the PC,” she said in a phone interview, adding that consumers also like that tablets are always-on and don’t need to be rebooted. In the enterprise sector, Ms. Milanesi believes tablets will function as a secondary device to use on the road or for fast access to email, calendar, Web applications and presentations.

Gartner’s forecast assumes that over 80% of tablet sales this year will come from the iPad. The research firm, which Ms. Milanesi said isn’t “drinking the Kool-Aid,” has even more aggressive sales forecasts for the next few years—54.8 million units in 2011, 103.4 million in 2012 and 154.2 million in 2013. Though competition will increase over time, she said the iPad will keep its lead until 2013.

—Yukari Iwatani Kane

NEW YORK  — Shares of Zagg Inc.(ZAGG_) took off Thursday after the company gave a surprisingly strong outlook for the third quarter, and even with the dramatic plus 40% move up, the stock may still have some room to run.

First, a quick rundown of the current action. After Wednesday’s closing bell, the Salt Lake City-based maker of protective covers and ear phones for smartphones, tablets and other mobile electronic devices boosted its revenue outlook for fiscal 2010, saying it now expects year-over-year growth of 70%, up from a prior view of 30%. In fiscal 2009, the company’s sales totaled $38.4 million.

For the third quarter, Zagg forecast revenue of more than $22 million, a figure that’s 12% above the current average estimate of four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for revenue of $19.6 million in the September-ended period.

Shares leapt $2.17, or 42.4%, to close at $7.29 Thursday with volume of 9.6 million running at more than 19 times the issue’s trailing three-month daily average of around 476,000. The session-high of $7.45 represents a new 52-week peak for the stock, which at that level had bounced nearly 300% off its May 20 low for the year of $1.90.

The recent rally in the shares ahead of this news had already made short work of both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $4.22 and $3.15 respectively, always a bullish sign from a technical standpoint.

With smartphone sales booming, it stands to reason that demand for accessories, like protective covers and ear buds, would come along for the ride as well, and that’s precisely what Zagg attributed the revenue strength to. The company also cited its wider retail presence, which includes selling its flagship invisibleSHIELD covers in AT&T Wireless stores.

MDB Capital Group reiterated its buy rating on the stock following the news, saying the outlook is strong enough to merit a re-evaluation of the company’s value proposition. It noted that the new view is more than double previous expectations and said Zagg’s revenue forecast for the full year is now in line with what the firm had been modeling for in fiscal 2011.

“The ZAGG share price has appreciated nicely in recent weeks, but the company’s current growth trends and growing brand value would appear to warrant even higher prices,” the firm said in a research note.

MDB Capital lifted its 12-month price target on the stock to $8.50 as part of its call, saying that price represents a 25X multiple to its new GAAP EPS estimate for fiscal 2010 of 34 cents. “We feel that this valuation is reasonable given the size of the potential markets and the ongoing growth opportunities.” The other analysts covering the company seem to agree as the median price target on the stock was already $9.25 ahead of MDB Capital’s change.

Zagg is slated to report its third-quarter results on Nov. 10, and it said it plans to provide more color on its outlook for the full year at that time. Wall Street’s current consensus estimate is for a profit of 11 cents a share, but that number is sure to move higher given the new revenue view. MDB Capital lifted its projection to earnings of 13 cents a share following the news.

Even with this run-up, the stock looks affordable with its forward price-to-earnings multiple based on a consensus estimate for profit of 38 cents a share in fiscal 2011 at around 22X. And judging by just how bullish the outlook is and the overall positive trend for smartphones and tablets, Zagg looks like a good bet to continue to flourish. MDB Capital said in its note that gross margins would likely take a bit of a hit from greater presence of retail in the sales mix, but that seems to be a fair trade-off given the amount of topline growth the company now sees.

–Written by Michael Baron in New York. Originally published by The Street

The price/earnings ratio has long been the go-to gauge for valuing both the stock market and individual stocks, but it’s losing credibility, said Ben Levisohn in The Wall Street Journal. Why the change of heart? “In short, the ‘e’ can’t be trusted” – 2011 earnings estimates are far too high to be reliable, according to Barry Knapp, head of U.S. equity portfolio strategy at Barclays Capital in New York. Some investors are turning to other measures, such as enterprise value and free cash flow. Others are simply focusing more on broader economic numbers because, as Jeffrey Sica of Sica Wealth Management puts it, individual company valuations “are virtually irrelevant in today’s economic climate.”

Originally published in THE WEEK