En Pointe Shares Soar 54% on Contract News

Shares of En Pointe Technologies Inc. shot up $2.78, or 54%, to close at $7.91 on Nasdaq on news that the El Segundo computer company landed a giant contract with the state of Minnesota. En Pointe, a computer services company that traded as high as $55 earlier this year, said it will acquire hardware and software for more than 1,100 municipal agencies in Minnesota and provide other consulting services. The company said the two-year contract has a “potential value” of up to $150 million a year. “This is a very significant contract for us,” said Mike Shabazian, En Pointe’s chief executive. The contract is the largest the company has landed this year and marks a turnaround for En Pointe, which has suffered bruising losses and declines in revenue due to a troubled software conversion in the third quarter. The company’s quarterly losses grew tenfold to $9 million compared with the year-ago quarter. Revenue plunged 35% to $118.4 million. The sales decline came as customers took their business elsewhere during En Pointe’s software conversion, Shabazian said.