According to the Pentagon, United Technologies Corp. (UTX) has been awarded a $1.7 billion U.S. Air Force contract for engines for Boeing Co C-17 military transport aircraft. Up to 208 Pratt & Whitney F-117 engines may be acquired under this contract.   Pratt & Whitney is turning its attention to the wider applications of a technology that offers a 12- to 15-percent improvement in fuel burn by allowing the engine fan and low-pressure turbine to operate at optimum speeds.   The area with the most potential sales would be a 20,000- to 30,000-pound-thrust engine for next-gen narrowbodies, although in that market segment P&W currently operates through its International Aero Engines (IAE) joint venture with Rolls-Royce, MTU and Japanese Aero Engines Corp.   The other area it would work on is the overall pressure ratio of the core, with higher pressure ratio high-pressure compressor stages, and it would continue ...

General Electric Co. (GE) and Vivendi SA (VIV) have agreed in principle to a deal in which the former would buy the French company's 20% stake in NBC Universal for $5.8 billion, valuing NBC Universal at $29 billion.   Vivendi had originally valued its 20% stake in NBC Universal, acquired in 2004, at $6.1 billion. But the two sides differed on that valuation, slowly narrowing their gap over the past few weeks. GE, which owns the remaining 80%, offered around $5.6 billion about 10 days ago.   Vivendi initially wanted the entire payment upfront, while GE wanted to pay after its deal with Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) closed. Vivendi had agreed to accept payment for one-third of its stake until the deal with Comcast closes.   As part of a proposed deal, NBC Universal would become 51% owned by Comcast and 49% by GE. Comcast would contribute around

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Goodrich Corporation (GR) reported impressive third quarter results, with earnings per share (EPS) of $1.12 crossing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.02. The upsurge came through lower costs and higher defense sales. However, it failed to cross the year-ago result of $1.32. Sales for the reported quarter decreased 7% to $1.6 billion from $1.8 billion in the year-ago quarter. The decrease is attributable to reductions of approximately $33 million of sales related to foreign currency exchange rate impacts, approximately $34 million for lower reported sales resulting from the formation of the engine controls joint venture with Rolls-Royce and the impact of current economic conditions on the company's major market channels. In the quarter, Actuation and Landing Systems segment sales fell 5% year-over-year while Nacelles and Interior Systems segment sales fell 6%. However, the biggest jolt came from Electronic System segment, where sales fell 11% year-over-year....

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) recently announced the closure of joint venture with Navistar International Corp. (NAV). The 50/50 joint venture, NC2 Global LLC, was formed to pursue global commercial truck opportunities outside North America.   NC2 will develop, manufacture and distribute commercial trucks in markets outside of North America and India. The company said that the initial focus would be on Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and Turkey. NC2’s product portfolio will include both aero nose and cab-over designs and will be sold under both the Caterpillar and International (Navistar) brands.   Both Navistar and Caterpillar have named three people to the joint venture’s Board of Directors and Caterpillar Group President Doug Oberhelman will serve as Chairman of the Board.   Under a separate agreement, both companies will together produce heavy-duty vocational trucks for the North American market. The company said that these trucks will be co-developed ...

Credit Suisse is upgradingspan style="font-weight: bold;" Esterline Technologies (NYSE:ESL)/span to Outperform from Neutral while raising their tgt to $43 (prev. $32).br /div style="text-align: justify;"br /While ESL has strong breadth across the typically late-cycle aerodefense market, the firm thinks its 18% sales (higher % for EBIT) exposure to comm’l aftermarket will allow it to benefit from the nearer-term recovery in spares demand that they anticipate in 2010. Thus the firm sees a single down EPS year in ‘09 as ESL’s diverse markets and acquisitive strategy should drive growth thereafter.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"A Volatile Chart: /spanThe Feb. sell-off to $20 traces to an abnormally soft FQ1 (Dec) of $0.38 which startled investors following 8 prior qtrs averaging $0.93 (albeit w/ volatility). The mkt rightfully questioned ESL’s $3.70-$3.90 FY09 guidance after it delivered only 10% in FQ1. However, since then, airline traffic seems to be near bottom, and markets are now considering ...

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. develops protein-based fiber using recombinant DNA technology. The company focuses on spider silk because of its exceptional strength and durability. Some spiders produce up to seven different types of silk, depending on its use, for catching prey, spinning a web, or traveling.

Since spiders are cannibals and hard to keep in colonies, the company maintains its focus on reproducing the fibers using transgenic silkworms. The idea is to create a transgenic variety of silkworms capable of spinning a new “super fiber” that is similar or an exact copy of natural spider silk, which is can be used in military and police departments, industrial and consumer applications, as well as for the aero-space industry.

In May of this year, Kraig Biocraft announced that it has successfully created eight DNA constructs, with the help of a team of scientists. Having teamed up

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Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. develops protein-based fiber using recombinant DNA technology. The company uses spider silk because of its exceptional strength and durability. Some spiders produce up to seven different types of silk, depending on its use, for catching prey, spinning a web, or traveling.

Since spiders are cannibals and hard to keep in colonies, the company maintains its focus on reproducing the fibers, mimicking nature as much as it can. The fibers can be used in military and police departments, industrial and consumer applications, as well as for the aero-space industry.

Earlier this month, Kraig Biocraft announced that it, along with a team of scientists, successfully created eight DNA constructs, which they plan on using for genetic insertion in the upcoming weeks. Having teamed up with the University of Notre Dame to move into the $92 billion market for technical fibers, the news is a

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AM Oil Resources & Technology Inc. announced yesterday that it has chosen Keith Alan Johnson to be its new President and CEO. Mr. Johnson has more than three decades experience in the energy sector, including more than 20 years with Southern California Gas Company (now known as Sempra Energy Utilities) where his primary responsibilities were transmission and marketing management.

Mr. Johnson began his management career with the natural gas transmission network, working on high pressure natural gas pipelines and the distribution systems that feed commercial and residential customers. Mr. Johnson also has hands-on experience with the management and installation of co-generation plants and the transportation of produced products. Additionally, Mr. Johnson served as the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Green Aero Energy where he developed marketing strategies to bring new, state-of-the-art wind technology into the marketplace.

Through his experience, Mr. Johnson has

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Yesterday we upgraded Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASR) from Hold to Buy based on better-than-expected results for the 4th quarter 2008, thanks to a growth in tourism flow for the Cancun area.We were looking forward to seeing how the other airport operators in Mexico -- Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (PAC) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMAB) would post results for the 4th quarter. Last night, PAC posted not that encouraging numbers.Despite the growth in non-aeronautical revenues during the quarter, passenger traffic was disappointing -- total traffic declined 15.7% from the same period 2007. Domestic flow was even worse, decreasing 18.2%. The tourism sites of Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos had a better performance if compared to the other airports, but nothing comparable to Cancun in the last quarter of 2008.Since Cancun is a bigger and internationally well-known tourism site, ...

Silicon Lab, Inc. (SLAB) sold its Aero and power amplifier business to NXP for $285 million and therefore no longer competes in the ultra competitive wireless space. This has pushed gross margins in to the low 60% range.

Forward guidance calls for a 6-10% sequential revenue increase. A number of new products have the potential to grow at 30-50%. Consequently, we are maintaining the current Hold rating on SLAB shares.

For the second quarter of fiscal year 2008, Silicon Laboratories reported revenue of $104.6 up 6.5% sequentially. Since this is the first year of business without the Aero and power amplifier business, sequential comparison of certain numbers are not appropriate.

Shares of SLAB are currently trading at a 29.7x multiple of price to our forward 2009 earnings estimate (P/E). The key company product is in the mature portion of the life cycle, while the next generation version is set to contribute.

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