Needham & Company Maintains a 'Hold' on A123 Systems (AONE); Latest Incident Likely Opens the Door Wider for Competitors

March 28, 2012 7:53 AM EDT Send to a Friend
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Needham & Company maintains a 'Hold' on A123 Systems (NASDAQ: AONE).

Analyst, Michael Lew, said, "The latest manufacturing glitch at A123 Systems that could result in defective battery cells likely opens the door wider for competitors to potentially wrest away some of the high-profile business. While management estimates the liability to be contained, we believe the important issue is the apparent lack of process and quality controls that led to this. Given AONE’s history, we would not be surprised if there were additional operational challenges at the largest lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in North
America."

"We believe this latest event could likely jeopardize business with other customers or cause those customers (such as General Motors (NYSE: GM) [Spark], Navistar (NYSE: NAV), VIA Motors, and Smith Electric Vehicles) to entertain the idea of turning to alternate sources, such as
Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI)(Buy, $40), Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL)(Buy, $23), Valence Technology (Nasdaq: VLNC)(Hold), LG Chem, and/or Electrovaya. In our view, A123 needs to implement more stringent process and quality controls in order to minimize these operational incidences."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on A123 Systems click here. For more ratings news on A123 Systems click here.

Shares of A123 Systems closed at $1.40 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $1.27-$7.87.


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