Hauppauge-based Globecomm mum on sale talk

Globecomm Systems Inc., a Hauppauge company that provides satellite-based communications systems and services, may be mum about whether its for sale, but the market Wednesday treated it like a company in play.

Its stock closed up $1.38, or 10.38 percent, at $14.67 a share on volume of 1.36 million shares in Nasdaq trading. That compares with an increase of just 3 cents on Monday to $12.84 and volume of 47,717 shares.

Since the beginning of the year the stock has risen nearly $5, or almost 47 percent.

Bloomberg News, citing the DealReporter, said Globecomm has hired JPMorgan Chase to advise it on a possible sale. But Globecomm didn't return repeated phone calls seeking comment.

The company, which was co-founded by current chairman and chief executive David Hershberg in 1994, has a market capitalization of $328.9 million; that is its value based on its current per share price and the number of shares outstanding.

In Globecomm's fiscal third quarter, which ended March 31, its net income more than doubled, to about $3 million from $1.25 million the year before.

Earnings per share jumped to 14 cents a share from 6 cents the year before. Revenue rose to $46 million from $34 million.