LECG: Cleaning up from the subprime implosion?

Posted Feb 13th 2008 2:19PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Earnings Reports

The past six months have been fairly scary for Wall Street and Corporate America.

But this is actually good news for LECG (NASDAQ: XPRT). The company operates a network of independent experts who help with complex things like antitrust, litigation, accounting, healthcare, and so on.

It can be a volatile business. According to LECG's Q4 report, there was a net loss of $2.7 million, or $0.11 per share. But revenues inched up 1% to $88.2 million.

Keep in mind that LECG has been undergoing a major transformation. Some of the initiatives include a reduction in costs as well as the divestiture of its Silicon Valley Expert Witness Group. The company has also instituted stronger equity incentives.

More importantly, it looks like LECG has an interesting growth opportunity: the subprime meltdown. This is likely to result in a variety of multi-year engagements. No doubt, the litigation activity should be enormous. After all, there are investigations from the SEC, FBI, the Justice Department and the state attorneys general. And this doesn't even include the civil lawsuits.

And, so far, it seems that investors are interested. In today's trading, LECG's stock is up 4.18% to $8.73.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Tags: LECG, Subprime