Alexandria's VSE makes waves on Nasdaq with Navy contract
The Navy yesterday made some shareholders of little-known VSE Corp. of Alexandria very wealthy--at least on paper--and the navies of foreign nations ultimately will foot the bill.</br></br>The company's shares jumped 66 percent on the Nasdaq stock market yesterday on the news that VSE won a Navy contract to maintain surplus military ships sold overseas. The work would be worth as much as $1 billion over 10 years for a dozen companies.</br></br>VSE's stock opened yesterday at $16, where it has traded lately, and closed at $26.50 following the announcement of the Navy contract, whose first phase is valued at $202 million That's not bad for a firm with revenue of $66 million last year.</br></br>"It's been a forgotten stock, until today, perhaps said Calvin Koonce, president of Koonce Securities Inc., a brokerage in Rockville, and a member of VSE's board of directors. "This is a good day."</br></br>VSE's team of contractors beat seven other ventures for the contract, the Navy said, including groups led by Resource Consultants Inc. of Vienna, Columbia Research Corp. of Arlington and Bath Iron Works of Maine, whose purchase by Falls Church-based General Dynamics Corp. for $300 million was announced Thursday.