Excerpted from press releases:

Maxwell Technologies (NSDQ: MXWL) yesterday reported a net loss of $4.3 million, or $0.25 per share, on revenue of $12.6 million for its first quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared with a net loss of $7.5 million, or $0.45 per share, on revenue of $12.0 million for the same period in 2006.

BOOSTCAP(R) ultracapacitor revenue for Q107 increased by 18 percent to $3.3 million, compared with $2.8 million for the same period in 2006, but declined quarter-to-quarter from Q406 as a result of lower-than-expected shipments to certain large customers. Dr. Richard Balanson, Maxwell’s president and chief executive officer, said the company expects ultracapacitor revenue to rebound in Q2, based on strong recent sales and bookings activity.

“New heavy transportation and industrial design wins in North America, China and Europe have taken longer to move into production than we anticipated, so ultracapacitor sales in Q1 continued to be concentrated with a relatively small number of existing wind energy, transportation and industrial customers,” Balanson said. “Several of those existing customers consumed less product last quarter for a variety of reasons unrelated to ultracapacitors. While none of this alters our views about the company’s long term growth prospects, in the short term it puts our run rate a quarter or two behind where we had expected to be at this point.”

Balanson noted that the company’s high voltage capacitor and microelectronics product lines continued their recent strong performance, combining for Q1 sales of $9.3 million. Other significant recent developments include:

• Successful completion of production validation testing by Maxwell’s contract manufacturer in China, clearing the way for an accelerated transition to low-cost offshore assembly of Maxwell’s large cell ultracapacitors and multi-cell modules.


• Opening of a sales office in Shanghai, China, to market BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor products, service customers and support distribution channel partners throughout Asia.


• Introduction of a 390-volt ultracapacitor module for heavy hybrid and electric vehicles and heavy duty industrial applications requiring up to 1,170 volts of electrical energy.


• A federal district court’s ruling granting Maxwell’s motion for a preliminary injunction that will bar its Korean competitor, Nesscap, from selling certain ultracapacitor products in the U.S. that infringe a Maxwell patent.

“We are expecting more news on ultracapacitor design wins in the hybrid bus and truck markets and new orders for wind energy, industrial and telecommunications applications that will help to drive revenue growth in the second and succeeding quarters,” Balanson said. “We believe that the new products we have introduced over the past year will enable us to continue broadening and diversifying the ultracapacitor customer base, and that our ongoing initiatives to improve efficiency and control costs will contribute to improving financial performance and allow the company to become more predictable over the next few quarters.”

Gross margin increased from 24 percent in Q406 to 27 percent in Q107, reflecting ongoing improvements in ultracapacitor manufacturing costs and production efficiency. Cash and investments in marketable securities totaled $10.1 million as of March 31, 2007, compared with $19.4 million as of Dec. 31, 2006, and Balanson said that the company is evaluating a variety of financing options. Complete financial statements will be available next week with the filing of the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Altair Nanotechnologies (NSDQ: ALTI) announces that it will hold a conference call to discuss financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007. The call is scheduled for Wednesday, May 9, 2007, at 11 am EDT. Shareholders and members of the investment community are invited to participate in the conference call.

The conference call dial-in number for both US and international callers is 913-981-4913. Please dial in to the conference five minutes before the call is scheduled to begin. Ask the operator for the Altair Nanotechnologies call.

An audio replay of the conference call will be available from 2 pm through 11:59 pm EDT, Wednesday, May 16, 2007, and can be accessed by dialing 719-457-0820 and entering conference number 1741992.

Additionally, the conference call is available online and can be accessed by visiting Altairnano’s Web site, www.altairnano.com.