Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) We’ll go ahead and take our first question from John Franzreb with Sidoti & Company.
John Franzreb – Sidoti & Company
My first question is, and I’m sorry I’m going to harp a little bit on the test segment here. You mentioned that part of the problem is that it is new product development, something that you want to lever in the future, expand upon whatever product knowledge you’re gaining. Is it safe to assume then that you’re also pursuing similar type jobs and we’ll continue to see some lumpiness in test? Or, is this maybe a onetime hit with these types of projects and you’re no longer pursuing those types of jobs?
Laura B. Hamilton
That’s a good question. I think it’s more that we’re building capability off of this existing group of jobs that we are gaining a fair amount of learning as we’re doing that. As we move forward and sell these capabilities again, most likely there will still be some customization or development but, I think for these jobs we’re doing most of the learning on the set we have. We get smarter every time we work in these areas.
John Franzreb – Sidoti & Company
So, would it be fair to assume that the rate of pursuit of these kinds of jobs will slow?
Laura B. Hamilton
I would say yeah. The jobs that we’re talking about are more of the first big step of building capability and after that there are smaller incremental steps.
John Franzreb – Sidoti & Company
Second question, the backlog at 229 is the best since 2005. You allude that the order book, nothing was above $5 million so that makes the backlog even more impressive. I wonder if there’s any kind of end market strength within the backlog that is particularly note worthy?
Laura B. Hamilton
I would say that the biggest end market strength is ground vehicles. I would say it’s in part geographic reach as well as in part the work that we’ve been doing over the last four years in terms of trying to align our product offerings to enable us to move downstream somewhat. I think that we’re feeling that this is the benefit of those two moves.
John Franzreb – Sidoti & Company
In addition, one of the Laura with MTS has been that you’ve always carried a lot of cash. That certainly helps in times when the stock’s getting hit like this morning but also begs the question what kind of uses for cash do you foresee? I guess it’s a dovetail. How is your management style going to differ from the previous CEO?
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