GeoEye Beams a 'Buy' Signal to Investors

Editor's Note: With this column, TheStreet.com is pleased to debut Eric Jackson. Our newest contributor has led online activist campaigns in the past, and will share his latest investment ideas with our audience. As always, let us know what you think.

I built a position in satellite company GeoEye(GEOY Quote) over the last couple of months.

Initially, I wasn't anticipating launching an activist campaign aimed at the company, which provides space-based imagery to government and commercial customers. The stock has gone up 62% in the past year, and GeoEye seemed well positioned to announce a very positive quarter and year-end results, which it did last week.

I was attracted by the stock's incredibly low valuation relative to projected earnings and peer comparisons. Trailing P/E sits at a paltry 12.66, whereas larger competitors Orbital Sciences(ORB Quote) and Trimble Navigation(TRMB Quote) have trailing P/Es of 25 and 29, respectively. What's more, GeoEye is expecting to increase earnings by 20% per year for the next five years. ...