For many years, the poster child for Israeli ingenuity was clearly Given Imaging (GIVN). The company which produces a disposable, miniature video camera contained in a capsule, which is used for gastrointestinal diagnosis, is well-known for this ground-breaking technology, but has disappointed investors with trouble growing sales aggressively. The hype of the technology has been way ahead of the company’s actual execution of their business model. After their earnings report, that may have changed.

The company reported Q2 revenue off $33.1 million, an increase of 19% of last years Q2 and a 22% increase over Q1 ‘08. Gross margins remained strong coming in at 75.5%, and net profit came in at $0.09 a share, and the company raised guidance for the rest of ‘08.

Commenting in the press release, CEO Homi Shamir said, “We are very pleased with our robust second quarter financial results. “Expanding market penetration and stronger global demand for PillCam SB in our three operating regions helped increase sales by 19%. We are especially pleased to be back on track with revenue growth in the Americas region which increased 25% on a sequential basis while PillCam reorders increased 28% sequentially in the region. In the first six months of 2008 total revenues grew 18.3% over the same period last year, which positions us to meet our 2008 revenue guidance. Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to expand the global market for PillCam SB, as well as to develop the market for our other next generation PillCam products.”

Maybe just maybe the company has turned the corner.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in GIVN. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 8/07/08.

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NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Investors in the Israeli company Nice Systems (NICE) can breathe a sigh of relief, as their earnings came in as expected. Some traders that we had spoken to were worried about Nice’s exposure to the financial sector and how the slowdown in spending would impact the numbers. Well it turns out that their security business is doing nicely.

The company came in with revenues of $155.3 million (a record) an increase of over 20% YOY. The company also showed an increase in margins and raised revenue numbers for the rest of ‘08.

According to PR Newswire, CEO Haim Shani said, “The demand for NICE’s solutions remains strong in our two market sectors, enterprise and security, across all regions. “We continue to execute well on our strategy of leading the market with our advanced applications solutions in the enterprise sector and of winning large-scale deals in the security sector.”

All in all, a pretty NICE report.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in NICE. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 8/06/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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After sporting a strong earnings report, NDS Group (NNDS) announced that they have raised their offer to take the company private. According to Business Wire: ” … that the independent committee of its board of directors has reached an agreement in principle with News Corporation and two subsidiaries of funds advised by Permira Advisers LLP on a price at which News Corporation and the Permira entities would acquire all issued and outstanding NDS Series A ordinary shares, including those represented by American Depositary Shares traded on NASDAQ, for per share consideration of $63 in cash. The consummation of the transaction would result in NDS ceasing to be a public company, and the Permira entities and News Corporation owning approximately 51% and 49% of NDS, respectively.”

The deal is subject to approval from a host of regulators, shareholders, etc. Initially the deal was to be at $60/share, but with the company producing strong results, they received and opinion from Citigroup Capital Markets (C) who recommended $63 as a fair price.

We wrote back in July how we thought this may be a new trend, taking public companies private. Check out that post, here. The difference in the NDS case is that they are a company who continue to produce stellar results and whose share price has held up, not dropped by 80% like other companies.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in NNDS. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 8/05/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Shares in the Israeli RRSat Global Communications (RRST) are having their best day in a long time, as the company surpassed earnings estimates and guided higher for the rest of the year. The company reported that gross margins increased to 32.4%, a 30% year-over-year revenue increase and a strong backlog of orders.

The company provides global, comprehensive, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries, via  “RRsat Global Network,” composed of satellite and terrestrial fiber optic transmission capacity and the public Internet.

Commenting on the earnings, David Rivel, CEO said, “The second quarter of 2008 was another strong quarter, particularly in terms of revenues while improving our profitability, back to the ranges we expect. Furthermore, we continued to generate healthy cash flow, which will support our expansion strategy. Our backlog grew strongly, again to record levels offering us continued strong visibility for the coming years. In addition, we closed the acquisition of the Hawley teleport that will contribute to our growth in 2009 and beyond.”

While many Israeli hi-tech companies have struggled so far in ‘08, we have started to see some nice earnings reports, and along with RRSat, it appears that there is some hope for the second half of the year.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in RRST, he has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 7/31/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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