Kodak Stock Is Up 80% and It Is Still About the Government Loan.

Stock in former photography icon Eastman Kodak is up 80% in premarket trading. The company got some good news about a potential $765 million loan announced in July.

That potential loan—from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, for Kodak to start a generic-drug ingredient business—came under intense scrutiny because of trading in Kodak stock around the time of the announcement.

Kodak shares traded up 25% on higher than average volume the day before the official DFC announcement. Some media outlets, not understanding that the press release was supposed to be held for the next day, published the news ahead of the official announcement.

It was a confusing situation. And it has led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation as well as reviews by Kodak and the DFC. Some of those investigations are wrapping up. Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that a DFC government oversight entity found nothing unusual about the process undertaken to award Kodak its potential loan.

It’s good news for Kodak. Deciding what it is worth for investors, however, is difficult. Shares soared to $12.90 in premarket trading.

Kodak, however, still has no analysts covering the company, making it harder to handicap the possibility of the loan being awarded and, after that, what Kodak’s new drug-ingredient business might be worth. A lot of unknowns still exist. Including the status of the SEC investigation and the status of the actual loan.

The original announcement from the DFC was a letter of intent. Loan details appear to have yet to be completed.

Kodak representatives weren’t immediately available to comment.

But one unknown looks to be cleared up. That’s enough for investors for now.

Including the premarket gains, Kodak stock is up about 180% year to date, far better than comparable returns of the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That leaves Kodak with a market value of about $930 million.

It’s a large gain, but shares are still down almost 80% from their 52-week high of $60. It looks as if wild trading will continue into 2021.

Reprinted from Market Watch. The copyright is reserved by the original author.