It appears that Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation GeoEye (Nasdaq: GEOY) is finding itself in the midst of a brewing storm.
Late Tuesday, after markets were safely closed and unable to react to the news, management announced "a slip in the launch of its GeoEye-1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base." Why? Because of Hurricane Hanna, currently looming off the Florida Coast.
Wait a minute ...
Yes, I know. Vandenberg is in California. Florida is ... on the other side of the continent. Problem is, Hanna's impending landfall (guesstimated at sometime Thursday) has "affected the availability of certified Delta II launch specialists available to travel to VAFB" -- specifically, from Florida.
Doh!
Yeah, it's a bummer, no doubt. According to GeoEye, all systems are go for a launch out of Cali -- why, thanks to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), they even have a shiny new contract.
GeoEye-1 has been tested by General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and deemed ready for prime time, so the satellite's ready. The booster, too. All that's missing is the people to do the launching. With all the meteorological mayhem being confined to the Gulf and Caribbean, the West Coast is looking just lovely, weather-wise, but the right folks are stuck in the eye of the proverbial (and literal) storm.
And duh
All of which combined to give this Fool a "duh" moment. For months, I wondered just why GeoEye was so upset when the Boeing (NYSE: BA)-slash-Lockheed (NYSE: LMT) Untied Launch Alliance denied its promised April launch date. I mean, the postponement to "August-ish" was a delay, sure, but the bird was still going up eventually, right?
And now I realize. August. Hurricane season. Katrina month.
And now the news has broken. The latest delay is official, and we know we'll have to wait until September 7 -- at least! -- for GeoEye to fly... now it all becomes clear. Duh.
Let's just hope Hanna doesn't have any sisters.
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