Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Xerox Corporation (XRX): Kodak’s Back, but Still Out of Focus

With both Canon and Sony also leaving their mark in the space, it’s a tight niche Kodak is trying fit into, and one that doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. That’s how investors should view its touchscreen sensor business that it’s breaking into. Earlier this year, it entered into a manufacturing and supply chain agreement with UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ:UNXL). While the industry is expected to double over the next five years, it’s another one crowded with contenders.

Kodak believes the patents it has remaining and the technology it owns will be enough to carry it forward. Although it has a newly reconstituted board of directors, management from old Kodak — individuals who seemingly didn’t make the best choices for it considering where it ended up — are still in place.

If and when this stock returns to the public sphere, I expect it will make a successful debut, if for no other reason than excitement at this storied name’s return. Yet because this won’t be your father’s Eastman Kodak, I have a much more dour view of its long-term future. It’s pursuing a carbon copy of what others are trying to do and are having difficulty succeeding. This is probably as close to a “Kodak moment” as investors are likely to get.

The article Kodak’s Back, but Still Out of Focus originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Duprey.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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