Small Cap Security and Surveillance Stocks With News: VIMC, TASR, KTOS & VSYM

Small cap security and surveillance stocks like Vimicro International Corporation (NASDAQ: VIMC), TASER International, Inc (NASDAQ: TASR), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: KTOS) and View Systems Inc (OTCBB: VSYM) have been producing a steady stream of news lately for investors and traders alike to digest. After all, the entire security and surveillance industry is pretty vast as it would include everything from airport scanners to security cameras or monitoring equipment to actual weapons for domestic or national defense to software securing everyone's personal or online data to the technology groups like the NSA and other "Big Brother" agencies use to spy on us. With that in mind, here is a look at the latest news from important small cap security and surveillance stocks:

Vimicro International Corporation Announces Plans to Buy Out an Investor. Yesterday, small cap Vimicro International Corporation, a leading Chinese video processing IC and surveillance solution provider, announced that it had entered into a purchase and sale agreement with General Atlantic investment funds to repurchase ordinary shares and ADSs held by the fund which represent 19.6% of the Company's outstanding shares as of the date of the Agreement. The total consideration for the transaction is approximately $11.1 million and it should be noted that Vimicro International Corporation has a market cap of $51.77 million. Vimicro International Corporation is also up 47.5% since the start of the year and down 6.25% over the past five years.

TASER International Gets An Upgrade After Announcing New Orders. At the beginning of the week, small cap TASER International, whose products incapacitate dangerous, combative, or high-risk subjects, jumped around 10% after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to overweight. The upgrade comes after last week's announcement from TASER International of multiple international orders totaling approximately $5.8 million for its TASER® brand conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) and its next generation Smart Weapons. TASER International is up 87.6% since the start of the year and up 295.5% over the past five years.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Announces A Bunch of New Orders. Small cap Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, whose core capabilities are sophisticated engineering, manufacturing and system integration offerings for National Security platforms and programs, has been busy since the start of the month announcing the following new orders: Kratos Receives $4.5 Million in National Security Program Electronic Product Awards; Kratos Receives Multi-Million Dollar Command and Control System Products Award for QF-16 Air Superiority Target; Kratos Receives $4.5 Million Unmanned Aerial Drone System Program Contract Award; Kratos Awarded Multi-Million Dollar Contract for Command & Control System for International Satellite Platform; Kratos Receives $1.4 Million in Electronic Warfare Related Equipment Orders; Kratos' SecureInfo Awarded Task Order Valued at Over $1.5 Million to Support U.S. Air Force Cybersecurity Operations; Kratos Receives $3.5 Million in Electronic Warfare Related Equipment Orders; and Kratos Receives $4.25 Million in World Trade Center Facility Security System Integration Awards.

On the other hand, it should also be noted that in this time of sequester budget cuts, the company has reported steadily declining quarterly revenues of $226.40M (13 weeks ending 2013-09-29), $235.20M (13 weeks ending 2013-06-30), $253.30M (13 weeks ending 2013-03-31), $263.60M (13 weeks ending 2012-12-30) and $276.30M (14 weeks ending 2012-09-30). for the past five quarters. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is up 35.4% since the start of the year and down 51.4% over the past five years.

View Systems Inc Makes Steady Progress. A small cap manufacturer and installer of weapons detection identification systems, video management platforms and tele-data communication networks, under the radar View Systems offers security products  used by correctional facilities, schools, courthouses, government agencies, event and sports venues and commercial businesses. The company's most important security products would be: The ViewScan, a walkthrough concealed weapons detector (CWD) that uses advanced magnetics technology to visually locate threat objects like hidden razor blades and cellular phones, but not common objects such as coins, keys and belt buckles so that false alarms that slow down security checkpoints can be eliminated. The Visual First Responder, a first response remote video transmission system that can be utilized in areas where hazardous materials have been exposed plus its small enough to be worn on a belt, helmet or vest (or even by K-9 teams) while it transmits conventional video or infrared imagery to a command post. Its considered ideal for law enforcement SWAT teams, Fire Rescue units and HAZMAT team operations.

Last Summer, View Systems issued a press release to say they are rapidly regaining traction in foreign markets for security systems plus they have a partnership with Brazil based Armorin, LLC to penetrate the Brazilian market (along with the rest of South America) as imported electronic security equipment there was worth an estimated $1.5 billion as of 2011 while the value of locally manufactured equipment was estimated to be worth $1.5 billion. In addition, over a dozen installations made in Bangladesh late last year have been very well received by the government and local security organizations to the point where the company is looking for someone to distribute its security products in the South Asia and Middle East regions. View Systems also recently signed an agreement with a distributor in West Africa and has recently received new orders for its ViewScan from the State of Maryland, the Detroit School System Department of Corrections of Connecticut, Milwaukee and the Dodge City Kansas Community College. Shares are down around 8.7% since the start of the year.