May 7, 2009: The president and CEO of Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI) said that while first quarter revenues are down from last year’s he expects the company to benefit from stimulus money around the third quarter.

“We are applying for battery manufacturing grants, and we believe the Smart Grid program will accelerate the adoption of advanced energy storage systems such as ours,” Terry Copeland, Altairnano’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement.

“However, given the grant timelines, and the fact that not all of the program specifics have been announced yet for the Smart Grid grants, we expect it will be at least late third quarter before we see any orders or cash grants associated with these opportunities.”

For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, the company reported revenues of $0.9 million, down from $1.1 million for the same period in 2008. The net loss was $6.4 million, or seven cents per share, compared to a net loss of $8.3 million, or 10 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2008.

Operating expenses of $7.4 million for the first quarter of 2009 were $2.4 million less than the operating expenses of $9.8 million for the first quarter of 2008. The decrease in operating expenses was primarily a result of lower research and development costs associated with the smaller number of grants on which the company was working in 2009, compared to 2008.

The company also reported slower order placements from various customers “as a result of the substantially deteriorated economic environment during 2008 and thus far in 2009,” Altairnano said in a news release. “Orders that the company had expected from the commercial sector have been deferred until later than we initially projected and the Company’s military business, while all still on track, is similarly experiencing delays.

A recording of a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2009 results is available on Altairnano’s Web site.