Demand Boosts Ceradyne’s Fourth-Quarter Results

Ceradyne Inc., experiencing growing demand for its advanced ceramics technology, expects to post strong gains in earnings and sales for the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz said Friday.

He said the Costa Mesa company will post earnings of 14 cents a share on sales of $11.6 million for the three months. Analysts were estimating earnings of 13 cents a share, according to a First Call/Thomson survey. In the fourth quarter of 1999, Ceradyne earned $658,000, or 8 cents a share, on sales of $8.9 million.

The company’s new bookings reached a record $16.2 million in the recent quarter, up from $7.1 million a year earlier, Moskowitz said.

Ceradyne, which supplies the U.S. Army with lightweight ceramic-armor vests, said demand for the vests soared in the fourth quarter and more than doubled for the year.

The company, which has been producing the vests for the last four quarters, said demand has increased because the military changed its philosophy to focus on a more lightweight, highly mobile fighting force.

Ceradyne stock closed unchanged Friday at $7.75 a share in Nasdaq trading.