Ceradyne

Costa Mesa ceramics maker Ceradyne on Monday announced it won a contract worth up to $611.7 million to make body armor for the U.S. military. The company has sold "hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars" of armor to the military over the past six years, Ceradyne Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz said, but the new order is its largest to date. "This is very important to Ceradyne and this is very important to the military, since we're saving the lives of soldiers every day," Moskowitz said.

Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. announced Friday it received the largest single order in company history from the U.S. Army. The $133-million order is for the enhanced side ballistic inserts, which is a side armor plate for defense use. The order will be filled using its Costa Mesa, Irvine and Kentucky facilities. This new shipment announcement comes on the heels of a successful month of contracts in November. Last month, Ceradyne announced $122.2 million in body armor orders.

Ceradyne, a Costa Mesa manufacturer that often supplies ceramic body armor to the United States Army, got a $41.1 million order Tuesday to provide ballistic inserts to troops. The order, part of a five-year contract Ceradyne signed with the Army in 2006, is set to ship out between June and September. The company recently announced it would lay off workers due to a slowdown in business, but David Reed, the president of North American operations for Ceradyne, said the new order wouldn’t have any impact on personnel.

Paul Clinton Continuing a strong run of military contracts, Ceradyne Inc. has announced it has secured a contract to provide ceramic nose cones for an advanced version of the Patriot Missile System. Ceradyne, which is based in Costa Mesa, was awarded the contract by Lockheed Martin Corp., which assembles the Patriot Advanced Capability, or PAC-3, missile system. The missiles were used in March in Iraq. They are designed with so-called "hit to kill" technology that enables them to intercept incoming missiles.

Paul Clinton A ceramics manufacturer and war supplier said Tuesday that it has signed a $13.8-million contract with the U.S. Army to aid soldiers with its body armor. The lucrative deal comes on the heels of two other contracts over the past four months that bring Ceradyne Inc.'s total revenue in that period to $26.5 million. Shipments are scheduled to begin in June and be completed by the end of the year. "Everyone at Ceradyne is excited over receiving the largest single order to date of any kind for two reasons," said Joel Moskowitz, the company's chief executive.

American Vanguard's profit streak hits 16th quarter Newport Beach-based American Vanguard Corp. posted record quarterly earnings Wednesday, logging a 44% increase in sales and 53% increase in income from a year ago. These results give American Vanguard its 16th consecutive profitable quarter. Net sales during the first quarter rose to $27.3 million from $19 million a year ago. Net income grew to $1.2 million, or 20 cents per share, from $799,000, or 13 cents per share, during the first quarter of 2002.

Costa Mesa-based military armor maker Ceradyne’s sales and profits are down steeply for the fourth quarter of 2008 and for the year as a whole, the company announced Tuesday. Net income for the three-month period dropped 39.7% compared with the previous year, and sales for the entire year are down about $80 million, or 10%. Although profits are down, the company is still profitable. Considering the economy the corporation is doing very well, said Chief Financial Officer Jerrold Pellizzon.

Armor maker boasts sales jump Ceradyne Inc., a Costa Mesa defense contractor whose products include armored vests worn by U.S. troops, reported record sales during the fourth quarter of 2004. In a statement released Friday, the firm announced a 151.6% jump in sales. Ceradyne reported making $83.4 million in sales during the fourth quarter of last year, up from $33.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Ceradyne racked up $215.6 million in sales throughout 2004, an increase from $101.

Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne gets hefty holiday order Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne, Inc. announced on Dec. 19 the receipt of a $9-million order for its Small Arms Protective Insert lightweight ceramic armor system from the United States Defense Logistics Agency. Ceradyne, which develops, manufactures and markets advanced technical ceramics for industrial, electronic, defense and consumer applications, has scheduled shipments will begin in February and be completed during second-quarter 2003.

Costa Mesa-based military armor maker Ceradyne’s sales and profits are down steeply for the fourth quarter of 2008 and for the year as a whole, the company announced Tuesday. Net income for the three-month period dropped 39.7% compared with the previous year, and sales for the entire year are down about $80 million, or 10%. Although profits are down, the company is still profitable. Considering the economy the corporation is doing very well, said Chief Financial Officer Jerrold Pellizzon.

Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. won its biggest contract to provide body armor, scoring a blockbuster $2.37-billion five-year agreement with the U.S. Army, officials announced Monday. Just last week Ceradyne won two contracts to supply the ceramic body armor plates that amounted to a combined $32.9 million. Still, during a day when Wall Street bucked wildly between losses of 800.06 points to finally recover to a loss of 369.88 points, Ceradyne’s stock closed slightly down at 32.04 after opening at 34.99.

Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. has received a $14.1 million order for Small Arms Protective Insert body armor from the U.S. Army, bringing its total recent awards to $32.9 million. It received another order from the U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command division for the lightweight ceramic body armor plates earlier this week. The insert is a ceramic plate used to stop high-velocity rifle rounds. “We are very pleased to receive this additional FMS body armor order,” Ceradyne President of North American Operations David Reed said.

Ceradyne, a Costa Mesa manufacturer that often supplies ceramic body armor to the United States Army, got a $41.1 million order Tuesday to provide ballistic inserts to troops. The order, part of a five-year contract Ceradyne signed with the Army in 2006, is set to ship out between June and September. The company recently announced it would lay off workers due to a slowdown in business, but David Reed, the president of North American operations for Ceradyne, said the new order wouldn’t have any impact on personnel.

Ceradyne, the Costa Mesa-based ceramics manufacturer that provides body armor and other equipment to the U.S. Army, has announced plans to lay off more than 200 employees due to a slowdown in business. The company, which operates out of corporate offices on Red Hill Avenue, announced this week it would reduce its workforce by 234 employees, most of them temporary workers or others hired in the last 12 months. Ceradyne submitted a proposal this month for a five-year, $1.2-billion supply of body armor, but doesn’t expect orders to come through for a few months.

Pimco leader Gross named manager of the year Bill Gross, the chief investment officer at the Newport Beach bond house Pimco, was named by the investment research center Morningstar as its fixed-income manager of the year. Morningstar, a data provider for investment research in the U.S. and abroad, hailed Gross for his foresight in staving off the effects of last year’s housing market crisis. According to Morningstar’s online profile, Gross repositioned his company’s portfolios in 2006 to lessen its exposure to corporate bonds, and reaped the benefits when the economy took a downturn last year.

Ceradyne Inc., a Costa Mesa company that produces ceramic body armor for the U.S. military, has won a $107-million contract from the Army for plates to be used in protective vests. The company is scheduled to ship the plates — known as enhanced small arms protective inserts, or ESAPI — between January and May. The order came from the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. “We are pleased to have received this ESAPI order as it gives our company visibility through May of next year,” said David P. Reed, president of North American operations for Ceradyne, in a news release.

A Costa Mesa-based ceramics manufacturer announced it received a $113-million delivery order for body armor from the Aberdeen Proving Ground U.S. Army base in Maryland. The order is for Ceradyne Inc.'s enhanced small arms protective inserts and is the largest single order of the body armor the company has ever received. The order comes on the heels of a record-breaking year for sales and orders, with 2006 more than doubling its sales records and new-orders records from the previous year.

Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. announced Friday it received the largest single order in company history from the U.S. Army. The $133-million order is for the enhanced side ballistic inserts, which is a side armor plate for defense use. The order will be filled using its Costa Mesa, Irvine and Kentucky facilities. This new shipment announcement comes on the heels of a successful month of contracts in November. Last month, Ceradyne announced $122.2 million in body armor orders.

Ceramic manufacturer reports record sales Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. on Wednesday announced record third quarter sales and income for the period ending Sept. 30. This year's third quarter sales were a record $185.8 million, up over $91 million for 2005, according to a Ceradyne news release. Its net income increased from 53 cents per diluted share to $1.34. Diluted shares are all those that could possibly enter into the market. Sales for the nine months that ended Sept.