Costa Mesa-based military body armor maker Ceradyne Inc. reported second-quarter profits ahead of Wall Street estimates while coming short of sales expectations.
The company’s shares closed down 2% on Tuesday, giving it a market value of $482 million.
Second-quarter profits of about $1 million, excluding one-time charges, were down from about $33 million a year earlier, or 96%.
Wall Street was looking for a loss of about $770,000.
Including charges for the quarter, which came from a plant closure in France and a loss of value from assets, Ceradyne posted a net loss of about $11.2 million.
Sales for the quarter were $95.3 million, down 48% from a year earlier. Wall Street was looking for sales of about $100.5 million.
Ceradyne, which makes armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has seen its Pentagon sales slump since hitting a peak about two years ago.
It has also seen weakness in the auto market for its industrial ceramics.
The company has been trying to expand its sales to other industries including solar.
The company reaffirmed its guidance for 2009 as it expects to earn about $1.8 million on sales of $420 million to $440 million.
Analysts expect to see it earn about $1.3 million on sales of about $420 million.
“We are guardedly optimistic that we have seen the worst of the recessionary downturn,” Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz said in a release.
