In the past few weeks, Americans have been treated to images of U.S. military special forces, armed with night scopes, geopositioning devices and bullet-stopping vests, en route to action in Afghanistan.

As it turns out, some of the special operations equipment is made in Southern California, including the bullet-resistant vests that are manufactured in Costa Mesa by Ceradyne Inc.

What’s more, the Defense Department is seeking bids from manufacturers, including Ceradyne, for a lighter vest to be worn by U.S. infantry troops meaning a much larger number of bodies that need protecting than in the elite special troops. Additionally, the military is exploring or actually using the ceramic bullet-stopping Ceradyne pads in other places, such as helicopter seat bottoms.

The upshot? Michael Crawford, an analyst with the West Los Angeles-based B. Riley & Co., thinks Ceradyne is one of the few small-cap stocks that will be able to keep moving forward in a slumping national economy.

“Ceradyne has just spent about $4 million to add manufacturing capacity to its plant in Costa Mesa, and several other plants,” said Crawford. “Right now, the vests make up about 25 percent of Ceradyne revenues. Obviously, the infantry order represents a giant growth opportunity.” Ceradyne will post about $50 million in sales this year.

Ceradyne stock has rallied since Sept. 11, to about $9 a share last week from $6.45. Crawford contends the stock is still cheap. “I see this company posting double-digit earnings increases even without the vest contract. If they win (part of) the vest contract, they could earn 70 cents a share next year,” he said.

Ceradyne is not only a defense contractor, but a diversified manufacturer of high-strength ceramic products, itself a form of high technology that has been overlooked on Wall Street.

Yet strong ceramics are finding widening acceptance in U.S. industry, including Detroit Diesel Corp. The engine maker recently decided to source solely from Ceradyne for certain ceramic cam parts, which last longer than steel. “These are engines that are expected not to last 100,000 miles, but 500,000 or 600,000 miles,” said Crawford.

But for all Ceradyne’s ability to stop bullets, Wall Street considers it just a micro-cap its total market capitalization is less than $80 million. That is not large enough to attract the attention of many mutual fund managers, who invest only in larger companies so their trades will have a lower impact on share prices.

And the big houses probably will never cover a stock like Ceradyne because it is too small to represent significant investment banking business. That tends to stifle individual investor interest. For better or worse, often retail investors like the comfort of a professionally written analyst’s report and a nod from a stockbroker before investing.

Not to worry, says Crawford. Ceradyne has no debt and a healthy market niche. And at least for now, it seems, the world demands more bullet-stopping vests.

Last Mile

The Web and telecom sectors seem to sag a little more every week, but bucking the trend is Torrance-based Broadata Communications Inc., a maker of telecom hardware. The $5-million-in-sales shop recently retained John Morris, investment banker with Gerard Klauer Mattison in Century City, to help hunt down a $15 million equity infusion.

Burt Walker, Broadata chief executive and president, admits that the long-distance segment of the telecom market is seriously overbuilt. Major outfits have laid down optic fiber coast-to-coast and even girdling the globe so much so that a lot of it lies fallow, or “unlit.” Price wars promise to be chronic.

But what is called “the last mile” to actual Web and telecommunications customers is a different matter. Broadata makes hardware a “black box” which allows users to transmit voice, data, graphics and video on one line.

Broadata sells the boxes to phone giants, which in turn resell them to customers. Also, Broadata sells the boxes to large users, such as Walt Disney Co., or universities. “If you want to move around high-quality images, this box allows you to do that on one line,” said Walker.

But Broadata’s story lies in a new box, which will allow users to access to national fiber trunk lines, even if their area is served by old-fashioned copper.

Nationwide, many neighborhoods lie beyond metro fiber networks, which often only serve central business or high-rent districts. Broadata has new hardware, called “Starweb,” which allows even the copper-handicapped to receive and deliver fat content, says Walker.

The sought-after $15 million in new capital will help launch Starweb, says Walker. In doing so, Walker hopes to elicit a buyout offer from one of the phone companies.

Hound Dog Hurwitz

The tougher it gets, the more Larry Hurwitz likes it.

“Man, when nobody wants to lend, like now, my business is just sensational,” says Hurwitz, who runs the downtown money shop Lawrence Financial, and is also regional chieftain for business appraiser Marshall & Stevens.

Hurwitz hunts for money for clients the way hound dogs pursue fugitives, in a sort of relentless, rambling style. In general, medium-sized businesses turn to Hurwitz to find cash after commercial and investment bankers have turned up their noses. They hire Hurwitz and set him loose.

Over the years, Hurwitz has sought out asset-based lenders, sub-prime lenders, factors or aggressive banks seeking market share even overseas investors looking to import capital.

The rates are almost always stiff, but at least Hurwitz can find the money. And in business, just surviving is half the battle. Without the cash, corporations often suffocate.

Hurwitz lately has been lining up money from Denver-based Purchase Order Solutions Inc., a sort of factoring shop with a forward spin Purchase Order will not just buy receivables, the way a factor does. It will advance money prior to actual production, in exchange for the right to collect on the receivable.

“Yeah, the money is expensive. It starts at 2 percent a month (in interest). And that what it starts at. It can be more expensive,” Hurwitz said. But when clients get a big order and need money for production, Hurwitz is there.

Contributing columnist Benjamin Mark Cole writes about the local investment community for the Los Angeles Business Journal. His new book is “The Pied Pipers of Wall Street: How Analysts Sell You Down the River,” published by Bloomberg Press. He can be reached at sevencontinents@ mindspring.com.