Therefore, when Ceradyne's third corporate suitor, Ford Motor, came calling in mid-1985, Moskowitz listened.
Early in his presentation, Ceradyne Vice President MarcKingMarc King distinguished his employer from the pack.
Ceradyne goes up against the likes of Armor Holdings, BAE Systems, General Electric, Hitachi and Kyocera.
Special Offer: Ceradyne has doubled since November but still has a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 14.
His fears were realized when Japan's Kyoto Ceramics (now Kyocera, Forbes, Aug. 26, 1985) offered to buy Ceradyne.
Click here to see what Editor Rich Moroney has to say about Ceradyne with a free trial of Upside.
Ford, in return, gets first call on any auto-related ceramics products Ceradyne develops.
Ceradyne also sells neutron-absorbing materials that can be used for nuclear fuel storage.
Moreover, Ceradyne's quest to thrive outside the military realm has been long one.
No, that wouldn't be perfectly clear to the casual observer of Ceradyne's business.
Rather than despair, Moskowitz played his trump card--himself and a few key Ceradyne employees--to get the best deal he could.
And while it's had a good run the last five years, Ceradyne now looks reasonably priced relative to recent history.
At yesterday's FBR event, Marc King discussed Ceradyne's plans to roll out products for automotive coatings, aluminum smelting, chemicals and energy.
One of the most recent additions, and the one which fetches the second highest composite score for guru appeal, is Ceradyne, Inc.
In essence, Kyocera was forced to sell Ceradyne back to American interests.
In addition, Ceradyne was able to set its own performance targets and would not be identified as a subsidiary of its new Japanese owner.
Moskowitz figured the next shoe to drop might fall on his head: TRE could be forced to raise cash by dumping Ceradyne on the market.
But investors with a longer-term horizon than two or three years may still want to consider Ceradyne, especially given its plans to attack new markets.
Soon after merging Ceradyne into TRE in 1974, TRE's earnings collapsed.
On the greener side of things, Ceradyne opens a factory this month in China to produce gear used in the production of polycrystalline silicon for the solar power industry.
At its current price, Garmin goes for 19 times the Thomson IBES consensus on earnings for the coming 12 months whereas Ceradyne's has a next-12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 11.
More important, however, Joel Moskowitz of Ceradyne seems to have demonstrated that, if they play it right, small growth companies can find true happiness in the arms of corporate giants.
In the oil business, for example, Ceradyne is working to have its ceramics used to squeeze hydrocarbons from oil sands and tar, such those found in great quantity in Western Canada.
With 90% of Ceradyne's revenues coming from such big defense contractors as Hughes, Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas--and with the ceramic car engine still several years off--Moskowitz is now searching hard for nonmilitary ceramics applications.
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