Nanomaterials Companies Announce Earnings

Nanophase [NANX: NASDAQ] and Altair Nanotechnologies [ALTI: NASDAQ] both announced earnings (or rather, lack of same) today. Both companies are components of the Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index.

The good news for Nanophase is that product sales jumped 77% over the year ago quarter, due in part to new product lines, with overall revenue growth up 44%. Additionally, gross margins went from -18% to 7.5%, which is another way of saying that they are no longer losing money on every nanoparticle they sell. However, when you add in all the costs of running a business, they are still losing money, about $1.3 million in the 4th quarter on $1.34 million in revenues. You can read the press release, which includes full year figures, here.

Nanophase is a scrappy little company and has done all the right things in terms of developing their products, rationalizing their manufacturing systems and leveraging their partnerships with larger companies. Now, they just need to sell a lot more product in order to become profitable. Their new agreement with Roche Diagnostics will help, but this doesn't promise to be a large volume deal.

It is a rare day that I don’t get a press release from Altair Nanotechnologies. On the face of it, it seems hard to believe that one tiny company would have the resources to effectively follow up all the potential avenues they seem to be pursuing for commercializing their nanomaterials, including new types of batteries, pharmaceuticals, dental implants, water treatment and pigments for paint and paper. So far, at least, their nanotech dreams don’t show up in their earning statements. Product revenues were $149,000 in all of 2005 from battery electrode materials and thermal sprays. Total revenues, which includes grants and contracts, were $2.8 million versus a $10 million loss for the year. However, the company still has over $20 million to burn, so they can continue down this path for awhile. Read the full release here.