Rather interesting local C3 article from news-observer.com
C3 expects earnings to shine with more venues . But fake-diamond company's stock looking dull
By DAVID RANII, Staff Writer
MORRISVILLE,NC-C3 Inc. said it expects to have its new diamond substitutes sold in about 100 U.S. retail outlets by the end of this year, nearly quadruple the number of stores now carrying its products. The company also announced its first revenue from the sale of its man-made moissanite gemstones: $245,995 in the second quarter and a total of $324,424 in the first half of 1998. That revenue, however, didn't show up in C3's second-quarter earnings, released Wednesday. Instead, following accounting standards for a development-stage company, C3 deducted the revenue from research-and-development expenses.
Beginning in the third quarter, however, C3 said it will no longer be a development-stage business and will account for moissanite sales in the revenue column. Investors apparently didn't find anything to rally around in the company's earnings. C3 shares closed Wednesday at $7.375, down 6.25 cents-and well off the $15 the stock fetched when the company went public in November. Joseph Nyi Nyi, an analyst with Gilford Securities in New York, said moissanite is too new a product, available in too few stores, to attach any significance to the early sales figures. Nyi Nyi projects C3 will generate $3 million in revenue this year but will lose money. Next year the company has a chance to become profitable if it adds many more retail outlets, he said.
C3's year-end goal is to have moissanite sold in 100 stores in 15 to 20 metropolitan markets nationwide, up from 27 stores to date. It has also lined up six overseas distributors. C3 launched moissanite in stores in the Atlanta and Miami/Fort Lauderdale markets in early June. Four Triangle stores-two in Raleigh and one each in Chapel Hill and Cary-are selling the product. C3 plans to launch a promotional campaign to make Triangle consumers aware of moissanite in September.
The company's promotional campaigns in Atlanta and Miami included a mix of radio, newspaper and magazine ads and appearances by celebrity spokeswoman Hunter Tylo, an actress who plays a psychologist on "The Bold and the Beautiful," a television soap opera. Tylo is perhaps best-known for winning $4.9 million in damages after she sued the producers of "Melrose Place" for firing her because she got pregnant. Jeff Hunter, C3's chief executive officer, said the company is still evaluating its promotional efforts and hasn't decided whether Tylo will make future appearances on the company's behalf. In the second quarter, C3 posted a loss of $1.8 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with a loss of $335,720, or 15 cents per share, a year ago.
Second-quarter revenue, which for accounting purposes was generated entirely by the sale of test instruments designed to distinguish synthetic moissanite from real diamonds, totaled $202,010. In the year-ago quarter, C3 had no revenue.Sales to date are limited by supplies, but C3 is in the process of tripling its production capacity and is taking other steps to boost production long term.
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