Irvine Sensors, Costa Mesa

Nature of business: Develops and manufactures high-density computer electronics and infrared sensing devices

Total employees: 51.

In Orange County: 40

Stock listing in The Times: On Nasdaq: “Irvine”

Ticker symbol: “IRSN”

Friday’s stock close: $9.25

One-week change: Up $0.25

Analyst review: “The prospects for Irvine Sensors depend to a large extent on its memory chip stacking technology. They have developed technology for thinning memory chips to something like the thickness of Glad wrap, stacking and bonding them. They can stack four memory chips in the space of one. It’s a very sophisticated product and has very promising applications. It could replace the hard drives in personal and laptop computers with something the size of a credit card. The company’s technology is first-rate, but in terms of its commercial viability, the company is heavily dependent on the agreement it signed with IBM in June, 1992, to produce the short stacks. Samples are just coming off the production lines now.”

--James L. Liuzzi, analyst, Cruttenden & Co., Irvine

Revenue

In millions of dollars

‘89: 3.0

‘90: 3.5

‘91: 4.2

‘92: 3.8

‘93: 4.3

Profits

In millions of dollars

‘89: -0.8

‘90: -0.8

‘91: -0.3

‘92: -0.9

‘93: -1.5

Corporate outlook: “Despite the election-year slowdown in the first half, our second-half government contract bookings reached an all-time high, resulting in record fourth-quarter revenue and a year-end backlog of over $7 million. In addition, our commercialization expenses have set the stage for product sales that should produce financially material revenue by the second half of the year.” --James Alexiou, chief executive officer

Return on Investment: 5-Year Summary

Fiscal year ended Oct. 1 Sept. 30 Sept. 30 Sept. 27 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 52-week high $0.44 $0.44 $1.62 $6.15 52-week low $0.13 $0.09 $0.06 $0.50 Book value per share $0.11 $0.05 $0.04 $0.30 Price per share $0.25 $0.09 $0.06 $3.88 Net earnings (loss) per share ($0.10) ($0.09) ($0.04) ($0.08) Price-to-earnings ratio N/A N/A N/A N/A Avg. return on investor equity N/A N/A N/A N/A

Fiscal year ended Oct. 3 1989 52-week high $9.00 52-week low $3.50 Book value per share $0.34 Price per share $5.75 Net earnings (loss) per share ($0.12) Price-to-earnings ratio N/A Avg. return on investor equity N/A

For more information, call or write Irvine Sensors, 3001 Red Hill Ave., Bldg. III, Costa Mesa, Calif., (714) 549-8211. Source: Irvine Sensors, Bloomberg Business News