There are some products and services that the world’s economy needs in order to operate. They are essentially ‘the food’ that makes the market “go.” These products are one of the safer havens that investors can rely on when economic times are difficult. This is not to suggest that these products do not suffer a bit in lean times, but they do fair a bit better or go down less in value then other discretionary products or services. An investor that can find these products or services is one that will have found a solid and relatively safe product category in difficult times.
Liquidmetal Technologies inc., a coatings and casings manufacturer and marketer, works to provide industrial coatings and casing components to business. Its primary customer base includes oil drillers, electronics manufacturers, coal fired power plants, sporting goods manufacturers, medical device manufacturers and defense applications.
The vast array of products that use coated metal is striking to say the least. In just about every application, however, the wear and tear that the coated metal experiences is significant. Inside a refinery coker or in the vacuum of space, the extremes are remarkable. To be able to serve these extremes, the company makes use of amorphous metals, which exhibit a distinct difference from more common crystalline structures. With several amorphous metal patents to its credit, the company has been able to serve a wider variety of markets then other companies; which tend to specialize in one or two specific end-use markets.
To this end, the company continues to develop new end-use coatings for market exploitation. Its newly developed Armacor product is directed at corrosion resistance, for use in marine applications. In a general sense, one might think of a coating as just a coating. Liquidmetal and its development team have found that coatings are quite a bit more varied and marketable to a wide variety of end-uses. This is the company’s strength.
Liquidmetal Technologies operates in much the same way as the products it manufactures, efficient and organized. Its operating margins are controlled so that, even in a poor economy, it has been able to maintain revenue projections. Industrial production at any level, and in any economy, requires coatings such as the ones that Liquidmetal produces. Past the industrialized world shutting down, Liquidmetal Technologies will always have a solid market to service.
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