Investor interest in Brillian (NASDAQ:BRLC), which makes technology used in high-end display systems including televisions, binoculars and more, hasn't irised out yet: Yesterday, the company's shares rose more than 8% on heavy volume following the company's announcement that Germany's HOLOEYE Photonics will sell its microdisplay components and systems in Europe and North America.
It's arguably the first bit of good news Brillian investors have heard in some time. When I first looked at the company in April, its shares were heading toward $10 apiece on news that a major national retail chain would sell its high-end televisions and deliver substantial revenues to the former Three-Five Systems (NYSE:TFS) operation.
But in September, we learned that Brillian couldn't get enough components from JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU) to get the TVs delivered on time. The retailer, Sears (NYSE:S) -- now set to merge with Kmart (NASDAQ:KMRT) -- bailed. That cost upstart Brillian, already in an increasingly cutthroat business, a major sales channel at a horrible time: Football season was just getting underway.
And the problems at JDS Uniphase have only gotten worse: Brillian said in late October that the company won't be able to make them in significant numbers until Q2 of next year. A contingency plan was being worked on; it hasn't been announced.
The HOLOEYE announcement is certainly good news, as it indicated success at finding alternative revenue sources. Still, Brillian's shares are nevertheless nowhere near where they were before the TV problems started. The company and its investors thought they were sitting on a company poised to elbow for position among the world's electronics leaders in a hot and growing market segment. Now, however, and for the foreseeable future, they're just sitting and waiting.
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Fool contributor Dave Marino-Nachison doesn't own any of the companies in this story.
