Wireless-equipment companies have had a lot to worry about during the past 18 months. Between carriers cutting back severely on spending and wireless stocks heading south for the winter, everyone has had it rough. But no one has been through more than Metawave Communications (Nasdaq: MTWV), a maker of "smart" antennae whose Taipei sales, service, and manufacturing facilities burned to the ground in a massive fire on May 12.

Out of the ashes, Metawave is emerging as a potential feel-good story of 2002. After $6 million's worth of GSM equipment literally went up in smoke, Metawave has gotten back on track and secured $20 million in December from Oak Investment Partners to shore up its balance sheet.

Smart antennae are designed to help wireless carriers squeeze more efficiency out of their networks by focusing radio waves on their intended targets. With wireless-tower builders scaling back on network build-out, the need for such efficiency has never been greater. Metawave's latest antenna, codeveloped with Lucent Technologies, can reduce carrier costs by as much as 50 percent (see "Sector Spotlight," December). Another product due out this year will allow single cell sites to use multiple interface technologies, like CDMA, GSM, and TDMA.

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Sam May estimates $69.5 million in sales for the company in 2002. Despite that, the stock recently traded for $2.39 a share, which translates into a market capitalization of $124 million, less than two times those sales. He thinks the stock could double in a year. We'd settle for half that.