Special Report

America's Most Unusual Public Companies

6. Destination Maternity
> Business: Maternity clothing
> Market cap: $337 million

While many mainstream retail apparel companies offer maternity clothing, Destination Maternity Corp. (NASDAQ: DEST) is the only publicly traded niche retailer that specializes in clothing for expecting moms. It operates more than 1,900 retail locations under the brand names of Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity. It also sells online and through Sears, Kmart, and Kohl’s. The company’s shares have backed off recently, raising the dividend yield to 3.3%. Its 2013 revenues were $540 million, down slightly from the year prior. However, the company’s net profit was slightly higher in 2013, totaling almost $24 million.

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7. Madison Square Garden
> Business: Sports and entertainment venues
> Market cap: $3.8 billion

Madison Square Garden Inc. (NASDAQ: MSG) is the only publicly traded company whose main business is professional sports franchises. That is in addition to owning and operating Madison Square Garden, the self-proclaimed World’s Most Famous Arena. The company was spun off from Cablevision in 2010, and Cablevision CEO James Dolan still serves as MSG Inc. executive chairman. In its fiscal year ending in June 2013, the company’s sports division, which operates the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, reported $470 million in revenue. The revenue of the media division, which operates MSG Network, was $678 million. Last month, MSG sold the cable music channel Fuse Network to SiTV Media for $226 million and a 15% equity stake in SiTV.

8. Odyssey Marine Exploration
> Business: Shipwreck exploration
> Market cap: $171 million

Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX) specializes in the exploration and recovery of deep-ocean shipwrecks. It then sells the recovered cargo to the extent allowed by law. The company has noted in its annual report that it faces the risk of governments not recognizing its ownership of the recovered cargo. Odyssey was recently involved in a dispute with the government of Spain over an estimated $500 million worth shipwreck, dubbed the “Black Swan,” found off the coast of Florida. Odyssey’s share price tends to move higher when it finds major wrecks or is paid for wreck bounty.

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9. Premier Exhibitions
> Business: Museum exhibitions
> Market cap: $43.2 million

Premier Exhibitions Inc. (NASDAQ: PRXI) specializes in producing unique, museum-quality exhibitions, such as Titanic, Bodies, Real Pirates, Pompeii, King Tut, Cleopatra and Extreme Dinosaurs. The exhibits travel and are displayed in museums and other venues around the world. The company’s revenues have been sporadic, but reached nearly $39.5 million in its fiscal year 2013, up from $31.7 million in the previous fiscal year. Despite the revenue increase, the stock trades at around 85 cents a share. The company recently received a warning that it was out of compliance with Nasdaq’s requirement of a $1 per share minimum bid price and could be delisted if it does not comply before October 21.

10. Rick’s Cabaret International
> Business: Gentlemen’s clubs
> Market cap: $100 million

Rick’s Cabaret International Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK) is the only publicly traded company with a core business of owning and managing adult clubs. In addition to owning and operating 43 adult entertainment clubs, the company also owns adult entertainment websites and two trade publications, Exotic Dancer and StorErotica. The company has made a number acquisitions in recent years, greatly increasing its number of clubs. This includes acquiring 11 Jaguars gentlemen’s clubs in one deal in 2012, as well as numerous other individual transactions. In 2013, Rick’s generated $112 million in revenue. In March, it acquired a large exotic dancing club, Club O, in the Chicago suburbs, for more than $11 million.

Correction:  An earlier version of this article stated that RPX Corporation’s market capitalization was $85 million. In fact, its market capitalization is $862 million as of May 12, 2014.

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