Valley-Area Stocks Start ’86 Strong as Gainers Outnumber Losers 4-1

The stocks of the largest public companies in the San Fernando Valley area rode the bull market in the first three months of the year, with gainers outnumbering losers by nearly four to one.

MPACT Securities--an Austin, Tex., firm that tracks for The Times the stocks of 60 actively traded companies that either have headquarters or more than 2,000 employees in the Valley area--found that 47 of the issues increased in the quarter ended Monday. Twelve of the stocks were down, and one was unchanged. Among the 47 that showed gains, 35 rose by 10% or more.

Those gains have come as the Dow Jones industrial average, the most closely watched stock market indicator, has been setting one record high after another. The Dow, which closed at 1818.61 Monday, has climbed nearly 18% since the end of 1985.

OTC Index Up 15%

A broad measure of the over-the-counter stock market, the OTC composite index, was up more than 15% over the period, to 374.72. Most Valley stocks are traded over the counter.

By comparison, MPACT’s Valley stocks index, gauge of performance that weighs all of the 60 area stocks equally, rose about 18%.

The biggest percentage gainer among the 60 stocks was Marantz, a Chatsworth stereo maker and distributor of videocassette recorders. The company’s stock price has jumped by 200% since Jan. 1, or $7, to $10.50 a share at Monday’s close.

Marantz lost $1.6 million in its fiscal year ended Dec. 31. The company, however, is showing signs of bouncing back, turning a $1-million profit and posting a 46% increase in sales to $21.2 million during the fourth quarter.

Strong Showing by Verit

Another strong performer was Verit Industries, a Sun Valley maker of stereo speakers, which climbed by $3 a share Monday to $16.63 after being recommended by a New Jersey-based investment newsletter. Over the quarter, Verit’s stock rose 102%.

Other top-five gainers included American Nucleonics, a Westlake Village defense electronics firm, up 75% to $2.63; Cherokee Group, a North Hollywood apparel firm, up 87% to $35.50; and Micropolis, a Chatsworth maker of disk drives for personal computers, which rose 80% to $15.75

In dollars, the biggest gains were posted by Cherokee and American Ecology, a waste disposal firm. Both were up $16.50. American Ecology closed Monday at $43.75, up 61% for the quarter.

The biggest percentage loser was Semtech, a Newbury Park semiconductor firm that suffered from an slump throughout the industry. Its stock fell 33% to $2.25 a share.

Following Semtech among the losers were Micom, a Simi Valley-based maker of communications equipment, down nearly 32% to $15; California Amplifier, a Camarillo maker of satellite-disk antenna equipment, off 25% to $1.13, and Redken Laboratories, down 22% to $25.75. Redken’s stock also was the biggest loser in dollars, with its stock falling $7.25 per share.

The fifth-biggest percentage loser was American Cytogenetics, a North Hollywood-based firm that tests for cancer and other diseases. Over the quarter, its stock was off nearly 17%, closing at $3.75.

That marked a retreat from last year, when American Cytogenetics’ stock was the biggest percentage gainer among publicly held companies based in California, with a gain of 725%.

Computer Results Mixed

Local computer-industry stocks posted mixed results. Declining issues included Dataproducts, Terminal Data, Computer Memories and Protocol Computers, in addition to Micom. Gains were registered, however, by Tandon, Micropolis and PerfectData.

The recent performance of Micom’s stock, which last year climbed to about $30 a share, underscores how the performance of technology stocks has changed in the current market, said Andy Schopick, an analyst with the Gartner Group in Stamford, Conn.

Schopick said the stocks that performed well tended to be those of larger companies with assets that can be converted quickly to cash. Companies in the data communications field, such as Micom, tend to be smaller firms with less liquidity, and therefore have not performed well despite the strong market, he said.