STOCK WATCH : Contraceptive Concerns Could Aid VLI
As concerns over the safety of many birth-control devices mount, Irvine-based VLI Corp., maker of the Today contraceptive sponge, could become a hot property on Wall Street, some pharmaceuticals analysts suggest.
Although most contraceptives on the market are safe and effective, considerable negative publicity has been generated by lawsuits targeting contraceptive makers, including Johnson & Johnson, G.D. Searle & Co. and A.H. Robins Co. Inc., maker of the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device.
Because of the troubles bedeviling many pharmaceutical firms, and the possibility that the variety of contraceptives on the market may shrink as a result, VLI stock is an attractive investment, said Jim McCamant, editor of the San Francisco-based Medical Technology Stock Letter.
McCamant, who in his letter has VLI as a “buy under $6” a share, said the negative aura surrounding other contraceptive devices, as well as increased advertising by VLI, could push the company’s stock to more than $8 a share by the end of the year.
Traded over-the-counter, VLI has sold for as much as $26.75 a share but recently has languished near its all-time low-water mark of $4.50 a share. On Friday, it closed at $6.25 a share, up 75 cents for the week on volume of 371,600 shares.
Other analysts agree that VLI is likely to gain in the short term from the industry’s woes, but the company’s brightest prospect may have nothing to do with birth control, said John Curran, of the New York investment firm of L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin.
VLI, which said last week that it is testing a sponge to treat a vaginal infection, said it hopes to obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market such a device by 1987 or 1988.
In anticipation of VLI’s filing an application for FDA approval, Rothschild’s Curran said he is recommending that investors buy VLI because a new drug application will boost the stock sharply. “Basically, what I’m telling people to do is to buy it now. It’ll double in a year,” he said.
VLI has yet to become profitable, and its increased advertising spending will place additional pressure on its margins, but McCamant remains bullish on the company.
“There is always risk, but the downside is limited by the stock’s low price of $4.50 a share,” he said. “And they have plenty of cash in the bank, so it’s not like they are going out of business.”
Bolstered by news that Collins Foods International plans to transfer some of its profitable Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises to the troubled Naugles Inc. fast-food chain in exchange for stock that would increase Collins’ stake in Naugles to about 92%, Naugles stock posted strong gains last week.
On weekly volume of 271,000 shares, the Fullerton chain, which is currently 50% held by Los Angeles-based Collins, increased $1.50 a share, or 50% of its market value, to close Friday at $4.50 a share.
Another big mover last week was HealthCare USA, the Orange-based health maintenanceorganization that this week shot up in price on merger talk from giant HMO Maxicare Health Plans Inc. of Los Angeles.
In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange last week, HealthCare USA gained $1.875 a share for the week to close at $11.875 a share, on volume of 570,000 shares.
ORANGE COUNTY STOCKS
Biggest Gainers Biggest Losers Weekly Indicators Morehouse +50.00% Bomed -21.05% DOW Naugles +50.00% Helionetics -20.00% NYSE Comp. Auto +44.44% AmBusPhones -14.29% AMEX Ceredyne +22.32% PDA Eng. -13.21% NASDAQ SPI Pharm. +20.00% Irv. Sensors -11.11% WILSHIRE
Biggest Gainers Morehouse +53.42 Naugles +3.18 Comp. Auto +4.62 Ceredyne +8.25 SPI Pharm. +57.13
LAST SALE NET 1986 1986 NAME & PRODUCT 5-30 CHG HIGH LOW AFG Ind. Glass Maker 27 5/8 +1 1/2 28 1/2 AirCal Airline 9 1/2 nc 11 All Am. Gourmet Frozen Food 13 1/2 nc 13 3/4 Alpha Micro. Computers 6 3/4 - 7 3/4 AmBusPhones Phone Systems 6 -1 8 Am. Pacestter Home Bldg. 10 1/2 + 1/8 11 Am. Pacific R.E., Finance 2 1/8 - 1/8 3 AppCirTech Circuit Technology 1 nc 1 5/8 Archive Corp. Tape Drives 11 - 3/8 12 5/8 AST Research Electronics 16 - 7/8 31 1/2 Baker Int’l. Oil Field Equip. 15 + 1/2 17 7/8 Berg. Bruns. Medical&Electron.; 29 -1 42 3/4 Bomed Med. Equip. 1 7/8 - 1/2 5 3/8 Bridgford Food Products 5 3/4 nc 7 3/4 Care Ent. B Nursing Homes 6 5/8 + 1/8 7 3/4 Caremark Health Care 18 7/8 nc 20 7/8 Carl Karcher Fast Food 19 3/8 + 1/8 20 7/8 Ceradyne Aerospace 17 1/8 +3 1/8 18 Certron Mag. Tape 1 3/4 nc 2 Chesapeake Wood Products 43 1/8 +2 7/8 45 1/8 ClothesTime Retail Clothing 18 7/8 - 5/8 22 Comarco Defense Engineering 13 - 1/2 14 1/2 Comm. Psy. Psychiatric Hosp. 29 3/4 - 1/8 32 3/8 Comp. Care Health Care 13 5/8 - 1/8 23 Compusave Video Retailing 1/8 nc 3 Comp. Auto. Computers 3 +1 3 Covington Home Bldg. 1 5/8 nc 2 1/8 Cushman Electronics 3 1/2 nc 3 1/2 Datapower Power Systems 1 7/8 + 1/8 2 3/8 Datum Electronic Systems 6 7/8 nc 6 7/8 Diceon Circuit Boards 23 1/2 + 1/2 27 Dist. Logic Circuit Boards 7 5/8 - 1/8 8 1/2 Downey S&L; S&L; 31 7/8 - 40 5/8 DWI Corp. Commercial Design 3/8 nc EECO Inc. Electrical Syst. 19 + 3/4 19 EIP Micro. Microwave Counters 8 3/8 + 1/8 9 El Torito Restaurants 19 + 19 Emulex Electronics 9 5/8 nc 12 3/8 Far West Fin. S&L; 48 5/8 +2 3/8 60 1/2 FinCorp. Am. S&L; 11 1/2 - 3/4 17 First Am. Fin. Title Insur. 47 1/2 -1 56 Fluor Eng.,Const.,Mining 18 3/8 + 3/8 18 5/8 Fluorocarbon Hi-tech Plastics 14 - 1/2 18 For Better Living Diversified 5 1/2 nc 5 1/2 Gish Biomed Med. Devices 6 1/2 nc 6 7/8 Gradco Paper Sorters 15 - 3/4 16 3/4 Hammond Mortgage Banking 7 - 7 1/2 HealthCare USA HMO 11 7/8 +1 7/8 11 7/8 Helionetics Lasers 1 1/2 - 3/8 3 3/4 ICN Pharm. Drug Maker 11 5/8 - 3/8 15 1/2 Irv. Sensors Laser R & D 1 - 1/8 1 7/8 Laser Precision Lasers 6 5/8 - 1/8 7 5/8 Luther Medical Catheters 1 1/8 - 1/8 1 1/2 Mercury S&L; S&L; 14 + 3/4 16 3/8 Micro D Electronic Dist. 5 5/8 + 1/8 5 5/8 Micro Gen. Electronics 1 3/4 nc 2 3/4 Microsemi Semiconductors 8 5/8 + 5/8 8 3/4 Morehouse Indus. Machinery 1 7/8 + 5/8 1 7/8 MSI Data Data Terminals 14 1/8 nc 14 1/8 National Ed. Voc. Training 22 3/8 +2 5/8 32 Natl. Health Dental Care 3/4 nc 1 1/8 Natl. Lumber Home Center 6 1/2 + 6 1/2 Naugles Fast-Food 4 1/2 +1 1/2 4 5/8 Nelson R&D; Drug Research 5 5/8 nc 7 3/8 Newp. Corp. Laser Research 20 1/2 - 1/2 23 1/2 Newp. Elec. Measuring Inst. 5 1/2 + 3/8 5 1/2 Newp.Pharm. Drug Maker 7 1/2 + 1/2 15 1/8 Nichols Institute Test Kits 10 5/8 nc 12 NMS Pharm. Diagnostic Kits 5 3/4 + 1/8 5 7/8 Odetics A Robotics, Recorders 9 3/8 nc 10 PDA Eng. Computer Software 11 1/2 -1 3/4 19 1/2 Pacific Sci. Electronic Inst. 17 5/8 + 5/8 17 7/8 PacifiCare HMO 13 + 17 Petromin. Oil Exploration 1 5/8 nc 2 7/8 Printronix Computer Printers 13 3/8 nc 14 7/8 Qual. Sys. Dental Data Sys. 3 3/8 + 3/8 3 7/8 Ropak Plastic Products 13 3/4 - 1/2 14 1/2 Rusty Pelican Restaurants 9 3/8 nc 15 3/8 Safeguard Dental HMO 8 3/4 + 13 San/Bar Bus. Telephones 6 - 9 1/2 Scan-Tron Testing Equip. 21 +1 3/4 21 3/4 Seahawk Oil Oil Exploration 1 nc 1 Silcon Genl. Elect. Components 4 5/8 - 3/8 5 Silicon Sys. Elect. Components 16 3/8 nc 18 Silvercrest Mobile Homes 6 3/8 - 3/8 6 7/8 Smith Intl. Oil Drilling Equip. 2 1/2 - 1/8 7 1/2 SPI Pharm. Drug Maker 14 +2 3/8 14 1/2 Std. Pac. Home Construction 33 + 3/4 33 Startel Phone Answering 1 3/4 + 1/8 2 Swedlow Manufacturing 26 nc 29 1/2 Systonetics Computer Software 3 1/2 nc 3 7/8 Temp Stik Medical Inst. nc Ultrasystems Eng. and Const. 10 3/4 - 1/2 11 3/4 Varco Oil Drilling Equip. 3 3/4 nc 5 Viratek Drug Maker 39 3/4 +2 39 3/4 VLI Corp. Contraceptives 6 + 1/8 6 1/2 Wespercorp Computer Equip. 1 7/8 nc 2 Westcorp S&L; 11 1/8 - 1/8 11 West. Digital Semiconductors 13 1/2 - 15 3/8 Wynn’s Intl. Auto Parts 22 3/8 +1 3/8 22 3/8
M K NAME & PRODUCT T AFG Ind. 21 5/8 N AirCal 7 1/8 A All Am. Gourmet 8 5/8 O Alpha Micro. 5 O AmBusPhones 5 O Am. Pacestter 7 1/8 O Am. Pacific 1 O AppCirTech 1/2 O Archive Corp. 7 3/8 O AST Research 16 O Baker Int’l. 12 1/2 N Berg. Bruns. 29 A Bomed 1 7/8 O Bridgford 4 O Care Ent. B 6 1/8 A Caremark 14 1/2 O Carl Karcher 13 3/4 O Ceradyne 13 5/8 O Certron O Chesapeake 38 O ClothesTime 9 1/2 O Comarco 10 1/8 O Comm. Psy. 22 N Comp. Care 13 5/8 O Compusave 1/8 O Comp. Auto. 1 5/8 O Covington 5/8 O Cushman 1 5/8 O Datapower 1 5/8 O Datum 5 O Diceon 19 O Dist. Logic 5 5/8 O Downey S&L; 26 1/2 N DWI Corp. O EECO Inc. 13 7/8 A EIP Micro. 6 7/8 O El Torito 10 5/8 N Emulex 9 O Far West Fin. 41 1/2 N FinCorp. Am. 9 1/8 N First Am. Fin. 32 O Fluor 14 3/4 N Fluorocarbon 14 O For Better Living 5 O Gish Biomed 4 1/2 O Gradco 11 O Hammond 3 3/8 O HealthCare USA 5 N Helionetics 1 A ICN Pharm. 10 N Irv. Sensors 7/8 O Laser Precision 3 3/4 O Luther Medical O Mercury S&L; 10 5/8 A Micro D 2 1/2 O Micro Gen. 1 1/2 O Microsemi 7 3/8 O Morehouse 1 1/8 O MSI Data 10 1/8 A National Ed. 18 5/8 N Natl. Health O Natl. Lumber 4 O Naugles 2 5/8 O Nelson R&D; 5 O Newp. Corp. 15 1/2 O Newp. Elec. 3 O Newp.Pharm. 5 1/2 O Nichols Institute 7 1/2 A NMS Pharm. 3 7/8 O Odetics A 7 1/2 A PDA Eng. 11 1/2 O Pacific Sci. 13 3/4 N PacifiCare 11 3/4 O Petromin. 1 3/8 O Printronix 11 1/2 O Qual. Sys. 3 O Ropak 10 1/2 O Rusty Pelican 9 O Safeguard 6 3/4 O San/Bar 5 1/2 O Scan-Tron 14 O Seahawk Oil 3/4 O Silcon Genl. 3 O Silicon Sys. 11 O Silvercrest 3 5/8 A Smith Intl. 1 1/2 N SPI Pharm. 10 3/4 O Std. Pac. 13 1/2 N Startel 1 1/2 O Swedlow 25 3/4 O Systonetics 2 1/8 O Temp Stik O Ultrasystems 8 1/8 O Varco 2 3/8 N Viratek 20 3/4 O VLI Corp. 4 1/2 O Wespercorp 1 5/8 A Westcorp 10 3/4 O West. Digital 9 7/8 A Wynn’s Intl. 15 N
NA--Not Available Markets: N--New York Stock Exchange, A--American Stock Exchange, O--Over the Counter nc--No Change Source: Newport Securities Corp., Newport Beach
