Six San Diego stocks finally joined the...
Six San Diego stocks finally joined the party on Wall Street and made new highs last week, according to Irving Katz, director of research for San Diego Securities.
La Jolla Bancorp was up 2 3/8 to 8 1/8 as investors are becoming convinced that the company is positioned to be one of the first San Diego banks to be acquired when banks in the 11 Western states can make acquisitions in California beginning July 1, Katz said.
Banks usually are acquired for 2 to 2 1/2 times book value--which translates to a price exceeding $10 per share for La Jolla Bancorp, according to Katz.
WD-40 was up 4 to 41 1/2, a new all-time high, as investors continued to appreciate the company’s market dominance and its relatively high dividend pay-up.
Symtek Systems was up 2 3/4 to 24 as it continued to move with the high-tech semiconductor stocks. Symtek has remained consistently profitable through the cyclical semiconductor industry downturn, Katz observed.
Xytronyx made a new high of 14, as its thinly traded stock is being recommended for its alliance with Colgate on a periodontal disease detection kit, Katz said.
International Totalizator was up one to 5 1/8. The company’s backlog has increased fivefold in the last year to $30 million, and it has discussed the possibility of a stock offering soon, Katz said.
Precision Aerotech was up three-quarters to 8 1/8, as the stock continued to benefit from a recommendation by a local broker.
Among those not making new highs but moving significantly were Maxwell Laboratories, up 1 7/8 to 16 3/8. Maxwell recently said its earnings would hit 50 cents per share, in line with street estimates for $1 a share for the current fiscal year.
Price Co. moved ahead 1 3/4 to 42 3/4 as it successfully completed the sale of $200 million in 5 1/2% debentures convertible at 50 5/8.
Despite reporting a loss of $3.55 per share for 1986, CCT Corp. was up five-eighths to 6 1/8, more than doubling its low of 2 3/4 reached at the end of last year. The loss was caused by the rescission of its sale of its Zeta Labs subsidiary and various write-downs. The company expects substantially improved operating results for 1987.
Langley Corp. was down three-eighths to 8 1/8 as it reported lower first-quarter earnings of 8 cents, compared to 15 cents during the same quarter a year ago.
Molecular Biosystems was down five-eighths to 5 1/2 as it reported earnings of half a cent per share in its latest quarter. That makes three successful profitable quarters in a row for the company, Katz observed.
