Stocks of Area Firms Join Bull Stampede; 47 of 57 Rise in Price
San Fernando Valley-area stocks surged in the first quarter along with the rest of the bull market, with almost every stock gaining in price and nearly one in five rising by more than 50%.
Of the 57 stocks of Valley-area companies that closed March 31 above $2 a share, 47 rose in price during the first quarter, eight declined, and two were unchanged. Eleven stocks rose more than 50%. (Stocks surveyed are those Valley companies with headquarters from Camarillo to Burbank, tracked for The Times by MPACT Securities of Austin, Tex.)
The stocks rode one of the most powerful market surges in history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most widely followed market indicator, climbed 21.6% in the three-month period, almost as much as it did all of last year, to close at 2,304.69. The NASDAQ composite index of over-the-counter issues, where most Valley-area stocks are traded, rose 23.3%, to 430.05.
Index Rose 19.75%
An index of Valley-area stocks compiled by MPACT rose 19.75%. The index weighs all local stocks equally to show how investors would do if they invested equal amounts of money in each of the local stocks.
Leading the gainers was Tandon, the Chatsworth maker of personal computers and disk-drive data-storage devices, which rose 128%, to $5.13 a share. The company, whose stock started the quarter at $2.25 a share, introduced a removable disk drive during the quarter and announced a contract to sell $50 million in disk drives to Amstrad, a British personal-computer maker.
Three of the major gainers were companies whose stocks have been among the strongest in their industries. Cherokee, a North Hollywood apparel company, rose 87% to close at $21.50, taking into account a 2-for-1 stock split Feb. 28.
Micropolis Rises 98.7%
Micropolis, a Chatsworth disk-drive maker that has benefited from strong demand for its disk drives, rose 98.7%, to $37 a share. Amgen, a Newbury Park biotechnology concern that disclosed during the quarter that it would issue 2 million new common shares and sell limited-partnership units, rose 74.1%, to $38.50 a share.
Two companies that have recently taken steps to stem losses saw their stock prices double during the quarter. Terminal Data, a maker of imaging equipment, in January sold for $21 million its Simi Valley headquarters, which had been a drain on the company’s cash flow. Terminal Data’s stock rose from $2, to $4 a share.
Likewise, Semtech, a Newbury Park semiconductor company, doubled, from $1.50 to $3 a share. Cutting manufacturing costs over the past two years, it posted a $41,000 profit for the quarter ended Nov. 1, contrasted with a $195,000 loss a year earlier.
Computer Memories, a former maker of computer disk drives based in Chatsworth, was up 64.6% on the news that it will merge with Hemdale Film Co. The move allows Hemdale, which financed the the Academy Award-winning movie “Platoon,” to go public and, in effect, will mean the end of Computer Memories.
The biggest loser was Networks Electronic, which fell 28.1%, to $3.50 a share, even though its earnings in the second quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 2%, to $189,537.
Zenith National Falls 16%
Zenith National, an Encino workers compensation insurance company, declined 16%, to $22.25 a share, even though some Wall Street analysts like the stock. The company was coming off a fourth quarter in which its net income rose to $11 million, from $535,000 a year earlier.
Dick Clark Productions, a Burbank television and film company that went public in January, fell 5.5%, to $6.50 a share, from $6.875 on its first day of trading. The company said its net income fell 86%, to $232,500, mainly because its year-earlier results were unusually high because of the delivery of a television movie and episodes of a television series.
Valley Area Stock Winners For 1st Quarter
Closing Price Percent Stock March 31,1987 Change Tandon $5.13 128.0 Terminal Data 4.00 100.0 Semtech 3.00 100.0 Micropolis 37.00 98.7 Cherokee 21.50 87.0 American Cytgenetics 2.00 77.0 Amgen 38.50 74.1 Computer Memories 4.00 64.6
Note: Excludes stocks whose 1986 closing price was below $2.
Valley Area Stock Losers for 1st Quarter
Closing Price Percent Stock March 31,1987 Change Networks Electronic $3.50 -28.1 Zenith National 22.25 -16.0 Redken Labs 21.00 -16.0 Judy’s 3.75 -11.8 Compact Video 3.88 -11.2 Olson Industries 26.00 -5.5 Dick Clark 6.50 -5.5 Syncor 6.50 -1.8
Note: Excludes stocks whose 1986 closing price was below $2.
Source: MPACT Securitues, Austin, Tex.
