As the market continued to sell off,...
As the market continued to sell off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging below 2,500, the number of San Diego stocks making new lows increased, according to Irving Katz, director of research for San Diego Securities.
Among them were Great American First Savings Bank, down three-quarters to 15 1/2; Precision Aerotech, down seven-eighths to 6; Western Health Plans, down one-eighth to 2 7/8, and Chopp Computer, down seven-sixteenths to 2 1/8. X-Scribe, which sold 1.5 million shares at $8 on Aug. 11, was down one-half to 6 3/4.
Interest-sensitive stocks continued to drop. Home Federal Savings & Loan was down 1 1/8 to 31 1/2; Imperial Corp., down five-eighths to 14; San Diego Gas & Electric, down three-eighths to 31 7/8.
The only new high of the week was BSD Bancorp, up one-half to 5 as the stock continued its upward momentum, Katz said.
Henley Group was the star of the week, up 1 1/8 to 29 5/8. The La Jolla-based company announced a 20-million-share buy-back and the successful sale of its 18% stake in Wheelabrator Technologies stock at $19 per share. By week’s end Wheelabrator had traded at a high of 23 3/4, Katz said.
Henley also announced that it had received federal regulatory permission to increase its ownership share of Southern Pacific to 25%. And, in Monday’s Barron’s, a mutual fund manager suggested that Henley’s value might be in the $35 to $40 range.
Some institutional favorites ran into heavy selling. Molecular Biosystems was down 2 to 12 after gaining 2 3/4 last week, Price Co. was down 2 3/4 to 43 3/4, and WD-40 was down 1 1/2 to 33 1/2. Mail Boxes Etc. gained three-quarters to 14 3/4 on the announcement of a share repurchase program of 100,000 shares, or 4.6% of the total outstanding, Katz said.
Energy Factors was down 1 to 8 1/8 despite the purchase by five insiders of 120,000 shares at an average price of 7 3/8.
Burnham American Properties was unchanged at 33 1/2, despite the granting of a 2-for-1 stock split.
Magma Power, which granted Morgan Guaranteed Trust Co. a warrant to purchase 1 million shares at $14 in conjunction with a $75-million loan commitment, was up five-eighths to 12 5/8. The company, which recently moved to San Diego, will hold its annual meeting at 1 p.m. Friday at the Rancho Bernardo Inn.
