The stock market once again made a...
The stock market once again made a new post-stock-crash high and immediately reversed direction and has been going down since, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 45 points over the last two trading days, said Irving Katz, director of research at Thomas Green/San Diego Securities.
Stocks have maintained this posture as they languish in a holding pattern brought on by investor apathy, Katz said.
The only excitement among local stocks this week was the termination of the merger agreement between San Diego Gas & Electric and Tucson Electric Power. The companies claimed they could not jointly agree on how to block the merger overture toward SDG&E; from SCEcorp, parent company of Southern California Edison.
SCEcorp had previously offered to acquire SDG&E; by trading 1.225 of its shares for each SDG&E; share. This offer remains open, although a long way from fruition, Katz said.
Any number of regulatory authorities must approve the merger proposal, but the removal of the Tucson obstacle is a decided positive for Southern California Edison. SDG&E; stock closed up $1.875 for the week, near its year’s high of $36.875. The only other new 52-week high among local stocks was reached by Psicor, a company that supplies perfusionists to hospitals, reaching a new high of $7.75.
A good gain was made by Cohu, up $1 to $11.50 in continued positive reaction to its third-quarter earnings of $.37 per share versus $.25 over the same period last year.
BSD Bancorp gained $.25 to $4.125, where the stock sells at two-thirds of its $6.08-a-share book value as of Sept. 30. Analysts estimate that 1988 earnings will come in at $.65 to $.70 a share, a price-earnings ratio of 6 to 1.
Rohr Industries moved up $.375 to $28.125; a favorable article in Fortune magazine estimated a buyout value of $50 a share.
Large downward moves were made by Advanced Marketing Services, down $1.75, and Mail Boxes Etc., down $2, for the week. Both stocks had recently recorded new highs and were reacting to profit taking. New lows were reached by Oak Industries, which came out of its trading range of $1 to $1.25 and made a new low of $.94. CCT Corp also recorded a new low of $3.125.
