As the yield on 30-year U. S....
As the yield on 30-year U. S. Treasury bonds has recently exceeded 9%, stocks in general have become less attractive than bonds. That’s a big reason that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has given up 95 points over the past two weeks, despite a feeble attempt at a rally Monday, said Irving Katz, director of research at Thomas Green/San Diego Securities.
San Diego stocks, particularly those with institutional investor interest, continued to be battered, with a number of them reaching 1990 lows. Beeba’s Creations fell to a new low of $7.25 after it announced it had fully reserved for the probable loss of its $1.25-million account receivable from Ames Department Stores. Ames recently filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Code.
Humphrey dropped to a new low of $3 bid as it reported a first-quarter loss but a $31-million backlog, its highest ever.
Other new lows were posted by Advanced Marketing Services at $4.75, Agouron Pharmaceuticals at $8 and Price Co. at $33.75.
New lows were also recorded by Triton Group Ltd. at $9 and Intermark Inc. at $7.625. Should the proposed merger of the two companies, scheduled for July, take effect today at the stated exchange rate of 1.4 shares of Intermark for each Triton share, Triton shareholders would receive a value of $10.67. The stock’s Monday closing price was $9.
Also hit by rising interest rates that made its dividend yield less attractive, San Diego Gas & Electric stock fell $1.875 for the week. First National Corp. dropped $2.125 last week after adverse publicity about its mortgage service collection subsidiary, which must be spun off or sold to prevent damage to its capital structure under the new banking regulations.
Mycogen fell $.75 to $13.25 after announcing it would register for a secondary public stock offering of 1.7 million shares. This was in addition to the recent public filings by Immune Response Corp., Gensia Pharmaceuticals and Lidac Corp., all of which seem to think that the window for raising capital is now open to biotechnology companies.
News reports last week relating to interest by the Bass Group in buying Great American Bank revived hopes for a buyout rather than a government seizure and helped the stock gain $.375.
PS Group was up $1.625 to $34. The company recently released its annual report and holds its annual meeting May 22. For the past two years, the annual meetings have been the only forum at which the company has been willing to discuss its prospects for the future with shareholders or the press.
Xytronyx, which is licensing a periodontal disease detection kit to Colgate-Palmolive, gained $3 to reach a new high of $17. Cipher Data Products is being dropped from The Times’ San Diego stock list as its merger with Archive Corp. has become effective.
