Stocks of 3 County Firms Soar 20% or More in a Day
A trio of Orange County companies--a supplier of stop-smoking products, a pharmaceuticals firm and a computer maker--were among Wall Street’s hottest performers Tuesday.
Advantage Life Products Inc., a small Laguna Hills company, saw its stock price soar 30.2% after it announced the settlement of major lawsuit with its supplier of anti-smoking aids. The stock was the biggest percentage gainer on the over-the-counter market Tuesday.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 21, 1990 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday June 21, 1990 Home Edition Part A Page 3 Column 1 Metro Desk 2 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
AIDS drug maker--In a story on Wednesday on the AIDS drug isoprinisine, The Times incorrectly reported that the stock of Newport Pharmaceuticals International Inc. jumped on Tuesday from 81.25 cents to $3.625 per share. The stock actually rose by 81.25 cents from $2.81, closing at $3.625 per share.
Right behind was Newport Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a Newport Beach firm whose stock price jumped 28.9% after it was disclosed that the New England Journal of Medicine will publish a favorable report Thursday on the company’s experimental AIDS drug, isoprinosine. The company’s stock was the second-largest percentage gainer Tuesday among over-the-counter issues.
On the New York Stock Exchange, MAI Basic Four, a Tustin computer company, rose 37.5 cents per share--or 21%--to close at $2.125, making it the biggest percentage gainer on the Big Board. MAI was not known to have issued any public statements Tuesday that would have caused the gain in its stock, and company officials could not be reached for comment.
Advantage Life, a marketer of CigArrest chewing gum, tablets and vitamins designed to help smokers kick the habit, saw its stock price jump $1 to close at $4.3125 a share on National Assn. of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations’ over-the-counter system.
The stock price hike started shortly after the firm issued a press release saying that it had reached a tentative, out-of-court settlement with it major supplier, according to William Cowi, Advantage’s chief financial officer.
Last fall, More Direct Health Products Inc. in Carlsbad sued Advantage for allegedly breaching a distribution agreement. The tentative settlement covers all major issues, Cowi said, and is expected to be signed within the next month.
The agreement gives Advantage distribution rights “in perpetuity” for its line of anti-smoking aids and gives More Direct 400,000 warrants for unregistered Advantage stock at the June 12 price of $3.1875 a share. Any stock More Direct buys could not be sold for two years. Advantage has 4.6 million shares outstanding now.
Newport Pharmaceuticals’ stock was the second-highest percentage gainer, closing at $3.625 a share Tuesday, up from 81.25 cents a share.
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