Stocks That Were Hot, Not So Hot in 1992 : Year-End Tally: Stock of ‘infomercial’ company jumps 450%, while many health issues droop.

In a year in which so much rode on one’s image--from the presidential race on down--it seems fitting that National Media Corp. would wind up one of the hottest stocks of 1992.

You may not know this Philadelphia company, but you probably know their business: TV “infomercials,” those ubiquitous cable and network shows that sort of look like news, but really are staged programs used to sell products.

National Media’s shows--”Amazing Discoveries” and “New for the Nineties,” sell a variety of housewares, auto supplies and fitness contraptions. They sold enough in the six months ended Sept. 30 to boost the firm’s sales to $74 million from $39 million a year earlier, and its earnings to 25 cents a share from a loss of 16 cents a year earlier.

Investors, always responsive to a good sales pitch, pushed National Media’s stock from $1.75 at the end of 1991 to $9.625 by last week--a rise of 450% for the year, making it the second-biggest gainer on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the chart at right are the other stock stars of 1992--along with those issues that had the dubious distinction of plummeting the most for the year. Herewith, some capsule commentaries on what it took to be the best, or worst, in ‘92:

* The Image Theme: The leading gainer on the American Stock Exchange doesn’t make TV infomercials, but it does help some people see the shows. Benson Eyecare, a New York-based firm that owns a 200-store eyewear retail chain, saw its shares jump a stunning 1,820% for the year, from about 31 cents to $6.

Benson is a fledgling company created by two former investment bankers. Their goal is to build a network of stores serving ophthalmologists and managed-health-care providers. Warren Kanders, one of the two bankers, sees the market as mostly fragmented, leaving room for a smart player to supply lower-cost products through efficiencies of size.

Whether Benson is the firm to do that remains to be seen, of course. But they’re definitely spending shareholders’ money toward the goal: Last month the firm bought Irvine-based Superior Optical, a 29-store chain.

Another image-related business on the year’s winners list is New Image Industries of Canoga Park, whose shares rocketed 1,390% on the NASDAQ market, to $18.625.

New Image makes a camera system that allows a dentist to view hard-to-see areas of a patient’s mouth. After struggling through 1990 and 1991, New Image’s marketing campaign with dentists must have hit a nerve last year: Revenues soared to $5.48 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from $2.15 million a year earlier, and the firm turned a profit of 20 cents a share, versus a loss of 21 cents a share.

* The Better-Banking Theme: Bank and savings and loan stocks pepper the list of winners, a sign of the banking industry’s continuing turnaround in 1992 from the real estate crash that began in the late-1980s. (Or at least, the business is turning around everywhere but California, it seems.)

Equimark, a big Pittsburgh bank, tops the NYSE list, up 491% on the year to $8.125. After losing an incredible $12 a share in 1990, Equimark had healed enough last year to get--and accept--a takeover bid from rival Integra Financial Corp. The deal is pending.

Other bank turnaround stories included BancFlorida Financial, up 357% on the NYSE; and Northeast Federal, a New England S&L; that jumped 231% on the NYSE.

* The Better-Housing Theme: Coinciding with the banking recovery, some long-troubled builders also revived. Deltona Corp., a big, deep-in-debt Florida developer, convinced its lenders to give it some breathing room last June. That was enough to lift its NYSE shares 250% on the year, though it’s still just a $2.625 stock.

Meanwhile, Addison, Ala.-based Cavalier Homes was a big winner on the Amex market, up 470% on the year. It is one of the 10 largest producers of manufactured homes, and Americans searching for affordable housing bought a lot of those last year. Cavalier’s earnings of 66 cents a share in the first nine months of 1992 contrasted with a profit of just 6 cents for all of 1991.

* The Gold Mine Theme: On Wall Street, people are always trying to strike gold in odd places.

Some savvy investors last year saw the glint of the metal in the personal computer disk drives of long-struggling Western Digital, an Irvine-based firm. Helped by a debt restructuring and by booming PC sales, Western turned a profit last year after two years of losses. The stock rose from $2.625 a year ago to $8.625 at the end of 1992, a 229% gain on the NYSE.

LSB Industries of Oklahoma City also began to look like a gold mine to some investors. From 1989 through most of 1991, this mini-conglomerate suffered as investors showed little interest in the company’s strange business mix of chemicals, financial services, environmental controls and auto products.

But LSB returned to profitability last year, earning 53 cents a share on $188 million in sales for the first nine months of 1992. That caused more investors to pay heed to the firm’s insistence that the sum of its parts was worth much more than the stock price ($1.25 at the start of the year) indicated.

In its annual report last year, “Our chairman laid out where the hidden values were,” said LSB spokesman Tony Shelby. By year’s end LSB’s shares stood at $6.875 on the Amex, up 450%.

And then there was the real gold mine: Royal Gold Inc. of Denver. Its shares increased exponentially, from a few cents to $3.13 on the NASDAQ market, after reporting a new gold discovery in a Nevada mine in which the company has a 20% interest. Of course, caveat emptor on stocks like this--the risk is very high.

* The Anti-Health-Care Theme: Aside from the usual spate of technology-company failures, the big losers’ list of 1992 is dominated by health-care concerns. After embracing virtually any new health-care provider in the 1980s, investors are taking seriously President-elect Bill Clinton’s charge that the system is bloated and inefficient.

Even some companies that purport to be part of the medical cost-containment effort no longer appear to be all they originally promised. Diagnostek, which provides prescriptions by mail, had to revise its earnings downward last year because of “inventory errors.” That led to cancellation of another company’s takeover bid for the firm, sending the stock down 66%.

Other health-care losers of 1992 included Employee Benefit Plans, a health-care management firm whose earnings suddenly slumped; drug researchers SPI Pharmaceuticals and U.S. Bioscience; and health-care recruiter Hospital Staffing.

1992 Stock Derby: Winners and Losers

Here are the stocks that rose the most--and those that fell the most--on each of the three major markets last year. Each table includes only common stocks (preferred stocks and warrants are excluded). Stocks that closed below $2 aren’t counted, so the losers’ lists don’t include many companies whose stocks plunged to close virtually worthless. All prices are adjusted for any stock splits.

10 NYSE Stocks Up the Most

Dec. 31 1992 pct. Stock close change Line of business Equimark $8.13 +491% Pennsylvania bank National Media 9.63 +450% TV infomercials BancFlorida Financial 12.00 +357% Florida S&L; Deltona Corp. 2.63 +250% Fla. land developer Northeast Federal 6.63 +231% New England S&L; Western Digital 8.63 +229% Computer disk drives Salant Corp. 9.50 +204% Jeans, other clothes Coachmen Industries 17.25 +200% Recreational vehicles Carriage Industries 13.38 +189% Carpeting EMC Corp. 23.75 +184% Computer enhancers 10 NYSE Stocks Down the Most Gitano Group $3.63 -80% Jeans, other clothing Employee Benefit Plans 12.00 -77% Health care mgmt. JWP Inc. 3.88 -75% Technical services Crystal Brands 4.38 -69% Sportswear Fabri-Centers of America 14.38 -69% Fabric retailing PS Group 9.50 -69% Travel agency Value Merchants 9.50 -69% Toy closeout retail Hospital Staffing 5.25 -68% Healthcare recruiting Homeplex Mortgage 2.38 -67% Real estate trust Diagnostek 8.25 -66% Prescriptions by mail 10 NASDAQ Stocks Up the Most Royal Gold $3.13 +9,900% Gold mine Creative Learning 2.25 +1,700% Learning products Vystar Group 9.63 +1,440% Photo equipment New Image Industries 18.63 +1,390% Dental imaging sys. CBLX Holdings 2.19 +1,300% Electrical products Nature’s Bounty 18.25 +1,227% Vitamins Invention, Design, Engineer. 3.50 +1,020% Weighing devices BankAtlantic 8.25 +915% Florida savings bank Fonic Inc. 13.25 +864% Telecomm equipment Cytoprobe 2.97 +850% Medical equipment 10 NASDAQ Stocks Down the Most Sequoia Systems $2.13 -86% Computer systems Advanced Interventional 3.09 -83% Laser angioplasty Quarterdeck Office Systems 4.13 -82% Computer software CEC Industries 3.50 -82% Construct. machinery nVIEW Corp. 5.63 -81% Computer systems Fidelity Medical 2.25 -80% Med. imaging sys. Zeos International 3.75 -79% Computer systems Bachman Info. Systems 5.13 -76% Computer software Sam & Libby 4.75 -76% Shoe retail BT Shipping 2.00 -75% Transocean shipping 10 Amex Stocks Up the Most Benson Eyecare $6.00 +1,820% Eyewear retail Media Logic 26.75 +1,326% Computer test equip. Diversified Communications 4.25 +1,033% Cable TV equipment Decorator Industries 14.88 +561% Draperies Cavalier Homes 14.25 +470% Manufactured homes LSB Industries 6.88 +450% Conglomerate Atlantis Group 4.88 +420 Plastic containers Andrea Electronics 22.38 +411% Commun. equip. Flanigan’s Enterprises 8.75 +400% Liquor stores ESI Industries 3.94 +385% Truck bodies 10 Amex Stocks Down the Most Chambers Development A $6.88 -80% Waste management Chambers Development B 7.13 -79% Waste management Underwriters Financial 5.00 -75% Oil & gas exploration U.S. Bioscience 11.13 -71% Anti-cancer research Belmac Corp. 6.25 -68% Drug research B&H; Ocean Carriers 2.75 -68% Cargo shipping Maxum Health 4.00 -66% Magnetic imaging SPI Pharmaceuticals 11.00 -65% Generic drugs ASR Investments 2.63 -63% Real estate trust Essex Financial Partners 2.63 -60% Southern svgs. bank

Source: Associated Press