Regional Stocks Up 19.5% in 1992 : Investments: The list of mostly smaller firms outpaced both the Dow Jones and NASDAQ indexes. New Image Industries soared 1,390%.

Small was big in 1992--again.

The local region’s stocks, which generally represent smaller companies, rose sharply overall last year in tandem with the national market for small-company shares. It was the second straight year in which small stocks have outperformed the overall market.

While the widely followed Dow Jones average of 30 industrials managed only a 4.2% gain in 1992, an index of stocks of 92 companies in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County regions jumped 19.5%, according to Media General Financial Services, a Richmond, Va., firm that compiles the index for The Times.

The region’s stocks even outpaced the 15.5% surge of the NASDAQ composite index--which includes nearly 4,000 stocks of mostly smaller concerns. The local stocks also easily advanced ahead of the benchmark index of the nation’s largest companies, the Standard & Poor’s 500 composite index, which gained 4.5% in 1992.

And while the stock market’s 1992 gains fell far short of the sterling performance of 1991--when the NASDAQ composite soared 56.8% and the Dow Jones industrials rose 20.3%--the regional stocks came relatively close to their 26.2% gain in 1991.

The price increases by local stocks that rose last year were sizable enough to push the overall Valley-Ventura index ahead, even though the tally of gainers and losers was about equal. Among stocks that traded all year, 40 issues advanced, 41 fell and two were unchanged.

But nine more companies took advantage of the good market conditions in 1992 to complete initial public offerings (IPOs) of stock, several of which ended the year higher and contributed to the gain of the overall index.

For instance, Cheesecake Factory Inc., a Calabasas-based restaurant operator, went public at $20 a share in mid-September and closed the year at $24, a 20% increase. Authentic Fitness Corp., the Van Nuys-based maker of Speedo swimwear, came to market at $14 a share in late June, then gained an additional 54%, closing the year at $21.50.

Other new issues that ended 1992 above their offering prices were Voice Powered Technology International Inc., a Canoga Park maker of voice-activated electronic gear, and Summit Care Corp., a Burbank operator of nursing homes that was spun off by hospital owner Summit Health Ltd.

But another new public company, Xircom Inc., reminded investors of the risks of IPOs.

After going public at $14 a share in March, the Calabasas producer of components for linking computers and other equipment closed the year at $9.25, for a 34% loss.

Among established stocks, 1992 was a year of sharp reversals for several companies.

For instance, the area’s biggest gainer last year was New Image Industries Inc., a Canoga Park maker of computer imaging equipment whose stock skyrocketed 1,390% to $18.63 a share from $1.25 at the start of the year.

In 1991, New Image’s stock had been one of the region’s biggest losers, but the company’s earnings rebound changed its course.

Players International Inc.’s stock also switched to the biggest-winners list last year with a 203% gain, to $6.25 a share. Players, based in Calabasas, may have seen its stock rise because the company pared its loss in the six months that ended Sept. 30 to $1.8 million, from $3.6 million a year earlier, and moved closer to opening its first riverboat casino on the Ohio River.

Conversely, some stellar performers of 1991 suffered big losses last year. Huntway Partners L.P., an oil-products refiner in Valencia, plunged 57% to $2 a share in 1992 amid operating losses and the disclosure of “irregularities” in its books, which led to the firing of its chief financial officer.

House of Fabrics Inc., whose stock posted a 78% surge in 1991, plunged 50% last year to close at $13.63 a share.

The stock merely followed the Sherman Oaks-based fabric retailer’s earnings, which in the nine months that ended Oct. 31 tumbled 74% from a year earlier.

Earnings problems also took their toll on several other stocks, including Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. in Camarillo; Cherokee Inc., a Sunland-based maker of casual apparel, and Datron Systems Inc., a Simi Valley producer of telecommunications equipment. Vitesse’s stock ended the year at $4.25 a share, down 61%, Cherokee plunged 80% to 69 cents a share and Datron tumbled 51% to $5.63 a share.

Most companies with steadily improving profits, meanwhile, saw those gains reflected in their stock prices.

Shares of Superior Industries International Inc., a Van Nuys maker of automobile wheels whose business has continued to prosper despite the auto industry’s ups and downs, closed 1992 at $28.25 apiece, up 73%. (Superior also had a 2-for-1 stock split in August.)

Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, buoyed by its movie division’s hits, including “Beauty and the Beast,” saw its shares climb 50% during the year, to $43 each. The stock of Foothill Group Inc. climbed 66%, to $8.50 a share, as the Agoura Hills financial-services concern cleaned up its balance sheet to get rid of costly debt.

Harmony Holdings Inc., a small Burbank producer of television commercials, had one of the region’s biggest gains, 119% to $5.75 a share.

In its fiscal year that ended June 30, the company rebounded to a modest $70,303 profit against a year-earlier loss of $739,566. (Also, Harmony’s warrants, which trade separately and give their holders the right to buy additional common shares under certain future terms, soared 15-fold to close the year at $6.50.)

Spear Financial Inc.’s stock ended the year with a 85% gain, at $6.25 a share, as the Glendale-based concern announced plans to shed its discount brokerage business and focus exclusively on the marketing of insurance-related investments. Spear also said profit for the first nine months of 1992 doubled from a year earlier on a 70% jump in revenue.

But prospects at American Film Technologies Inc. worsened late in the year, triggering a 66% drop in its stock, to $1.16 a share.

The North Hollywood animation house earned a $902,000 profit in its fiscal year that ended June 30, compared with a $6.5-million loss in fiscal 1991, but last month, the company predicted a loss of up to $1.2 million for the quarter that ended Dec. 31.

10 Biggest Regional Stock Winners for 1992

Closing Price on Percent Stock 12/31/92 Change Line of Business New Image Industries $18.63 +1,390 Computer imaging Players International $6.25 +203 Entertainment Harmony Holdings $5.75 +119 TV production Spear Financial $6.25 +85 Financial services General Motors H $25.75 +75 Aerospace Superior Industries $28.25 +73 Automotive wheels Harman Int’l $15.25 +72 Audio equipment Foothill Group $8.50 +66 Financial services Walt Disney $43.00 +50 Entertainment Hamburger Hamlet $18.25 +46 Restaurants

Note: Excludes stocks whose Dec. 31, 1991, price was below $1.25 a share

10 Biggest Regional Stock Losers for 1992

Closing Price on Percent Stock 12/31/92 Change Line of Business Medical Properties $0.19 -87 Real Estate Beverly Hills Fan $0.56 -81 Ceiling fans Cherokee $0.69 -80 Apparel American Film Tech. $1.16 -66 Animation Vitesse Semiconductor $4.25 -61 Semiconductors Huntway Partners $2.00 -57 Oil refining With Design in Mind $1.31 -56 Novelties Datron Systems $5.63 -51 Telecommunications House of Fabrics $13.63 -50 Fabrics Pac Rim Holding $3.25 -44 Insurance

Note: Excludes stocks whose Dec. 31, 1991, price was below $1.25 a share

Source: Media General Financial Services Inc., Richmond, Va.