THE TIMES 100 : THE REGIONS : Health Care Firms Stand Out Among O.C. Winners : PacifiCare tops the lot, finishing 12th on the list with a strong rise in revenue and earnings.
Health care companies made another strong showing among Orange County’s best-performing businesses in 1992.
Of the 12 Orange County companies that made The Times 100--a ranking of California public companies based on average return on equity over a two-year period--four were in health-related fields, namely hospital management. Analysts say the companies are doing well: People still get sick and need doctors and drugs in a difficult economy.
Topping the list of Orange County companies on the list was PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the Cypress-based health maintenance organization. It ranked 12th on the list in 1992. During the year, its earnings grew 17.8% to $47.7 million and its revenue grew 37% to $1.82 billion.
Alan Hoops, chief executive of PacifiCare, attributed the growth to improved efficiency, the company’s focus on elderly patients and an acquisition. The company’s membership grew by about 130,000 to 720,000 members, when it bought Health Plan of America in December, 1991.
“We are relatively immune to the recession,” he said. “But our focus on improving the quality and efficiency of the organization is where we are trying to set ourselves apart.”
Other health care companies that ranked among The Times 100 were Quantum Health Resources in Orange, No. 43; Safeguard Health Enterprises in Anaheim, No. 58, and FHP International Corp. in Fountain Valley, which dropped from No. 46 in 1991 to No. 91 last year.
Chairman and Chief Executive Douglas H. Stickney said Quantum’s focus on serving patients with chronic disorders who need lifelong care provides a steady revenue stream.
“This is not a cyclical business, and our growth in customers has been consistent and predictable,” Stickney said.
And while they didn’t make The Times 100, Orange County’s drug makers and medical-instrument manufacturers also ranked high on the lists of profit from continuing operations, overall revenue, sales growth, market valuation and stock price gains.
Allergan Inc., the Irvine eye care products manufacturer, ranked No. 5 among companies that improved from a loss to a profit in 1992. After losing $61.4 million in 1991, Allergan rebounded to post a profit of $105.8 million in 1992. Allergan ranked third among Orange County companies for profit from continuing operations.
In other industries, The Times 100 includes three Orange County computer-related companies: AST Research Inc. in Irvine, one of the nation’s hottest personal computer manufacturers, ranked 34th; Amplicon Inc., a computer leasing firm in Santa Ana with a stable revenue stream from leasing contracts, ranked 71st, and Emulex Corp., a Costa Mesa manufacturer of computer networking and storage equipment, ranked 99th. Emulex’s profit has improved as it shifts from manufacturing hardware to providing software.
The Orange County companies bucked trends in the overall computer business, generating good results despite a continuing industry shakeout and a muted version of price wars that have plagued the industry in recent years.
MAI Systems Corp., failing to recover from the decline of minicomputer technology, wasn’t so lucky. It ranked No. 2 on the list of companies with the highest losses from continuing operations: a $179.9-million loss. The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
Two other Orange County companies on The Times 100 list found havens by moving away from their aerospace roots. Comarco Inc., an Anaheim engineering and management services company, ranked No. 20 on the list. Comarco has become less dependent on its core military engineering business, expanding into airport management, freeway emergency call-boxes and the testing of cellular phone networks.
Rockwell International Corp. in Seal Beach ranked No. 86 on The Times 100, up a notch from 87th in 1991. The diversified manufacturing conglomerate retained its title as the largest Orange County company, with revenue of $10.8 billion, down 6% from $11.5 billion a year ago.
Profit from continuing operations fell 94.8% to $487.5 million as the company’s businesses suffered from slumps in the newspaper printing press, aerospace and automotive parts industries.
Also on The Times 100 from Orange County was a surprise performer from the battered retail industry: ClothesTime Inc., an Anaheim-based chain of women’s apparel stores. It ranked No. 94, climbing onto the list in a year when price meant a lot to recession-weary consumers.
Orange County Profit Leaders
Companies ranked by profit from continuing operations.
1992 Change Income in Income Rank Company ($ millions) ($ millions) 1 Rockwell International 487.5 -94.8 2 Fluor Corp. 138.7 -16.8 3 Allergan Inc. 105.8 167.2 4 Bergen Brunswig Corp. 58.3 8.1 5 AST Research Inc. 57.6 -12.5 6 PacifiCare Health Systems 47.7 17.8 7 Beckman Instruments 43.8 5.7 8 Downey Svgs. & Loan Assn. 41.9 17.0 9 FHP International Corp. 35.5 2.1 10 SPI Pharmaceuticals 34.5 4.9 11 Armor All Products 17.9 9.4 12 Fidelity National Financial 15.1 8.9 13 Amplicon Inc. 9.7 1.4 14 Emulex Corp. 9.4 1.6 15 REXON Inc. 9.4 -1.6
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
Orange County Revenue Leaders
Companies ranked by overall revenue.
1992 Revenue % Change Rank Company ($ Millions) From 1991 1 Rockwell International 10,837.9 -6 2 Fluor Corp. 6,846.8 5 3 Bergen Brunswig Corp. 5,499.3 24 4 PacifiCare Health Systems 1,828.9 37 5 FHP International Corp. 1,755.5 23 6 AST Research Inc. 1,140.5 38 7 Western Digital Corp. 1,137.5 24 8 First American Financial 1,115.5 47 9 Beckman Instruments 908.8 6 10 Allergan Inc. 897.7 7 11 ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. 551.8 20 12 SPI Pharmaceuticals 476.1 42 13 Carl Karcher Enterprises 389.1 -27 14 Fidelity National Financial 382.0 73 15 National Education 375.0 -3
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
Orange County Revenue Growth Leaders
Companies ranked by 1992 sales growth.
1992 1992 Annual Sales Revenue Rank Company Growth % ($ millions) 1 Fidelity National Financial 73 382.0 2 Homedco Group 48 350.0 3 Newport Corp. 47 87.8 4 Quantum Health Resources 46 118.3 5 SPI Pharmaceuticals 42 476.1 6 AST Research Inc. 38 1,140.5 7 Presley Co. 38 237.9 8 PacifiCare Health Systems 37 1,828.9 9 CorVel Corp. 35 57.5 10 SysteMed Inc. 31 117.5 11 Tokos Medical Corp. 28 159.9 12 Wet Seal Inc. 25 149.7 13 Bergen Brunswig Corp. 24 5,499.3 14 Western Digital Corp. 24 1,137.5 15 FHP International Corp. 23 1,755.5
1992 Profit/(Loss) Rank ($ millions) 1 15.1 2 15.8 3 -14.2 4 9.3 5 34.5 6 57.6 7 -10.5 8 47.7 9 2.2 10 2.4 11 6.5 12 3.6 13 58.3 14 -3.5 15 35.5
Source: STAR Services
Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
The O.C. Market Value Leaders table was printed twice and this table was left out of the paper.
Orange County Market Value Leaders
Companies ranked by stock market valuation.
3/31/93 Market Value Book Value Market as Rank Company ($ millions) ($ millions) % of Book 1 Rockwell International 6,548.4 2,746.4 238 2 Fluor Corp. 3,493.0 880.8 397 3 Allergan Inc. 1,471.2 499.8 294 4 PacifiCare Health Systems 885.3 271.6 326 5 FHP International Corp. 703.1 329.9 213 6 Beckman Instruments 663.8 357.4 186 7 Bergen Brunswig Corp. 649.2 403.7 161 8 AST Research Inc. 432.6 392.6 110 9 Armor All Products 386.7 100.9 383 10 First American Financial 368.8 171.1 215 11 Catalina Marketing 366.1 27.9 1,312 12 Downey Svgs. & Loan Assn. 313.0 313.5 100 13 Homedco Group 306.0 59.0 519 14 SPI Pharmaceuticals 276.7 135.0 205 15 Platinum Software 268.3 26.4 1,018
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
Orange County Stock Leaders
Companies ranked by percent gain in stock price.
% Change 4/20/93 3/31/92 Stock Stock Stock Rank Company Price Price Price 1 Cytocare Inc. 141 6.94 2.88 2 Fidelity National Financial 118 23.63 10.83 3 FHP International Corp. 59 22.25 14.00 4 Amplicon Inc. 50 19.50 13.00 5 UniCare Financial 49 13.38 9.00 6 Wynn’s International 43 28.75 20.13 7 J.M. Peters Company Inc. 42 3.38 2.38 8 Rockwell International 42 33.50 23.63 9 Varco International 41 7.25 5.13 10 Quiksilver Inc. 38 9.50 6.88 11 Abbey Healthcare Group 34 17.25 12.88 12 Armor All Products 33 16.00 12.00 13 Western Digital Corp. 29 5.00 3.88 14 PacifiCare Health Systems 27 35.88 28.25 15 Printronix Inc 24 7.13 5.75
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
