THE TIMES 100 : THE REGIONS : San Diego Firms Double Their Showing on Times 100 List : Only five made the rankings in 1991. This year, there are 10.
Five San Diego companies catapulted their way onto The Times 100 ranking in 1992, doubling last year’s showing.
Although the five companies that made the list for 1991 remain among the top 100, each dropped in position. Companies on the list are those with the highest two-year average return on equity.
Finding their way onto this year’s list were GTI Corp. (No. 44) and Brooktree Corp. (No. 55), both semiconductor manufacturers; DH Technology, a maker of computer peripherals, ranked No. 82; Psicor Inc., a medical supplies concern, No. 84, and Beeba’s Creations, an apparel maker, No. 94.
WD-40 Co., the San Diego chemical company best known for its widely used lubricant, continued to be the county’s best performer. WD-40 dropped to fifth place among all California companies this year, from third place in 1991.
The stalwart, one-product company continues to perform well despite securities analysts’ worries about potential competition. WD-40, in its familiar red-topped blue can, still appears to be safely entrenched in the consumer market.
Also remaining on The Times 100 list this year are:
* National Health Laboratories, a La Jolla-based hospital management company that placed 19th, down from No. 7 last year.
* Price Co., whose Price Club retail stores faced increasing competition from aggressive Wal-Mart in Southern California, dropped 20 places to No. 63 this year.
* Magma Power, a producer of geothermal energy that first joined The Times 100 rankings two years ago, slipped to 81st place from 62nd.
* San Diego Gas & Electric, last year’s No. 81, dropped four notches to 85th this year.
Though sales and profit at Beeba’s Creations dropped in 1992, the apparel maker has made an impact in lower-priced women’s wear, selling through former equity-partner J. C. Penney Co. and Wal-Mart. The company’s ranking was most likely buoyed by events in 1991, when it repurchased its shares from Penney and opened its own outlet near its San Marcos facility, selling overruns and samples at deep price reductions. But in the stock market, Beeba’s shares have languished recently at about $9, down about 36% from its 52-week high of $14.
GTI Corp. and Brooktree making the list is another indication of renewed strength in the high-tech sector. The other two San Diego newcomers, DH Technology and Psicor Inc., were among the county’s leaders in revenue growth.
There are other up-and-coming companies in San Diego that haven’t yet made the Times 100 ranking but are standouts in the region’s evolving business environment.
Jenny Craig, a prime competitor in the scrappy diet-center business, shows up in county rankings for the first time this year, after going public in 1991.
Another company that went public in 1991 is bringing in the green from the greens: Callaway Golf, maker of an oversized-head golf club called “Big Bertha.” Just 10 years after its founding in 1982, the Carlsbad company’s sales passed the $100-million mark last year.
But perhaps the most amazing performance by a San Diego company was turned in by Audre Recognition Systems, placing in the stratosphere of market-value rankings. The company makes computer software systems that read complicated technical data, such as engineering drawings and maps, and convert it to computer-application programs. Its market value of $236 million in March, 1993, was 11,000% of its $2.1 million book value.
San Diego County Profit Leaders
Companies ranked by profit from continuing operations.
1992 Change Income in Income Rank Company ($ millions) ($ millions) 1 San Diego Gas & Electric 210.7 2.6 2 Price Co. 125.4 -12.0 3 National Health Labs 40.6 -63.3 4 Magma Power 36.4 2.4 5 WD-40 Co. 19.5 2.9 6 Sunward Technologies 10.8 33.4 7 GTI Corp. 9.0 4.8 8 Mail Boxes Etc. 6.6 1.8 9 DH Technology 5.8 1.2 10 Cubic Corp. 5.2 -5.3 11 PSICOR Inc. 4.3 1.0 12 Beeba’s Creations 3.8 -1.1 13 Titan Corp. 3.6 0.3 14 Cohu Inc. 3.5 0.8 15 Advanced Marketing 2.9 2.2
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
San Diego County Revenue Leaders
Companies ranked by overall revenue.
1992 Revenue % Change Rank Company ($ Millions) From 1991 1 Price Co. 7,642.4 8 2 San Diego Gas & Electric 1,870.9 5 3 Rohr Inc. 1,274.0 -9 4 Foodmaker Inc. 1,255.8 6 5 National Health Labs 721.4 19 6 Jenny Craig 470.8 6 7 Cubic Corp. 312.6 7 8 Intermark Inc. 275.6 -13 9 PS Group Inc. 257.0 -7 10 Advanced Marketing 249.7 23 11 Chart House Enterprises 158.5 -2 13 Callaway Golf 132.1 141 14 Advanced Medical Inc. 128.3 1 15 Beeba’s Creations 119.8 -5
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
San Diego County Revenue Growth Leaders
Companies ranked by 1992 sales growth.
1992 1992 1992 Annual Sales Revenue Profit/(Loss) Rank Company Growth % ($ millions) ($ millions) 1 Sunward Technologies 98 107.2 10.8 2 GTI Corp. 34 104.8 9.0 3 Advanced Marketing 23 249.7 2.9 4 National Health Labs 19 721.4 40.6 5 Mail Boxes Etc. 18 40.1 6.6 6 DH Technology 16 54.2 5.8 7 Qualcomm Inc. 16 112.4 -4.1 8 Magma Power 15 109.0 36.4 9 Cohu Inc. 13 54.4 3.5 10 Brooktree Corp. 12 96.0 12.2 11 WD-40 Co. 10 102.7 19.5 12 Psicor Inc. 10 74.4 4.3 13 Price Co. 8 7,642.4 125.4 14 Cubic Corp. 7 312.6 5.2 15 Jenny Craig 6 470.8 40.7
Source: STAR Services
Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
San Diego 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 San Diego Gas & Electric 2,943.7 1,449.1 203 2 Price Co. 1,570.8 841.4 187 3 National Health Labs 1,447.2 270.1 536 4 Qualcomm Inc. 944.1 68.0 1,388 5 Magma Power 868.7 253.5 343 6 Pyxis Corp. 755.5 85.6 883 7 Gensia Pharmaceuticals 468.5 89.1 526 8 Jenny Craig 391.9 89.0 440 9 Callaway Golf 363.5 49.8 731 10 Foodmaker Inc. 357.4 247.9 144 11 WD-40 Co. 350.0 43.9 796 12 Audre Recognition Systems 236.4 2.1 11,002 13 Advanced Tissue Science 218.1 39.7 549 14 Molecular Biosystems 215.4 69.1 312 15 ChipSoft Inc. 195.1 30.7 636
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
San Diego 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 Callaway Golf 165 33.25 12.56 2 NTN Communications 152 9.13 3.63 3 GTI Corp. 115 25.00 11.63 4 Cohu Inc. 109 23.75 11.38 5 Qualcomm Inc. 92 44.25 23.00 6 Magma Power 76 39.25 22.25 7 San Diego Gas & Electric 20 26.38 21.93 8 Cubic Corp. 16 22.50 19.38 9 W D-40 Co. 11 46.25 41.50 10 Advanced Marketing 11 6.75 6.06 11 Titan Corp. 4 3.13 3.00 12 Glacier Water Services 3 11.75 11.38 13 Charter Golf -5 7.75 8.12 14 Amistar Corp. -5 2.50 2.63 15 Pulse Engineering -6 8.00 8.50
Source: STAR Services. Certain historical data is from Standard & Poor’s Compustat Inc.
