‘93/’94 Year-End Review and Outlook : Telecom, Gold Among Heat-Retaining Stocks : Best-worst: Many concepts captivated investors for a time. Some, however, managed to keep their allure until the end.
It probably is only fitting that the winningest stock of 1993 is . . . a gaming stock.
Crown Casino, a company whose ticker symbol is DICE, jumped from 44 cents a share a year ago to $5.88 a share by Friday on the Nasdaq market, a 1,236% gain that made it the best-performing stock on the three major U.S. markets.
Dallas-based Crown, which used to buy and sell cable TV systems, now hopes to launch a gambling riverboat off St. Charles, La., this spring. It is one of a host of new gaming companies that have sprung up nationwide over the past two years, though most--like Crown--exist so far more as pipe dreams than as going concerns.
On Wall Street in 1993, many concepts captivated hungry investors for a time. But by year’s end, the market had begun to grind up some of the high-fliers, as investors turned more cautious about where they’d sink their dollars.
Among the big themes whose stocks--some of them, anyway--still retained their cachet as ’93 closed:
* Telecommunications. Investors remain fascinated with companies that may ride the much-ballyhooed electronic information highway to success.
The hot telecom issues in ’93 included SA Holdings, a tiny Plano, Tex., outfit selling international communications links (including to the Russians); Comdial Corp., which suddenly has at least a few investors excited about its specialized phone systems for businesses, and Mitel, a Canadian firm whose large-scale phone switching systems have been selling well enough in recent quarters to return the company to profitability--after two years of losses.
On a service road along the information highway, the home shopping craze drove shares of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Valuevision International up 779% on the Nasdaq market to $15.38 a share by year’s end. The 3-year-old company says its cable show now is available to 9.6 million homes, though the firm still is losing money.
* Outsourcing. That’s the business code word for finding a cheaper way to do something than with employees of your own. The trend helped Intelogic Trace’s shares leap 673%, to $3.63 on the NYSE for the year. The company is one of the largest independent computer maintenance firms.
Though the firm has been a money loser for the past three years, Intelogic’s investors are speculating that more companies will choose outside servicers for their computer systems.
Similarly, First USA’s shares scored a gain of 208% on the NYSE in ‘93, as more credit card issuers turned to the firm to process transactions. The company’s earnings have been mushrooming since 1990.
* Heavy industry. Because the economic recovery appears to be for real this time, investors have been flocking to shares of metal makers, metal benders and other Rust Belt businesses. Such companies’ products are elemental to new cars, new homes, new refrigerators and other consumer and business goods.
Steel maker Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which emerged from bankruptcy in 1991, saw its shares rocket 198% in ‘93, to $17.13 on the NYSE, on the strength of rising demand for its flat-rolled steel.
Another Rust Belt winner: Allied Products, which produces a variety of basic machinery, including automated presses and dies for industry.
* Gold mining. The metal was back in style--as was silver--and that helped Sunshine Mining surge 460% for the year to $2.63 on the NYSE. Republic Goldfields, on the American Stock Exchange, also jumped.
And while Lori Corp. isn’t in the gold business, its costume jewelry must look the part to enough buyers. A strong comeback in business after two lousy years pushed the company’s stock up 543% on the Amex, to $5.63 a share at year’s end.
As for the year’s losers, they too seemed to be crowded around some big themes:
* Fashion victims. Many apparel makers and retailers were crushed in 1993, as consumers’ revived spending habits didn’t seem to include clothing.
Merry-Go-Round, which sells clothes to what it hopes are hip younger folk, saw sales tank--and that landed the company in technical default with its lenders. The stock plunged 79.2% on the NYSE by year’s end.
Other losers in the genre included Leslie Fay, now in bankruptcy; He-Ro Group, down 68% for the year; Bernard Chaus, and Gantos.
* Medical products and services. The health care reform promised by the federal government isn’t here yet, but the shakeout is already well under way.
The big losers in 1993 included U.S. Surgical, a once-high-flying maker of surgical devices that was supposedly without peer. The stock plummeted 67% as sales began to trail off.
Another loser was Clinicorp, which has been trying to build a chain of chiropractic clinics. (The stock’s symbol: BAK.) Its shares lost 71.7% on the Amex.
Other medical victims in need of triage include T2 Medical, off 65.2% on the Amex, and Hospital Staffing, another Amex issue, which once enjoyed a booming business as a placement agency for health care professionals.
Stock Winners and Losers in ’93
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). Also, stocks that closed 1993 below $1 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
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Intelogic Trace $0.47 $3.63 +673% Computer maintenance Sunshine Mining 0.47 2.63 +460% Silver and gold mining Allied Products 3.00 12.50 +317% Industrial equipment Mitel Corp. 1.63 5.88 +262% Telecom switching eq. United Inns 2.38 7.88 +232% Holiday Inns franchisee First USA 11.63 35.75 +208% Credit card processing Callaway Golf 17.38 53.38 +207% Oversized golf clubs Wheeling Pittsburgh 5.75 17.13 +198% Flat rolled steel prods. Liberte Investors 0.56 1.63 +189% Real estate inv. trust Lewis Galoob 3.25 9.38 +189% Toys
10 NYSE STOCKS DOWN THE MOST
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Tiphook ADRs $16.88 $3.00 -82.2% Freight container rental Merry-Go-Round 15.63 3.25 -79.2% Clothing retailer Leslie Fay 12.38 3.25 -73.7% Women’s clothing mfg. Asset Investors Corp. 6.75 1.88 -72.2% Mortgage REIT He-Ro Group 5.88 1.88 -68.1% Women’s clothing mfg. U.S. Surgical 68.75 22.50 -67.3% Surgical devices T2 Medical 22.63 7.88 -65.2% Home infusion therapy Chaus (Bernard) 7.00 2.50 -64.3% Women’s clothing mfg. Hospital Staffing 5.25 1.88 -64.3% Healthcare personnel Policy Mgmt. Systems 82.13 31.00 -62.9% Insurance software sys.
10 NASDAQ STOCKS UP THE MOST
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Crown Casino $0.44 $5.88 +1,236% Plans riverboat casino HMG Worldwide 0.88 10.38 +1,086% In-store marketing Koo Koo Roo 0.63 6.13 +880% Chicken restaurants ValueVision Intl. 1.75 15.38 +779% TV shopping channel America West Airlines 0.19 1.44 +667% Low-fare airline SA Holdings 0.59 4.50 +658% Intl. telecom services Lidak Pharmaceuticals 0.94 7.06 +653% Drug research Comdial Corp. 0.44 3.25 +643% Business phone sys. TEL Electronics 0.28 1.88 +567% Voice processing sys. Temtex Industries 1.38 9.13 +564% Home fireplaces
10 NASDAQ STOCKS DOWN THE MOST
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Amer. Intl. Petroleum $19.06 $2.00 -89.5% Oil/gas exploration Hillside Bedding 7.25 1.00 -86.2% Bedding retailer Ophthalmic Imaging 8.13 1.13 -86.2% Ophthalmic equipment All For a Dollar 12.63 1.75 -86.1% Discount retailer Out-Takes Inc. 7.75* 1.16 -85.1% Fantasy photo studios Madison Group 6.88 1.19 -82.7% Gospel music TV syn. Managed Health Ben. 6.38 1.13 -82.4% Workers’ comp. control Gantos 14.13 2.50 -82.3% Women’s clothes retail Synergen 64.25 11.38 -82.3% Biotech drug developer First National Film 5.63 1.09 -80.6% Animated films
10 AMEX STOCKS UP THE MOST
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Three-Five Systems $3.50 $35.25 +872% Opto-electronic prods. SOI Industries 0.41 3.50 +762% Video production Scandinavia Co. 0.19 1.38 +633% Real estate mgmt. Lori Corp. 0.88 5.63 +543% Costume jewelry Phoenix Network 1.13 6.75 +500% Long-distance reseller Andrea Electronics 4.48 24.13 +436% Communications equip. Republic Goldfields 0.63 3.25 +420% N. Amer. gold mining Winston Resources 0.38 1.94 +417% Personnel placement Brandywine Realty 0.38 1.88 +400% Real estate inv. trust ECI Environmental 0.38 1.88 +400% Asbestos abatement
10 AMEX STOCKS DOWN THE MOST
1992 1993 Pct. Stock close close chng. Line of business Health Professionals $8.38 $1.13 -86.6% Healthcare personnel Advanced Medical 9.63 1.44 -85.1% Intravenous pumps Angeles Mortgage 15.63 2.75 -82.4% Mortgage REIT Cognitronics 17.38 5.31 -75.2% Voice processing Phoenix Laser Sys. 9.25 2.38 -74.3% Ophthalmic lasers Farragut Mortgage 5.25 1.38 -73.8% Mortgage banking Rymac Mortgage 5.13 1.38 -73.2% Mortgage REIT CliniCorp 7.50 2.13 -71.7% Chiropractic clinics Editek 10.38 3.50 -66.5% Diagnostic tests HAL Inc. 6.75 2.31 -65.7% Hawaiian airline
Source: Associated Press * ’93 IPO; close on first trading day
