THE TIMES 100 / THE BEST PERFORMING COMPANIES IN AMERICA : A GUIDE TO THE GUIDE : Putting This Guide Together

THIS SEVENTH EDITION of The Times 100, our annual inquiry into the performance of companies headquartered in California, was produced by the Los Angeles Times business staff using data collected and analyzed by Star Services, a San Francisco business research company.

Star gathered information on 790 California-based companies whose stock is publicly traded, relying on databases, corporate and government reports, a mail survey and phone calls to companies. Certain historical and other data was obtained from a variety of databases, corporate and government reports, a mail and fax survey and telephone calls to companies. The tables generated by Star were closely reviewed by Times editors and reporters. Criteria for the rankings were jointly developed by The Times and Star.

Annual figures for this section may not match the latest fiscal year numbers reported by companies. If a company’s fiscal year did not end in November or December, 1993, or January, 1994, then the latest 12-month period ending in one of those months was used to calculate an annual figure. For year-to-year comparisons, the 1993 figures are compared to the corresponding four quarters ending in November or December, 1992, or January, 1993.

Page 39 of this section lists those companies whose fiscal year does not coincide with the calendar year; it also lists the 12-month period on which data is based.

Financial data from prior years has not been restated for acquisitions or discontinued operations. This allows readers to see actual historical growth for the company, whether from internal growth or acquisitions.

A few companies have majority-owned subsidiaries that are traded as separate entities. The financial results for these subsidiaries are presented independently as well as on a consolidated basis in the accounts of the parent companies. This applies, for example, to ICN Pharmaceuticals (parent) and SPI Pharmaceuticals.

General Criteria

All companies must be publicly traded on one of the major exchanges--the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or Nasdaq--and be headquartered in California. Income is defined as after-tax income from continuing operations and excludes extraordinary items, as well as gains or losses from discontinued operations.

Sales exclude excise taxes, extraordinary income, revenue from discontinued operations and other income such as interest. For banks and savings and loan associations, revenue equals the sum of interest and non-interest income. For insurance firms, revenue equals the sum of earned premiums, realized gains or losses from investments and net investment income. For all charts except the stock market performance charts, companies must have had at least $50 million in 1993 sales.

Section Notes

The Bottom Line: Return on equity measures the profit a company earns for every dollar common stockholders have invested in the firm. Return on equity is defined as income available to common shareholders divided by the average common shareholder’s equity. Income available to common shareholders is calculated by subtracting preferred dividends (if any) from income from continuing operations. The Times 100 table ranks companies by the average return on common equity for the last two years.

For The Times 100 table, companies must have met these criteria: publicly traded since December, 1992; sales in 1993 greater than $50 million; profit from continuing operations in 1993 and 1992, and no negative common equity for either of the last two fiscal years.

Companies in the Top 25 and Bottom 25 in Absolute Profits must have been publicly traded in 1992. Just as the Top 25 in Absolute Profits ranks companies by dollar amount of profits from continuing operations, the Bottom 25 ranks companies by dollar amount of loss. The Top 25 Banks and S&Ls; table shows return on assets, which measures the percentage profit for every dollar in assets. Companies must have been publicly traded in 1992 with total assets exceeding $200 million. Return on assets in The Times’ list may differ from what is disclosed by the institutions themselves because Star divides income by the average of assets for the same reporting period. The figure thus reflects profit earned on a constantly growing asset base.

The Top 25 in Profit Margins measures the percentage profit for every dollar in sales. Companies must have been publicly traded in 1993 with total sales exceeding $50 million.

The Born Again table shows companies that have had the greatest turnaround from a loss in 1992 to a profit in 1993.

The Nose Dives table shows companies that have suffered the greatest decrease in earnings from a profit in 1992 to a loss in 1993.

Real estate investment trusts and limited partnerships were not eligible for inclusion in this section because income for these companies, which is not taxed at the company level, is not comparable to after-tax income for corporations.

The Giants: The Sales 100 ranks companies by net revenue. For banks and savings and loan associations, revenue equals the sum of interest and non-interest income. The Biggest Service companies table ranks service firms by net revenue. Service companies include entertainment, leisure, media, retail, utility, transportation, wholesale, business and personal service, investment, real estate and insurance companies.

View From the Street: A company’s stock must be available for trading on the New York or American stock exchanges, Nasdaq or among the major listings, and must have been available for trading before Dec. 31, 1993, to make the Market Value 100 and the Lowest Priced, Highest Priced, Favorites and Forlorn tables.

Market value is the company’s stock price times the number of shares outstanding and generally reflects the esteem in which investors hold a company’s stock and the confidence they have in its future success. Book value is total stockholders’ equity (assets minus liabilities).

Companies on the Favorites and Forlorn tables must have had 1993 sales of at least $10 million.

For the Charging Ahead and Falling Behind tables, a company’s stock price on April 8, 1994, must have exceeded $2. Stock prices as of March 31, 1993, have been adjusted to reflect stock splits and stock dividends.

For the Lowest-Priced and Highest-Priced lists, a firm’s market value on March 31, 1994, must have exceeded $100 million.

The Divvying It Up list of dividend yields ranks companies on the ratio of their current indicated annual dividend to their stock price as of April 8, 1994. In most cases, this figure is the latest quarterly dividend multiplied by four. There is no guarantee that the same amount of cash dividend will be declared for subsequent quarters this fiscal year or that a dividend will be declared every quarter. The list excludes real estate investment trusts and master limited partnerships because their dividends often include a return of capital.

The table of Top Performing Initial Public Offerings ranks companies that had their initial public common stock offering in 1993 by the stock price appreciation between the initial offering date and April 8, 1994. Certain data was provided by Spotlight Development of San Francisco.

The Great Expectations list ranks companies based on investment analysts’ published earnings estimates, as compiled by Star Services. A minimum of 15 analyst estimates are required for each company listed. The estimates are as of March 31, 1994. The estimated earnings-per-share increase and percentage increase are an average of all analyst forecasts for that company.

Rising Fortunes: For the Growth 100, sales growth can come either by generating new business or acquiring other firms. A company must have been publicly traded since 1992, with 1992 sales exceeding $30 million.

Companies eligible for the Fastest Profit Growth table must have been publicly traded and shown a profit from continuing operations for the last two years. Income in 1992 from continuing operations must have been at least $10 million. Net income figures for all companies have been adjusted to exclude changes in accounting rules issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board involving the setting aside of reserves when federal taxes rise.

The Human Factor: California-based companies are ranked by the number of full- and part-time employees worldwide at year-end, excluding consultants and contractors. Employment figures are estimates provided by the company. If year-end results were not available, employee estimates are from the latest completed quarter. The table excludes companies that are large employers in the state but are headquartered elsewhere.

The Most Productive Employees list ranks only the top companies in each sector by revenue per employee (worldwide), but the group average is computed from figures on all the companies in the industry that were surveyed.

Hiring trends were obtained from the companies, which used the following guideline when responding to the question: “What is your company’s hiring outlook for the upcoming 12 months?”: Increasing (up more than 5%), neutral (as much as 5% up or down), reducing (down more than 5%)

The Regions: Same criteria used for the main tables.

Abbreviations: Stock exchange symbols are as follows: NY/New York Stock Exchange, AS/American Stock Exchange and NMS/National Assn. Securities Dealers’ National Market System.

The company stock symbol refers to its stock ticker symbol and is not necessarily the way the company is listed in stock tables in this newspaper.