THE TIMES 100 / THE BEST PERFORMING COMPANIES IN AMERICA : A VIEW FROM THE STREET : A Boom Year for Stock Offerings : Dozens of California companies find success in initial public offerings.

A raging bull market and an economic recovery made 1993 a record year for initial public stock offerings, and dozens of California companies rejoiced as their share prices soared following their Wall Street debut.

Companies from a broad range of industries shared in the prosperity, though technology firms led the pack, as in previous years. And while the majority of the IPOs were start-up companies, 1993 also saw a number of well-established firms go public, mostly as a result of corporate spinoffs.

Indeed, the largest initial public offering last year was the result of just such a deal: PacTel Corp., the cellular communications subsidiary of Pacific Telesis, sold $1.38 billion of shares to the public after it was spun off from its giant parent firm.

Fittingly, though, California’s best-performing IPO was Netmanage Inc., a classic Silicon Valley start-up. The company went public in September at $16 a share and traded at $38.75 on April 8.

The Times 100 ranking of top-performing IPOs ranks companies that went public in 1993 by the stock price appreciation between the offering date and April 8.

Netmanage sells software that enables computers to talk to one another, especially via the complex system of data networks collectively known as the Internet.

Zvi Alon, founder and chief executive, attributes the San Jose-based firm’s success to two key technology bets: that the Microsoft Windows personal computer operating system and the data transmission protocol called TCP/IP would both emerge as industrywide standards.

Add to the mix a “religious commitment to ease of use,” as Alon puts it, and you have one of the hottest companies in the sizzling communications software market.

Following Netmanage on the best-performing list was a company representing another booming sector: chip-making equipment. Tencor Instruments, which went public at $7.50 and saw its shares soar more than 115% during the past year, makes the complex equipment needed to measure and inspect the slabs of silicon used to create computer chips.

Several other chip equipment companies were near the top of the list; two of them, Electroglas and Ultratech Stepper, were spun off by Connecticut-based General Signal Corp.

“We’re in a major growth cycle in the semiconductor industry,” said Dan Case, president of the San Francisco investment bank Hambrecht & Quist, which has underwritten 18 IPOs for California companies this year. Case said demand for semiconductors--and therefore demand for chip-making equipment--tends to pick up at the beginning of an economic expansion.

Case also noted that 1993 was a weak year for biotechnology offerings, as investors worried about regulatory problems and the decade or more it can take to bring biotech products from the laboratory to market.

Despite such problems, San Diego biotech company Vical Inc. ranked No. 4 among top-performing IPOs in California. And that’s despite the fact that the company, which is developing therapies to treat hepatitis, doesn’t expect to have sales until 1997 at best.

Surprisingly, none of the stocks in the sexiest corner of the technology industry--multimedia--managed to rank among the 10 most successful IPOs. Educational software developer Davidson Associates, which is moving strongly into multimedia programs, ranked No. 18.

The much-hyped 3DO Co., which has developed a sophisticated new machine for computer games and multimedia education programs, ranked No. 23, though its share price has been falling for months after hitting a heady $48 last year. (The offering price was $15.)

Indeed, the recent stock market downturn has been especially hard on small technology companies, which could make 1994 a quieter year for high-tech IPOs.

Nationally, 1993 was a record year for IPOs, with 816 deals raising more than $57 billion, according to Peter Schoenke, editor of the New York-based newsletter Going Public: The IPO Reporter.

IPOs: How They Fared

Companies ranked by change in stock price since initial 1993 offering.

% Change 4/8/94 Offer Rank Company in Price Price Price 1 Netmanage Inc. 142.2 $38.75 $16.00 2 Tencor Instruments 115.7 16.18 7.50 3 Gymboree Corp. 113.8 42.75 20.00 4 Vical Inc. 110.0 10.50 5.00 5 Cornerstone Imaging Inc. 93.2 21.25 11.00 6 ENCAD Inc. 90.0 9.50 5.00 7 National RV Holdings Inc. 87.5 11.25 6.00 8 Sanmina Corp. 87.5 18.75 10.00 9 Electroglas Inc. 83.6 29.38 16.00 10 Credence Systems 83.3 22.00 12.00 11 Ultratech Stepper Inc. 81.3 25.38 14.00 12 Bell Microproducts 80.0 13.50 7.50 13 QuickResponses Services 79.2 21.50 12.00 14 Intuit 75.7 35.13 20.00 15 Leasing Solutions Inc. 75.0 8.75 5.00 16 Seda Specialty Packaging 69.6 23.75 14.00 17 OPTi Inc. 67.5 16.75 10.00 18 Davidson & Assoc. Inc. 65.4 21.50 13.00 19 Coastcast Corp. 64.9 26.38 16.00 20 Interlink Electronics 63.6 9.00 5.50 21 Southern Pacific Rail 59.3 21.50 13.50 22 Gupta Corp. 56.3 28.13 18.00 23 3DO Co. 50.9 22.63 15.00 24 Megatest Corp. 50.0 18.00 12.00 25 Pinnacle Micro Inc. 47.6 15.50 10.50 26 Resound Corp. 47.1 12.50 8.50 27 St. John Knits Inc. 46.4 24.88 17.00 28 KENETECH Corp. 42.4 23.50 16.50 29 Interpore Int’l. 40.1 9.81 7.00 30 Iwerks Entertainment Inc. 38.3 20.75 15.00 31 West Marine Inc. 37.5 19.25 14.00 32 Cobra Golf Inc. 33.3 28.00 21.00 33 Watson Pharmaceuticals 33.3 16.00 12.00 34 Asyst Technologies 32.0 11.88 9.00 35 Cell Genesys 31.8 14.50 11.00 36 Actel Corp. 28.9 12.25 9.50 37 Mercury Interactive Corp. 26.9 16.50 13.00 38 Macromedia Inc. 25.0 15.00 12.00 39 Hypermedia Communications 25.0 6.25 5.00 40 Wonderware Corp. 24.1 17.38 14.00 41 Level One Communications 23.5 21.00 17.00 42 Penederm Inc. 22.7 13.50 11.00 43 VERITAS Software 18.8 19.00 16.00 44 Quickturn Design Sys. 16.7 14.00 12.00 45 INCYTE Pharmaceuticals 16.7 8.75 7.50 46 Wellpoint Health Networks 16.5 32.62 28.00 47 U.S. Drug Testing Inc. 15.0 5.75 5.00 48 Deckers Outdoor Corp. 13.3 17.00 15.00 49 SangStat Medical 10.7 7.75 7.00 50 Aldila Inc. 10.7 15.50 14.00

Source: STAR Services

Biggest IPOs

California-based firms ranked by dollar amount of offering. Rank. Company: Offering ($ millions) 1. AirTouch Communications: 1,380 2. Wellpoint Health Networks: 476 3. Southern Pacific Rail: 405 4. Capital Guarenty Corp.: 141 5. St. John Knits Inc.: 116 6. Electroglas Inc.: 99 7. KENETECH Corp.: 99 8. MDL Information Systems: 90 9. Castle & Cooke Homes: 81 10. Santa Cruz Operation: 75 11. Cobra Golf Inc.: 68 12. Auspex Systems: 60 13. Pairgain Technologies Inc.: 58 14. Orchard Supply Hardware: 53 15. Robert Mondavi Corp.: 50 16. McGaw Inc.: 48 17. Shaman Pharmaceuticals: 45 18. Iwerks Entertainment Inc.: 45 19. 3DO Co.: 43 20. Gymboree Corp.: 43 21. Watson Pharmaceuticals: 43 22. QuickResponses Services: 42 23. Wonderware Corp.: 42 24. Quickturn Design Sys.: 40 25. StarSight Telecast Inc.: 40 26. Gupta Corp.: 39 27. Actel Corp.: 39 28. Cell Genesys: 38 29. Deckers Outdoor Corp.: 37 30. Level One Communications: 37 31. Mercury Interactive Corp.: 35 32. Netmanage Inc.: 35 33. InSite Vision Inc.: 33 34. CTL Credit: 33 35. Catalyst Semiconductor: 33 36. Aldila Inc.: 32 37. Coastcast Corp.: 32 38. Macromedia Inc.: 31 39. Megatest Corp.: 31 40. Ultratech Stepper Inc.: 30 41. Intuit: 30 42. HomeTown Buffet Inc.: 30 43. S3 Inc.: 30 44. Credence Systems: 30 45. OroAmerica Inc.: 27 46. Parallan Computer Inc.: 27 47. Davidson & Assoc. Inc.: 26 48. Proxima Corp.: 26 49. Purus Inc.: 25 50. Asante Technologies: 25 51. OPTi Inc.: 25 52. A Pea In The Pod: 24 53. Cornerstone Imaging Inc.: 23 54. Molecular Dynamics Inc.: 23 55. Pacific Sunware of Calif.: 23 56. Sanmina Corp.: 23 57. CoCensys Inc.: 22 58. Seda Specialty Packaging: 22 59. Digidesign Inc.: 22 60. West Marine Inc.: 22 61. Inco Homes Corp.: 22 62. Penederm Inc.: 22 63. Central Garden & Pet: 22 64. Resound Corp.: 21 65. Hamilton Financial Svcs.: 21 66. Catalytica Inc.: 21 67. Pinnacle Micro Inc.: 18 68. VERITAS Software: 18 69. Wind River Systems Inc.: 18 70. Proxim Inc.: 18 71. Arris Pharmaceutical: 17 72. Golden Systems Inc.: 17 73. Tencor Instruments: 16 74. Neurex Corp.: 16 75. Uniphase Corp.: 16 76. Interpore Int’l.: 15 77. Applied Signal Technology: 15 78. INCYTE Pharmaceuticals: 15 79. Superconductor Technologies: 15 80. Conductus Inc.: 15 81. EP Technology Inc.: 13 82. Octus Inc.: 12 83. Asyst Technologies: 11 84. Bell Microproducts: 11 85. SangStat Medical: 11 86. Vical Inc.: 10 87. U.S. Drug Testing Inc.: 7 88. ENCAD Inc.: 7 89. Pacific Rim Entertainment: 7 90. Interlink Electronics: 7 91. Hypermedia Communications: 7 92. Sierra Home Svcs. Cos.: 7 93. Leasing Solutions Inc.: 5 94. National RV Holdings Inc.: 4

Source: STAR Services.