THE TIMES 100 / THE BEST PERFORMING COMPANIES IN AMERICA : RISING FORTUNES : Peeking at the Future
TERMS SUCH AS multimedia and information superhighway , which surfaced on a mass scale for the first time last year, have been derided recently as heavy on hype and light on substance. But these futuristic communications and entertainment services are already helping to propel many of California’s fastest-growing companies.
The Times Growth 100 list, which ranks companies by revenue growth, is usually ruled by high-tech enterprises. But many of the growth leaders in 1993 attributed their success to the creation of new forms of communication and media that are beginning to gain widespread acceptance among consumers and businesses.
Media Vision Technology Inc., No. 2 on the list with a whopping 248% sales growth rate, went public in the fall of 1992. The Fremont-based firm, one of a handful of companies making kits that bring multimedia capabilities to personal computers, benefited from plummeting PC prices and the desire of consumers, once they bought a PC, to do more than process words.
Chief Executive Paul Jain also credits the firm’s hardscrabble status with inspiring productivity. The company’s employees, he said, “worked very hard, not only for financial gain but for personal recognition.”
About 80% of the firm’s $248 million in sales last year came from CD-ROM drives, video and sound cards. The remaining revenue came from CD-ROM titles and semiconductors.
SynOptics Communications Inc., No. 9 on the Growth 100, dominates the market for devices called hubs, which coordinate the mini-superhighways of personal computer networks that are going on-line in many businesses as huge mainframe computers are traded in for more flexible desktop PCs. Among the firm’s recent customers: Wells Fargo Bank & Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Georgia-Pacific Corp.
“We’re a part of the data communications revolution,” Chief Operating Officer Bill Ruehle said. “People are realizing they have to be able to share information, access large files and transfer large masses of data. To do that, they have to be connected.”
Helping to drive sales growth at Cirrus Logic Inc. (No. 32) was the new market for 16-bit audio chips--more sophisticated than their eight-bit predecessors--that bring compact disc-quality sound to the home computer.
Electronic Arts (No. 33) profited from new ventures in CD-ROM games, the multimedia technology helping to fuel the video game market.
SuperMac Technology Inc. (No. 26) said 5% of its sales last year came from a new product, plug-in video cards that allow video footage to be captured and displayed on a Macintosh computer.
It remains unclear whether multimedia and communications firms can sustain such rapid growth. Media Vision is restructuring after an unexpectedly poor earnings report in the first quarter of this year.
SuperMac Chief Executive Michael McConnell doesn’t expect his company to show up on next year’s Growth 100. “We grew really fast, entered new markets, and now we’ve got some digestion to do,” he said.
Nor can anyone be sure whether the golfing boom that buoyed Callaway Golf Co. (No. 6), and Charter Golf Inc. (No. 31) onto the Growth 100 list will continue. But it paid off well for both companies, which achieved revenue growth last year of 93% and 56%, respectively.
Health care firms made another strong showing on the list this year, although some top companies from last year slipped in their ranking. Health maintenance organization TakeCare Inc. fell to No. 41 from No. 3 last year, and nursing home operator GranCare Inc. dropped to No. 19 from No. 12. Breaking into the top 15 were high-tech firms such as AST Research Inc. (No. 13) and IDB Communications Group Inc. (No. 5).
The No. 1 firm on this year’s Growth 100 list, Mycogen Corp., a San Diego biotechnology firm, attributed its 255% leap in revenue almost entirely to its acquisition of Agrigenetics, the seed and plant gene research division of Cleveland-based Lubrizol Corp. Renamed Mycogen Plant Sciences, the unit is headquartered in Prescott, Wis.
Culver City-based IDB said the economic recovery was key to its move up the rankings to No. 5 from No. 21. While about 30% of its growth came from the acquisition of a competitor in the Washington area, company President Edward Cheramy said the firm’s business--providing international long-distance telephone service--also grew from expansion in China and Europe.
“In 1992, we saw an overall slowdown in foreign business development,” Cheramy said. “Either people were not opening new plants overseas or they were closing them down. By the middle of last year, we noticed a reverse in that trend.”
Among IDB’s new customers last year: computer chip maker Intel Corp., No. 37 on the Growth 100 list.
Overall, a company had to pedal faster this year to make the growth list, an indication of a slightly healthier economy. A company needed sales growth of 26% to make this year’s list, compared to 20% in 1992 and 15% in 1991. The range was higher as well: In 1992, the highest rate of growth was 114%; this year the top four firms posted growth rates of more than 115%.
The Growth 100
Companies ranked by increase in sales from 1992 to 1993.
1993 1993 Revenue Revenue Rank Company ($ millions) % Growth 1 Mycogen Corp. 120.5 255 2 Media Vision Technology 241.4 248 3 Solectron Corp. 1,021.7 133 4 Pyxis Corp. 100.2 117 5 IDB Communications 310.7 100 6 Cisco Systems 928.2 96 7 Callaway Golf 254.6 93 8 Lam Research Corp. 371.6 88 9 SynOptics Communications 704.5 81 10 Physicians Clinical Lab 63.0 76 11 Andros Inc. 54.2 74 12 AST Research Inc. 1,970.9 73 13 Insurance Auto Auctions 104.1 72 14 NetFRAME Systems Inc. 66.9 71 15 QUALCOMM Inc. 192.4 71 16 Herbalife International Inc. 364.7 70 17 Synopsys Inc. 120.8 70 18 GranCare Inc. 508.0 68 19 Electronics For Imaging 89.5 67 20 Supercuts Inc. 59.2 67 21 Franklin Resources Inc. 717.3 66 22 Magma Power 164.4 64 23 Countrywide Credit Indus. 937.1 63 24 Novellus Systems Inc. 113.5 63 25 Right Start 52.2 62 26 SuperMac Technology 202.5 62 27 Sybase Inc. 426.7 61 28 Fresenius USA Inc. 206.0 60 29 Atmel Corp. 221.7 59 30 Fair, Issac & Co. 74.3 57 31 Charter Golf 49.5 56 32 Cirrus Logic Inc. 478.5 56 33 Electronic Arts Inc. 397.7 53 34 North American Mortgage 324.9 52 35 Applied Materials 1,204.9 51 36 Fidelity National Financial 575.4 51 37 Intel Corp. 8,782.0 50 38 Aspect Telecommunications 106.5 50 39 Trimark Holdings 79.9 49 40 TakeCare Inc. 923.1 49 41 Kasler Holding Co. 238.9 48 42 Quantum Health Resources 201.7 47 43 Mattel Inc. 2,704.4 46 44 Plaza Home Mortgage 100.4 46 45 American Residential 182.5 46 46 Xircom Inc. 91.4 45 47 Kushner-Locke Co. 44.0 45 48 Fresh Choice Inc. 53.6 44 49 Pacific Physician Services 162.7 44 50 Special Devices 43.1 42 51 Xilinx Inc. 231.2 42 52 PS Group Inc. 354.9 40 53 Dick Clark Productions 55.1 40 54 Chiron Corp. 239.8 39 55 Zilog Inc. 202.7 39 56 Robert Half International 306.2 39 57 Cohu Inc. 75.3 38 58 Altera Corp. 140.3 38 59 Merisel Inc. 3,085.9 38 60 Fritz Cos. 341.8 37 61 Homedco Group 480.4 37 62 Natural Wonders 119.6 36 63 American Recreation Centers 93.5 36 64 Integrated Device Tech. 302.8 36 65 Centigram Communications 65.1 36 66 Information International 41.6 35 67 Jefferies Group Inc. 318.1 35 68 Octel Communications Corp. 284.1 35 69 Sunrise Medical 384.1 35 70 Regency Health Services 140.3 34 71 U.S. Filter Corp. 125.2 34 72 3Com Corp. 696.2 34 73 StrataCom Inc. 74.4 34 74 Silicon Graphics Inc. 1,262.0 33 75 CorVel Corp. 76.4 33 76 Abbey Healthcare Group Inc. 329.1 32 77 Linear Technology Corp. 174.7 32 78 Sierra On-Line 60.5 32 79 PacifiCare Health Systems 2,407.0 32 80 Maxim Integrated Products 127.7 32 81 Compression Labs 141.3 31 82 Vivra Inc. 212.3 31 83 KLA Instruments Corp. 199.1 31 84 Foundation Health Corp. 1,806.1 30 85 Quantum Corp. 2,002.7 30 86 Adaptec Inc. 355.4 30 87 Lockheed Corp. 13,071.0 29 88 Oracle Systems Corp. 1,692.9 29 89 FHP International Corp. 2,264.7 29 90 Cheesecake Factory 67.0 29 91 ADAC Laboratories 167.2 29 92 Bergen Brunswig Corp. 7,058.2 28 93 Custom Chrome Inc. 67.3 28 94 Mercury Air Group Inc. 95.6 28 95 California Microwave 289.4 28 96 Authentic Fitness 145.5 27 97 Network General Corp. 99.7 27 98 Silicon Valley Group Inc. 257.4 27 99 Viking Office Products 497.1 26 100 ILC Technology 52.4 26
Source: STAR Services.
