THE TIMES 100 : Regional Companies Prove They Can Get Wall Street Excited : These Southland firms streamlined, diversified or reorganized their way to impressive stock gains.

Many small regional start-up companies wow investors as their stock zooms into the stratosphere. Although that kind of performance often becomes harder to maintain as a business grows and matures, it still gets Wall Street excited.

Some higher-revenue companies in Southern California have also scored big stock gains in the past year. Here’s a look at some of them:

Printronix: In corporate offices and on the factory floor, the heavy-duty printers made by Printronix Inc. spew out countless pages of the financial, production and other computer-generated reports business has come to rely upon. The Irvine-based company commands about 30% of nationwide printer sales.

After profits began to sag and competition increased in recent years, Printronix launched a reorganization to cut operating costs and introduced a new line of dot matrix printers that helped set the stage for a dramatic comeback last year. Fiscal third-quarter profits, for example, zoomed to $1.9 million from $300,000 the previous year. Investors have rewarded Printronix by bidding up the company stock. The company completed a stock split at the end of the year.

The company’s results are all the more impressive given that the market for industrial printers is pretty much stagnant, said securities analyst Steven M. Shum at Red Chip Review in Portland, Ore. “They are growing via (increased) market share and improved operating efficiencies,” Shum said.

3D Systems Corp.: The Valencia-based company has dominated an industry it virtually created eight years ago. But it was only last year that the company began to enjoy consistent rewards for its efforts.

The company’s model-making machines, which sell for $100,000 to $500,000 each, combine high-speed computers and lasers to make plastic prototypes of products in hours instead of the weeks it takes to create similar models in clay, metal or wood. The machines, used to make models of everything from auto parts to Tupperware, can substantially cut the time and cost of developing and bringing new products to market, industry analysts say.

Under chief executive and high technology veteran Arthur B. Sims, 3D has expanded beyond manufacturing to offering in-house modeling services to customers who do not need to buy an expensive machine. The company is also seeking new applications for its technology, including using the machines to make prototypes of prosthetics, human bones and organs.

The result has been a string of profitable quarters and a 133% increase in 3D’s stock last year.

Many businesses have just begun to discover that 3D’s technology can “save a great deal of time and money in developing new products,” Shum said. “They are beginning to show some consistent profit.”

Datum Inc.: About five years ago, Datum Inc. found itself uncomfortably dependent on defense contracts for nearly 80% of its business as the Pentagon was under orders to curb spending.

By last year, however, the Anaheim-based manufacturer of sophisticated electronic timing devices had shrunk its dependence on military contracts to about 25% and connected its fortunes to the booming telecommunications industry.

As profits surged last year in response to cost cutting and growing demand, Datum announced the acquisition of Ball Corp.’s Irvine-based Efratom division, which makes timing devices used to synchronize signals sent over cellular telephone and wireless networks. Those products complement Datum’s timing devices, which boost the quality and security of electronic transmissions over fiber-optic systems.

The surge in profits and the Efratom division are credited for the leap in Datum’s stock price in the last year. Steven M. Lidberg, a securities analyst at Red Chip Review, said the Efratom acquisition should start producing profits this year, while investments in telephone and fiber-optic networks will continue to boost Datum’s main product line.

“This market right now is poised for pretty substantial forward (movement) as telephone companies synchronize their networks to make them more fail-safe and problem-free,” Lidberg said.

Rotonics Manufacturing: The subject of roto molding is not going to raise much excitement at a cocktail party. But it has triggered dramatic results for Rotonics Manufacturing and its investors.

Based in Gardena, the plastics company watched its stock zoom last year as efforts to focus on roto molding, a production method used to make everything from 6,500-gallon water tanks to seats for pleasure boats, paid off handsomely.

Roto molding works something like this: A mold of a trash bin or other product is injected with a plastic resin and then placed into an oven, where the mold is rotated at high speed. The resin then melts into the shape of the product mold.

Rotonics’ strong performance comes after it was repurchased by founder and Chairman Sherman McKinniss, who had sold out several years ago. After his return, Rotonics, formerly known as Koala Technologies, sold off some extraneous product lines and has acquired other firms across the country to lower costs and offer customers nationwide service in an industry dominated by regional firms.

“The first couple of years were kind of a struggle to get this other stuff behind us,” said Douglas Russell, chief financial officer. “We are finally trying to reap the benefits of all this.”

Salick Health Care: The top spot in the accompanying chart would have been held by Salick Health Care Inc. if it hadn’t been merged with Zeneca Group this month. An earlier sale of half the company to Zeneca, a British drug maker, and the continued growth of its outpatient cancer and kidney dialysis clinics helped boost Salick’s stock 113% last year. Founded in 1973 by Dr. Bernard Salick, the company began operating a chain of kidney dialysis treatment centers across the country and then expanded into 10 cancer clinics affiliated with major hospitals, such as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Last year, Los Angeles-based Salick entered into a $35-million contract with a South Florida health maintenance organization to offer inpatient, outpatient and home-care services in an attempt to show that cost-effective care can be provided to a large number of cancer patients at a fixed fee. The company formed a managed-care subsidiary to sell such services to other HMOs.

Southern California’s other high-flying stocks included San Diego-based Proxima Corp., which makes desktop projection systems used in meetings, and long-distance phone service provider Datametrics Corp. of Woodland Hills.

Some other top stock performers were Starwood Lodging Trust, a Los Angeles firm that owns and manages 28 hotels; Cerritos-based telecommunications equipment maker Pairgain Technologies Inc.; Comarco Inc., a maker of wireless communications equipment; Eltron International Inc. of Chatsworth, maker of bar code label printers; Emulex Corp., a Costa Mesa-based software designer and manufacturer, and San Diego-based computer chip maker Brooktree Corp.

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Regional Stock Leaders

Companies in 10 southern counties with highest percentage gain in stock price in 52 weeks ending April 13, ranked by 1994 revenue.

1994 Revenue % Change % stock Rank Company ($ millions) in revenue gain 1 Printronix Inc. 135.9 35.7 272.6 2 Proxima Corp. 116.9 86.7 241.4 3 Starwood Lodging Trust 114.0 -2.7 128.6 4 Brooktree Corp. 112.9 -1.7 140.7 5 Advanced Medical Inc. 112.0 -6.5 150.0 6 Emulex Corp. 71.3 30.9 374.2 7 Tekelec 61.2 30.6 537.0 8 PairGain Technologies 59.5 63.9 168.7 9 Incomnet Inc. 46.8 314.3 139.3 10 California Amplifier 45.7 12.3 127.6 11 3-D Systems Inc. 43.3 39.4 150.0 12 Rotonics Manufacturing 33.9 21.4 123.0 13 Yes Clothing Co. 30.9 -3.4 490.9 14 Datum Inc. 30.9 25.6 166.7 15 Semtech Corp. 25.8 21.2 405.0 16 JB Oxford Holdings Inc. 24.6 -10.4 162.5 17 Datametrics 23.0 -5.2 182.9 18 MRV Communications 17.5 136.0 144.2

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Divvying It Up

Companies ranked by dividend as a percent of stock price.

Dividend 4/13/95 as a % of Stock Rank Company Stock Price Price 1 PLM Equipment Growth Fund 0.194 11.88 2 Airlease Ltd. 0.129 14.63 3 General Parametrics Corp. 0.128 1.88 4 Alexander Haagen Props. 0.123 11.75 5 Burnham Pacific Property 0.123 11.75 6 Essex Property Trust 0.101 16.50 7 Pacific Gulf Properties 0.101 15.50 8 TriNet Corporate Realty 0.098 24.88 9 Western Invstmt. RE Trust 0.092 12.13 10 Excel Realty Trust Inc. 0.092 18.63 11 LTC Properties Inc. 0.091 12.75 12 Real Estate Inv. Trust/CA 0.087 16.25 13 Irvine Apt. Communities 0.086 15.75 14 Spieker Properties Inc. 0.086 19.63 15 BRE Properties Inc. 0.082 30.88 16 Beeba’s Creations Inc. 0.080 4.00 17 National Golf Properties 0.080 19.75 18 Macerich Co. 0.078 20.50 19 Herbalife International 0.077 11.44 20 Nationwide Health Props. 0.076 36.13 21 Pacific Gas & Electric 0.075 26.00 22 Southern California Water 0.075 16.00 23 San Diego Gas & Electric 0.074 21.13 24 Pacific Telesis Group 0.072 30.13 25 Health Care Property 0.069 30.13

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Great Expectations

Companies ranked by analysts’ estimated earnings increase this year.

‘95 Estmtd. ’95 Estmtd. 1994 % earnings earn/share Actual Rank Company increase price earn/share 1 Armanino Foods of Dist. 991 0.48 0.04 2 Northrop Grumman Corp. 590 5.01 0.73 3 Adobe Systems Inc. 544 2.06 0.32 4 Int’l Microcomputer Soft. 369 0.97 0.21 5 Unocal Corp. 240 1.31 0.39 6 National Medical Enter. 225 1.20 0.37 7 SC Bancorp 191 1.67 0.57 8 Altera Corp. 150 2.54 1.01 9 Davidson & Associates 147 0.74 0.30 10 Reliance Steel & Aluminum 146 4.25 1.73 11 Hewlett-Packard Co. 139 8.40 3.51 12 Vons Companies Inc. 138 1.45 0.61 13 Potlatch Corp. 134 3.93 1.68 14 Litton Industries Inc. 113 2.77 1.30 15 Bay Meadows Operating Co. 104 1.49 0.73 16 KLA Instruments Corp. 98 2.87 1.45 17 QUALCOMM Inc. 97 0.58 0.29 18 Chiron Corp. 94 1.04 0.54 19 Merisel Inc. 87 0.71 0.38 20 Synopsys Inc. 84 1.74 0.95 21 StrataCom Inc. 80 1.00 0.56 22 Bay Networks Inc. 76 1.49 0.85 23 San Diego Gas & Electric 65 1.92 1.17 24 Amgen Inc. 63 3.72 2.28 25 AirTouch Communications 61 0.32 0.20

Rank Analysts 1 14 2 10 3 11 4 12 5 31 6 16 7 25 8 15 9 11 10 12 11 26 12 12 13 12 14 11 15 22 16 11 17 12 18 20 19 10 20 10 21 12 22 22 23 18 24 29 25 19

Source: Zack’s Research