Rockford’s New Stock Climbs 9.7%

The common stock of Rockford Industries, a medical specialty finance group, has climbed 9.7% to $8.50 a share since it began trading last Thursday at $7.75 on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Rockford, with 22 offices nationwide, leases medical equipment to doctors, dentists and health-care providers. The company, founded in 1984, specializes in leasing to start-up medical practices, which normally do not have the resources to own high-tech equipment.

The Santa Ana company had a loss of $295,000 on revenue of more than $54 million in 1994. However, Rockford incurred a onetime fee of $1.8 million last year for tax liability in its conversion from a partnership to a publicly traded corporation. Without the fee, the company would have had a $930,000 profit.

Rockford’s offering of 1.65 million shares was underwritten by Commonwealth Associates Growth Fund Inc. and Cruttenden Roth Inc.