Region’s Stocks Weak in 3rd Quarter Despite Dow Jones Gains
The wild summer stock market ride that ended with key indices higher at the close of the third quarter failed to lift regional stocks to similar heights.
About 100 San Fernando Valley and Ventura County stocks tracked by The Times finished the period ended Sept. 30 an average of 5% lower than they were at the close of the second quarter. Only 38 of the local stocks posted gains in the recent three-month period.
By contrast, the Dow Jones industrial average closed out the quarter with a 4% increase--after subjecting investors to a nail-biting sell-off in July.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 and New York Stock Exchange composite indices ended the quarter at all-time highs.
The Nasdaq composite index, composed mostly of smaller stocks, ended 4% higher.
Despite the poor overall performance, some local stocks fared well during the third quarter.
The biggest gainer was PacificAmerica Money Center, a Woodland Hills-based mortgage lender. Since its initial public offering in July, its stock has climbed 63% to $22 a share.
Insurers Pac Rim Holding and Superior National Insurance, which recently agreed to merge, both finished the quarter higher. Superior rose 35% to $9.75 a share, and Pac Rim gained 42% to $2.84 a share. Calabasas-based Superior plans to acquire Pac Rim of Woodland Hills for about $54 million, creating the largest independent workers’ compensation insurer in California.
Rexhall Industries Inc. saw its stock rise 44% to $9.75 a share. The growing maker of recreational vehicles moved to Lancaster from Saugus earlier this year after considering a move out of state, which Antelope Valley officials have touted as a coup for the area.
Janex International Inc., a Woodland Hills maker of children’s products, saw its stock rise 36% to $1.88 a share after posting a profit turnaround from earlier losses.
Several local high-tech companies also logged increases for the quarter, including Vitesse Semiconductor (61%), Semtech Corp. (40%), MRV Communications (20%) and Xylan Corp. (17%).
Some of those gains followed major developments at the companies. Newbury Park-based Semtech, for example, announced in August that it had trimmed its work force by 21%. The maker of semiconductors said the cuts would help its profits in the second half of the year.
But the volatile high-tech sector also had its share of losers. Among them was Datametrics, which lost 65% of its stock value and finished at $1.75 a share, and StreamLogic Corp., which ended down 38% at $2.25 a share.
Datametrics, a Woodland Hills maker of high-speed printers and other computer products, recently reported wider losses in its fiscal third quarter and first nine months, compared with a year earlier. The company cited increased expenses for research and development and sales and marketing, as well as lower than expected sales of a new digital commercial printer.
StreamLogic, which is trying to engineer a turnaround after selling its loss-plagued disk-drive business, recently announced that it plans to move from Chatsworth to Silicon Valley to reduce costs.
The biggest loser for the quarter was Reddi Brake Supply Corp., a Ventura supplier of brake-distribution systems and other auto parts.
The company recently said that it expects a fiscal fourth quarter loss and that it closed seven warehouses and may close more. Its stock ended the quarter at 31 cents a share, an 84% drop.
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10 Biggest Regional Stock Winners for 3rd Quarter
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Closing Percent price on change in Stock 9/30/96 3rd quarter Line of business PacificAmerica $22.00 +63 Mortgage lending Vitesse Semiconductor $38.63 +61 Semiconductors Rexhall $9.75 +44 Recreational vehicles Pac Rim Holding $2.84 +42 Insurance Semtech $12.63 +40 Semiconductors Janex International $1.88 +36 Children’s products Ventura Cty. Nat. Bancorp $4.75 +36 Banking Superior Nat. Insurance $9.75 +35 Insurance T HQ $7.38 +34 Video games MRV Communications $25.75 +20 Computer networking
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Source: Media General Financial Services Inc., Richmond, Va.
10 Biggest Regional Stock Losers for 3rd Quarter
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Closing Percent price on change in Stock 9/30/96 3rd quarter Line of business Reddi Brake $.31 -84 Brake supplies Datametrics $1.75 -65 Computer printers Unilab $.69 -56 Laboratory services New Image Ind. $1.69 -44 Intraoral cameras California Amplifier $13.63 -41 Microwave TV products Cosmetic Group USA $1.75 -39 Cosmetics StreamLogic $2.25 -38 Data storage Taitron Components $3.38 -38 Semiconductors 3-D Systems $14.00 -36 Computer modeling JB Oxford Holdings $1.84 -36 Brokerage
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Source: Media General Financial Services Inc., Richmond, Va.
