Compiled by Julie Leupold
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Down: Visitors to Orange County in 2009. They were off 1% from 2008 to 42.7 million, according to The Anaheim/
Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau and CIC Research. Visitor spending de-creased from $7.9 billion in 2008 to $7.1 billion in 2009.
Mixed: The median price of an existing OC home, which fell by more than $15,000 to $480,790 in January from December but was up 13% from a year earlier, according to the California Associa-tion of Realtors. Sales rose 13% from a year earlier but were down nearly 29% from December.
TOP STORY
Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. reached a deal to sell Griffin Towers in Santa Ana, according to the Wall Street Journal. Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. and Angelo, Gordon & Co., a New York-based private equity firm, reportedly are buying the two 14-story buildings for a combined $90 million, or about $167 per square foot. That’s close to the price expected when the buildings were marketed earlier this year. But it’s well below the $200 million value given to them when Maguire refinanced the property in 2008.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine’s Vizio Inc. nearly doubled its TV sales in 2009. Vizio was the top seller of liquid-crystal display TVs for the fourth quarter and for all of 2009, beating out Samsung Group, Royal Philips Electronics NV and Sony Corp., according to El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp. Strong holiday sales helped Vizio ship some 1.8 million TVs in the U.S. during the fourth quarter and around 6 million for the year, up from 3 million TVs in 2008.
Lake Forest-based Newport Media Inc., a startup maker of chips for digital audio and mobile TV, landed $15 million in a round of venture funding. The round brings the company’s total raised to about $80 million.
Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software Inc., a maker of software for cell phones and other mobile devices, met with a warm reception on Wall Street after it narrowed its sales outlook for the rest of the year. Smith Micro projected that it would see 2010 sales of $125 million to $135 million, which would be up 16% to 26% from 2009. Analysts had been projecting $130 million in revenue. It didn’t give a profit outlook. Analysts are looking for 2010 profits of $24 million, up from an expected profit of $22 million for 2009.
HEALTHCARE
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations and reaffirmed its 2010 profit outlook. The Aliso Viejo drug maker said its fourth-quarter profit came in at $55.4 million, excluding non-recurring items. Analysts had expected Valeant to make $48.8 million in the quarter. Quarterly revenue jumped 31% to $240.5 million, surpassing Wall Street’s projection of $221.7 million.
REAL ESTATE
Santa Ana-based title insurer and data services company First American Corp. reported a profit and sales in line with estimates and said it hopes to complete a long-planned spinoff by June 1. First American reported a profit of $38 million compared to a loss of $67 million a year earlier. Revenue came in at $1.5 billion, up 11% from a year earlier and topping the $1.47 billion analysts were looking for.
APPAREL
Costa Mesa-based clothing maker Volcom Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $3.3 million that was well beyond what Wall Street was looking for and offered a generally upbeat outlook for the current quarter. Analysts on average were looking for a profit of $940,000. A dramatic decrease in operating expenses, which went from $42 million a year earlier to $28 million, drove the bigger than expected profit. For the current quarter, Volcom said it projects sales of $71 million to $74 million, topping the $69 million analysts had been expecting. Volcom projected a profit of $3.7 million to $4.5 million, in line with expectations.
FINANCE
A move by Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. to halt a class-action lawsuit was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. More than 1,000 investors are asking for $600 million in damages, claiming Pimco bond fund managers cornered the market on long-term Treasuries contracts five years ago. The suit alleged that Pimco more than tripled its stakes in benchmark 10-year Treasury notes during a two-week stretch. The moves pressured bond prices higher, according to the suit, which charges Pimco, a unit of Germany’s Allianz SE, with making at least $1 billion off the move.
OTHER NEWS
Newport Beach topped a list of the nation’s top wealth clusters by business Web site Portfolio.com. Newport Beach has per capita income of $86,586, which is triple that the nation’s $27,589. More than a quarter of Newport Beach’s households, 28.6%, have annual incomes of more than $200,000. The median home value in Newport Beach is more than $1 million. The only other Orange County city to make the list was Irvine at No. 15.
Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc., a maker of bulletproof vests and other products, reported a fourth-quarter profit of $11.4 million last week that topped Wall Street’s lowered expectation of $8 million.
The parent of Carl’s Jr.—which has major operations there—is being acquired and taken private in a deal valued at $928 million. Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants Inc. is being acquired by Boston private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP for $619 million plus the assumption of $309 million in debt. The company is going private to “to continue the growth and development of CKE Restaurants,” Chief Executive Andrew Puzder said. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
