A mostly negative 2007 for Orange County stocks saw a few gems come through.
Some medical device makers and technology companies saw strong gains for the year, while,as you might have guessed,a pair of homebuilders led the decliners.
Three indexes of local stocks tracked by the Business Journal (see Market Watch) were flat or down for the year, faring worse than their national counterparts.
Nationally, stocks ended 2007 with a modest 3% gain, as measured by the S & P; 500 index. Nasdaq was up 8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5%.
Gains for about 80 OC stocks tracked for the Business Journal by Bank of New York Mellon Corp. were sparse.
The BNY Mellon Billion-Dollar Club of local stocks valued at $1 billion or more was up less than 1% for 2007. About half of the 21 stocks in the index finished higher, including Fullerton medical device maker Beckman Coulter Inc. and Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc.
The BNY Mellon OC 50, which tracks 50 local stocks with market values of $25 million to $1 billion, fell 21% for the year. Only about 10 stocks in the group were higher, including Irvine healthcare software developer Quality Systems Inc. and printer maker Printronix Inc. of Irvine, which is being bought by San Francisco-based Vector Capital in a deal set to close this month.
Local technology stocks in the BNY Mellon OC Tech index ended the year down 4%. The index includes a hand-picked group of 15 stocks that aims to reflect the local tech industry. The index only had about five stocks that closed higher in 2007.
The biggest gain among local stocks came from Irvine-based Masimo Corp., which nearly doubled since its initial public offering in August.
The company, whose Chief Executive Joe Kiani was the Business Journal’s businessperson of the year for 2007, had one of the most successful public offerings in the county in recent years, closing up 23% in its first day of trading and raising $233 million (see story on page 1, IPOs list on 31).
As of last week, Masimo had a market value of $2.2 billion.
The company makes pulse oximeters, which attach to a finger or toe and measure oxygen in critically sick adults or newborns.
The second best stock for 2007 was a smaller one: Fountain Valley-based Cam Commerce Solutions Inc., which finished the year up 67% with a market value of $175 million.
Growth in sales and profits from the
company’s software that helps retailers track inventory and bill customers lifted the company.
Cypress-based remote control maker Universal Electronics Inc. was the third best performing local stock, ending 55% higher.
Strong sales of remote controls for high-definition TVs and other home entertainment gear were a boost for the company, which had a recent market value of $500 million.
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Remote from Universal Electronics: company had third best OC stock in 2007 |
Universal makes remotes for set-top box and TV makers including Comcast Corp., Motorola Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Sony Corp. It also sells remotes at stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. was the county’s fourth best stock of 2007.
The disk drive maker’s shares rose 50% to bring its market value to $6.6 billion last week.
The company has seen strong demand for drives used in computers and consumer electronics. A month ago, Western Digital raised its profit and sales forecast for the three months through December.
Western Digital also has benefited from stable prices for drives,commodities that are prone to price wars.
The company’s shares slumped early in the year on concerns about a price war and its impact on profits. That changed around summer as demand for drives picked up and stabilized prices.
Tie for Fifth
Two companies virtually tied for the fifth spot among the top local stocks last year.
Foothill Ranch-based aluminum products maker Kaiser Aluminum Corp. and Anaheim-based Alliance Imaging Inc., a provider of medical scanning services, both saw gains of about 40% in 2007.
Alliance provides medical scanning devices for hospitals and doctors offices. The company’s shares gained in 2007 despite posting results that were below year-ago numbers for most of the year and issuing a 2008 forecast that was below Wall Street’s expectation.
Investors seem to be placing faith in Alliance’s bid to expand across the country in a fragmented business with high operating costs.
Alliance, which runs medical scanning centers near hospitals and other healthcare sites, said in November it would pay $36 million for eight cancer treatment centers in the southern and central part of the country.
The company had a market value of $460 million last week.
Kaiser Aluminum, a maker of aluminum parts for aerospace, auto and appliance makers, has been riding high after re-emerging from bankruptcy reorganization in 2006.
In November, the company reported third-quarter profits that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
The company had a market value of $1.6 billion last week.
Biggest Drop
The biggest drop for an OC stock came from Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp., which saw 85% of its market value whittled down to $230 million as of last week.
Industry watchers expect Standard to have another difficult year with the down housing market.
Another homebuilder loser was Irvine-based California Coastal Communities Inc., which lost 70% of its value to be the second worst stock in the county.
With a recent market value of $65 million, California Coastal is a smaller homebuilder.
California Coastal is developing Brightwater, a 62-house project near the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach.
The third worst stock was Newport Beach-based Ambassadors International Inc., which shed 70% to bring its market value to $133 million last week.
Ambassadors, which runs cruises, arranges trips for companies to reward employees and builds marinas, took some lumps in 2007.
In summer, Congress failed to extend its permission to operate cruises on U.S. rivers. In May, one of its ships ran aground in Alaska.
Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. was the fourth worst stock as it fell 65% to close the year with a market value of about $210 million.
The company’s stores have fallen out of favor with a fickle group of shoppers: teen girls and young women.
For much of 2007, Wet Seal saw slumping sales and disappointing profits.
The fifth worst stock: Irvine-based BioLase Technology Inc., which fell 62% to a market value of $65 million last week.
The company, which makes lasers for use by dentists, lost half of its value in one day in November after it announced a third-quarter loss along with the departure of its chief executive, Jeffrey Jones.
Revenue for the third quarter was off 25% to $12.8 million.
