A group of smaller companies stepped on the gas on the Business Journal’s annual list of fastest-growing publicly traded companies.
The 50 companies on our list saw a 93% gain in sales for the 12 months through June from the same period in 2005. Sales for the 12 months through June were $35.7 billion.
The rate of growth far exceeded the 56% clip posted by the 50 companies on last year’s list. But size is a factor: Last year’s group had sales of $74 billion, twice that of this year’s group.
A handful of bigger companies from last year didn’t make the cut this time around. They include Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc., last year’s No. 45 with yearly sales of $33 billion; Santa Ana-based First American Corp., 2007’s No. 50 with sales of $8.6 billion; and Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., last year’s No. 47 with sales of $1.5 billion.
That made for a group of smaller companies on this year’s list. The 50 companies on the 2008 list combined are about as big as Ingram Micro, the county’s largest public company by sales.
But being smaller made it easier for the companies to nearly double their three-year revenue.
And with a new year comes another No. 1 company on the list.
Tustin-based AMDL Inc. claims bragging rights to this year’s top spot. The maker of medical tests and seller of drugs, nutritional supplements and cosmetics in China ranked No. 4 last year.
AMDL’s sales have grown 26,373% in the three years through June 30, going from $77,588 in the 2005 period to $20.5 million for the 12 months through June.
Now No. 3
The company dislodged last year’s No. 1, Irvine eye drug maker Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., which fell to No. 3 this year.
Last year, Ista displaced Newport Beach-based patent holder Acacia Research Corp., which landed at No. 9 on this year’s list.
AMDL’s gain came from 2006’s $9 million buy of a pair of drug companies from Hong Kong’s Jade Capital Group Ltd.
The acquisitions now make up AMDL’s Jade unit, which makes fluids, tablets and related products. Jade also runs its own stores in China called Jade’s Healthy Supermarkets.
The gain “is mainly due to (our) successful operations in China,” Chief Executive Gary Dreher said.
In the U.S., AMDL in July received Food and Drug Administration approval for its DR-70 blood test, which is used to detect lung, breast, stomach, liver, colon, rectal and other types of cancer.
The company “is pursuing a large, international diagnostic company and national reference laboratories for either licensing or distribution for DR-70,” Dreher said during AMDL’s second-quarter conference call in August.
AMDL is emblematic of many on the list: a small company with a history of losses.
The company posted a narrowed second-quarter loss of $429,567, down from a loss of $2.3 million a year earlier. It has had a running deficit of about $39 million since its 1989 start.
AMDL’s auditor has raised questions about whether the company can stay in business. The company’s executives say they expect that warning to be taken off its financial statements with its growing China operations and other recent developments.
The company is one of eight out of the top 10 to post a loss for the 12 months through June.
The biggest loss came from Ista Pharmaceu-ticals at $39 million.
The only profitable companies in the top 10: No. 5 Aliso Viejo-based wireless phone software maker Smith Micro Software Inc. and No. 10 Irvine-based Masimo Corp., a medical device maker that debuted on the list after going public in 2007.
The largest company by sales in the top 10 is No. 4 Newport Beach-based Ambassadors International Inc. with 12-month sales of $311 million. The company operates cruises and builds marinas.
Biggest Company
The biggest company on the entire list is No. 19 Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp., a maker of disk drives with yearly sales of $8 billion. Given its size, its three-year growth rate of 122% is impressive.
There are 12 newcomers, reflecting the fluid nature of our list.
The highest ranking debut is No. 7 Aliso Viejo drug maker Avanir Pharmaceuticals, with yearly sales of $13 million, up 369% from 2005.
Masimo was the next highest ranking debut at No. 10.
The other newcomers: No. 16 Aliso Viejo-based SenoRx Inc., a medical device maker that went public in 2007; No. 17 Costa Mesa-based clothing maker Volcom Inc.; No. 28 Costa Mesa-based Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc.; No. 29 Irvine-based California First National Bancorp; No. 30 Costa Mesa-based Commerce Energy Group Inc.; No. 33 Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc.; No. 47 Santa Ana-based Collectors Universe Inc.; No. 48 Irvine-based Local.com Inc.; No. 49 Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc; and No. 50 Newport Beach-based SM & A.;
Along with Ingram Micro, First American and Pacific Sunwear, nine other companies from last year fell off the list.
They are: Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc., 2007’s No. 11; Irvine-based Newport Corp., last year’s No. 16; Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp., 2007’s No. 30; Tustin-based Cherokee Inter-national Corp., last year’s No. 34; Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc., 2007’s No. 38; New-port Beach-based Downey Financial Corp., last year’s No. 39; Newport Beach-based TriZetto Group Inc., 2007’s No. 42; Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp, last year’s No. 44; and Aliso Viejo-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, 2007’s No. 45.
