The majority of Orange County’s publicly traded companies enjoyed a positive 2017.
Fifty one of the 65 companies tracked on the OCBJ-BNY Mellon list of publicly traded companies reported a share price increase last year. Shares of 23 of them rose more than the 22% total return reported for the S&P 500 Index.
The best performance was Cryoport Inc.’s 165% (NASDAQ: CYRX). The Irvine-based company uses cryogenic technology to ship domestically and internationally a range of life sciences products, including immunotherapies, stem, CAR-T and reproductive cells. The company, which now has a $211 million market cap, reported a 58% jump in revenue to $8.6 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30.
The fast-growing revenue “is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as our biopharma market revenue is expected to significantly ramp as our clients’ regenerative therapies reach commercial viability, requiring more extensive logistics support from Cryoport,” Chief Executive Jerrell Shelton said in a statement about its third-quarter results.
Share prices of 14 companies declined.
The worst performer was Netlist Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST), an Irvine-based maker of modular memory subsystems. It fell 70% to 31 cents and a $22 million market cap. The stock plummeted in August after the company said it would issue new shares, which eventually were priced at 60 cents each. The stock further plunged in November after it lost an infringement case against SK Hynix. The stock traded above $10 at its historic high in 2006.
The Biggest
The most valuable company with headquarters in OC was Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), which has a $23.5 billion market cap. Shares of the Irvine-based maker of medical devices rose 20% to $112.71 last year and have now climbed about tenfold in the past decade.
Shares of several large companies based elsewhere but with significant operations in OC made notable moves during the year.
Chicago-based Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), the sixth-largest employer here with 6,100 employees, saw shares climb 89%, the best-performing stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), which employs 2,000 in Irvine, rose 75% to $63.32.
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), which maintains 1,474 workers here, rose 17% to $79.53.
Burbank-based The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), the county’s largest employer with a 30,000-worker base, wasn’t as entertaining, climbing a paltry 3.2% to $107.51.
The Wildest Rides
Many OC-based companies reported successful initial public offerings, such as San Juan Capistrano-based Emerald Expositions Events Inc. (NYSE: EEX), up 20%.
The most successful IPO was Irvine-based Alteryx Inc. (AYX), which priced its IPO in March at $14 a share. By the end of the year, the maker of data analytics software had climbed to $25.27, an 81% jump.
Veritone Inc. (NASDAQ: VERI), which is trying to break into the artificial intelligence market in media analysis, had the wildest ride of all. After its May IPO at $15, it slumped to under $8 until a Barron’s article favorably mentioned the Costa Mesa-based company. Then it skyrocketed to above $74 a share—a nine-bagger—before famous short trader Andrew Left called it a $20 stock. By the end of the year, it traded at $23.20, still a 55% rise since the IPO.
Another rollercoaster was ADOMANI Inc. (NASDAQ: ADOM), which converts school buses and other fleets into zero-emission electric and hybrid vehicles. After it went public in June, its share price more than tripled to over $18, topping a billion-dollar market cap, which was odd for a company with no revenue. The euphoria eventually popped, and by year-end, the company was 14% below its $5 IPO price.
FivePoint Communities Inc., the Aliso Viejo-based real estate developer that’s running Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods and other large housing projects in the state, went public in May and increased less than 1% by the end of the year.
The biggest IPO bust belonged to Irvine-based ShiftPixy Inc. (NASDAQ: PIXY), which provides part-time employees on short notice to restaurants and other clients. Since it priced its IPO at $6 a share, the stock dropped more than half to $2.88 and a $78 million market cap.
Other Notables
• Irvine-based ChromaDex Corp. (NASDAQ: CDXC) increased 78% to $5.88 and a $317 million market cap. Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing, the wealthiest person in Asia, bought $25 million of its common stock in a private placement in the maker of ingredients for nutritional supplements. Also snapping up stock was the investment firm of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Wall Street icon Henry Kravis.
• CalAtlantic Group Inc. (NYSE: CAA) climbed 66% to $56.39 and a $6.16 billion market cap, mostly due to its being bought. Lennar Corp. announced plans in October to purchase CalAtlantic in a $9.3 billion stock, cash and debt deal that will create the largest U.S. homebuilder by annual sales—$17.2 billion—and market equity value—$18.5 billion.
• Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PPHM) in Tustin jumped 80% to $3.88 and a $169 million market cap. The company faced a proxy fight from its largest shareholders that culminated with the elimination of its ongoing drug research trials, a new strategy to focus on contract manufacturing, and the ouster of Chief Executive Steven W. King.
• The Habit Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: HABT) declined 45% to $9.55 and a $245 million market cap. Shares dropped 25% on Nov. 2 after the Irvine-based fast-casual burger chain reported third-quarter same-store sales fell 0.2% year-over-year. Shares had soared above $40 each in 2014.
• Acacia Research Corp. (NASDAQ: ACTG), the biggest investor in previously mentioned Veritone, declined 38% to $4.05 and a $199 million market cap. It was a big drop for the Newport Beach-based company, which once had a $1.9 billion market cap. Acacia, which derives revenue by licensing its technology, has found patent enforcement difficult in the past five years. It’s been without a chief executive since Marvin Key left in May.
• Anaheim-based apparel maker Blackcraft Cult Inc. (OTC: BLCK) fell 38% to $1.25. The company, which the Business Journal profiled in April, proclaims itself against organized religion and targets teenagers and tattoo fans, according to its annual report. Its market value is $249 million, even though it reported only $651,000 in sales in the third quarter of 2016, the last time it filed a quarterly report. The over-the-counter company is thinly traded.
