Orange County’s publicly traded companies returned to Earth this past year.
The 50 most valuable public companies based in Orange County had a combined 8.3% increase in their valuations to $261.4 billion for the year ended April 18.
That growth underperformed the S&P; 500, which grew 10.5% during the same period.
On last year’s list for the 12-month period ended March 31, OC companies saw their market caps increase 75% to a combined $215.7 billion, easily topping the 54% gains of the S&P; 500.
If the $36.6 billion market cap of Rivian Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: RIVN), which went public last November, is excluded, the market caps at the other 49 companies fell about 7% to $225 billion.
Altogether, 30 companies in OC have a market cap of at least $1 billion, a decline from 33 last year.
In contrast to a year ago, only six companies saw their market cap climb at least 25%, down from 46 a year earlier. More than half of the 50 companies saw stock declines, compared to three a year ago. Eight companies saw their market cap fall by more than 50%.
Bevy of Relocations
The list includes all OC-based companies with a market cap topping $100 million, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq or over-the-counter exchanges.
Several companies on last year’s list are missing this year because they moved their headquarters out of OC, such as Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (Nasdaq: KALU) which recently decamped for Tennessee (see story, page 3).
Some notable local public companies were acquired, such as Core-Logic Inc., Del Taco Restaurants Inc. and Pacific Mercantile Bancorp.
Sales Up
Many companies were able to rebound from the pandemic as their revenue rose 20% to $60 billion in 2021, much higher than the 1% increase in 2020 sales.
Notable increases in sales were 98% to $277 million at Inari Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: NARI) of Irvine, 62% to $180.3 million at Irvine’s Axonics Inc. (Nasdaq: AXNX), and 61% to $95.9 million at Avid Bioservices Inc. (Nasdaq: CDMO) of Tustin.
Companywide, companies on the list saw net income fall 68% to $964 million.
That was largely due to Rivian’s $4.7 billion loss in 2021. If the loss of the Irvine-based electric vehicle maker is excluded, net income rose 86% to $5.7 billion.
The 50 local public companies saw their assets climb 27% to $159.2 billion, topping last year’s 15% growth. Rivian, which raised over $18 billion in its IPO, was by far the biggest asset gatherer, climbing 384% to $22.3 billion.
Companies on the list grew their OC employment 9.2% to 28,158 workers, also up from last year’s 3% climb. Rivian again topped this list, as its OC employee count jumped 150% to 2,000. Its companywide number also increased 243% to 12,000.
Companywide employment at these 50 firms climbed 10% to 377,392.
Top 5
• Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), the most valuable publicly traded company on the list, saw its market cap gain $22.1 billion, the largest by dollar amount, to $74.1 billion. A decade ago, the market cap of Edwards, which makes heart valves, was $3.4 billion. Edwards is also the biggest publicly traded company that provides OC jobs, with 4,712.
• No. 2 Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) saw its valuation rise $4.5 billion to $44.5 billion. When the burrito-making restaurant chain in 2018 moved its headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach, its market cap was around $7 billion.
• Rivian ranks No. 3 on the list with a $36.6 billion market cap. After Rivian went public last November at $78, it soared as high as $179 and a $127 billion market cap, making it the most valuable publicly traded company ever in Orange County for about a month. It shares have since fallen.
• No. 4 Skyworks Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: SWKS) fell 35% to a $19.1 billion market cap. Shares of the Irvine-based maker of chips, which generates about half of its revenue from Apple Inc., have been in a decline since last July when Skyworks’ sales began slowing because of a worldwide shortage of semiconductors.
• No. 5 Masimo Corp. fell 41% to a $7.5 billion market cap. The main reason was a 37% drop on Feb. 16 when the Irvine-based medical device maker announced its biggest ever acquisition would be a consumer audio device maker for $1 billion.
