It was another year of change for Orange County-based public companies.
Some of the biggest got bought, many that remain got bigger, and smaller players grew enough to make the leap to this year’s Business Journal list of the 100 largest public companies based in OC, ranked by market capitalization.
Many firms you won’t see this year are gone for good reason: They were purchased last year, joining an exodus of notable local public firms over the past two years, including Irvine-based Allergan Inc. and Broadcom Corp.
The latest batch of departures includes:
• Global technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc. in Irvine, bought in December for $6 billion by an affiliate of China-based global Fortune 500 firm HNA Group.
• Newport Corp., an Irvine-based maker of lasers and optical equipment, sold last April to MKS Instruments Inc. in Andover, Mass., for $905 million (see related column item page 62).
• Irvine bank holding company California Republic Bancorp, sold to Mechanics Bank in Walnut Creek, also last April, for $330 million.
Buying and selling made for changes at the top and bottom of our list.
• Western Digital Corp. in Irvine, with a nearly $24 billion market cap, is the new No. 1—growth that’s partly due to the storage products maker’s purchase of SanDisk Corp. in Milpitas that closed in May.
It knocked down last year’s top company, heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp., now with about $20 billion in market cap and also in Irvine, to No. 2.
The jockeying—plus a spinoff of 321 nursing and assisted living facilities in October—pushed healthcare real estate investment trust HCP Inc., last year’s No. 2, down to No. 3.
The No. 99 and No. 100 companies, meanwhile—fitness products maker Xfit Brands Inc. in Lake Forest and California Style Palms Inc. in Orange, which grows and sells palm trees—debut on this year’s list.
Pro Forma
This year’s list has 19 new companies—about a fifth of the list.
Stock growth accounted for several debutants, as did a few corporate relocations. Among the notables moving here were wireless service and products provider CalAmp Corp., ranked No. 30 with a roughly $595 million cap. It decamped last year from Oxnard to Irvine.
Several newbies went public, a roster that includes those who completed initial public offerings this year, just in time to make the cut:
• Alteryx Inc., a data analytics software maker in Irvine, debuted at No. 24 with an $878 million market cap.
• Foundation Building Materials Inc. in Tustin, which distributes construction products, is No. 27 with a $683 million market cap.
• GBGI Ltd. is a boutique insurer in Foothill Ranch that recapitalized via a London Stock Exchange IPO and is new on the list at No. 53 with a $156 million market cap.
Several other OC-based companies have recently filed to go public or appear poised to do so (see graphic on page 13).
Future Bright
A list (see page 10) altered by billion-dollar buys, a slew of intrepid IPOs, and our graphical coverage of other stalwarts, makes for a snapshot of the local public company universe.
Our research shows that there’s at least a dozen already public companies that could make the list next year—including a food maker and an apparel firm—as they execute on growth plans.
Dozens of venture capital-backed startups could join them down the line.
The 2017 horizon here for more IPOs is a big reversal from last year’s decline and reflects a national resurgence in public offerings.
Most companies on our list grew their market capitalizations—16 of them had triple-digit percentage growth or more—and taken as a group, list members grew aggregate market cap, revenue, net income and assets (see graphic on page 11), as well as employee counts.
The 81 returning entries on the list had their aggregate market cap increase by about 27% year-over-year, well outpacing the nearly 6% growth in the S&P 500 Index over that time.
