County Stocks Make a Splash on the AMEX
A trio of Orange County companies made the American Exchange’s list of biggest winners Wednesday, with Santa Ana-based EECO Inc. and Odetics Inc. of Anaheim closing near the top., while financially battered Naugles Inc. lost 16.7% of its market value in over-the-counter trading, closing at $2.50 a share, down 50 cents for the day.
On the AMEX, EECO was the fifth-biggest gainer, increasing $1.75 a share to close at $17. Overall, the electrical switch maker’s market value increased by 11.5%. Company officials, however, said they were perplexed by the price increase.
“We’ve had several calls from shareholders and brokers asking why our stock went up,” commented an EECO spokeswoman. “We don’t know ourselves.”
Odetics, which on Tuesday unveiled a more sophisticated version of its walking robot--a prototype for one to be used in nuclear power plants--posted a 10.6% increase in the price of its class A common stock to finish seventh on the AMEX list.
Odetics’ class A stock, which has 1/10 the voting rights of the company’s class B issue, closed Wednesday at $9.125 a share, up 87.5 cents.
Bill Pritchard, an Odetics spokesman, attributed the gain partly to the company’s new robot, which received wide media attention Tuesday. An additional factor, he speculated, was a recent buy recommendation issued by the publisher of a high-technology stock letter.
Also making the AMEX list of biggest gainers Wednesday was Wespercorp. Common shares of the Tustin computer peripheral maker gained 12.5 cents a share to close at $2 each, an increase in value of 6.7% for the day.
For Fullerton-based Naugles, which has been struggling against mounting losses, the 16.7% price drop Wednesday followed news that its majority owner, Los Angeles-based Collins Foods International Inc., will post a fourth-quarter net loss of $5 million to $7 million.
Collins Foods owns 50.1% of Naugles, a Mexican-American fast-food chain.
As previously reported, Naugles posted a $26.6-million net loss for the fiscal third quarter ended April 3. The loss compares with a net loss of $1.99 million a year earlier.
