Dozens of Local Companies’ Stocks Ran With the Bulls in ’96

It was another bountiful year for Wall Street as the great bull market, now 14 years old, fattened up the Dow Jones industrial average by another 26% in 1996, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index also jumped 20%.

And for the 93 local stocks that compose the Valley Index, they also kept pace, climbing an aggregate 22% last year.

These 93 local companies are either headquartered in the San Fernando Valley or Ventura County, or have large operations here, and are tracked for The Times by Media General Financial Services in Richmond, Va.

Of the local stocks, 47 companies saw their shares increase in value in 1996, while 46 declined.

The best performing local stock last year was Vitesse Semiconductor, a Camarillo-based maker of gallium arsenide chips, which are more expensive than conventional silicon semiconductors, but help computers run faster and on less power.

The telecommunications industry is one of Vitesse’s major markets, including sales to Lucent Technologies, a recent spinoff from AT&T;, and Alcatel of France, one of the major phone companies in Europe.

All this helped Vitesse’s stock swell 257% in value, and it closed the year at $45.50 per share.

Several other local technology stocks also showed up on our top 10 list.

They include MRV Communications, a Chatsworth-based maker of laser diodes used in computer networks, whose stock grew 157% in value, and finished last year at $21.75 a share.

ACT Networks Inc., a Camarillo maker of systems that handle voice and data traffic on the same computer circuit, saw its stock more than double in price, and it closed the year at $36.50.

One of the best comebacks of the year was by Xircom, a Thousand Oaks maker of credit-card-sized, plug-in adapters that connect notebook PCs to computer networks. Last year, Xircom’s stock jumped 76%, and it finished at $21.75 a share.

In its first six years, Xircom seemed a classic textbook success story, as its sales shot up thanks to uninterrupted growth.

But Xircom, like many young telecommunications companies, hit the wall, as competitors honed in on its market, and layoffs, losses and a sliding stock price followed.

Things were so grim that short sellers--who borrow stock, and make money if they can later buy shares at a cheaper price to replace the shares--took aim on Xircom. Short sellers have a vulture-like role in Wall Street’s food chain, and they profited, as Xircom’s stock nose-dived from $28 to about $9 a share.

Last year, though, Xircom was able to right itself, and the stock regained much of its lost ground.

Another strong showing was put up by Unico American, the Woodland Hills-based property, casualty and life insurance company, whose earnings jumped 24% in its latest quarter. Unico’s stock closed at $10.88 per share, up 74% for the year.

At the other end of the landscape was Datametrics, the worst-performing local stock, whose stock nearly disappeared from view as it fell 87% last year, sliding from $7.88 a share to close 1996 at $1.06.

Datametrics is a long-suffering Woodland Hills-based maker of high-speed military printers that has struggled, and piled up big losses, as it tries to shift into the commercial marketplace. Not surprisingly, there was a major housecleaning in Datametrics’ executive suite late in the year.

Another poor performer was Unilab, the Tarzana-based clinical medical laboratory analysis concern with more than 200 offices in the state.

Last year, Unilab settled a government investigation into its billing practices, continued to have problems after several acquisitions, and in its latest quarter posted an $8.5-million loss.

Unilab’s stock fell 84% last year, and closed at a meager 44 cents per share.

And the vagaries of the stock market prove that even a billionaire doesn’t always have a magic touch.

Consider John Kluge, 82, whom Forbes magazine says is worth $7.2 billion.

His investment in Image Entertainment, a Chatsworth distributor of laserdiscs, has never really paid off.

Last year, the company announced an additional buyback of 500,000 shares of stock--a tactic often used to pad the value of the remaining shares.

But the move didn’t help much. Last year, Image Entertainment’s stock slid 55%, and closed out 1996 at $3.38 per share.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

10 Biggest Regional Stock Winners for 1996

*--*

Closing Percent price on change for Stock 12/31/96 the year Line of business Vitesse Semiconductor $45.50 +257 Semiconductors MRV Communications $21.75 +157 Computers ACT Networks Inc. $36.50 +130 Computers Biopool International $3.25 +108 Medical Calnetics $6.75 +108 Industrial materials Syncor International $13.38 +98 Pharmaceuticals Xircom $21.75 +76 Computers Unico American $10.88 +74 Insurance THQ Inc. $9.38 +73 Entertainment Cherokee Inc. $6.00 +65 Clothing

*--*

* Note: Excludes stocks whose Dec. 31, 1995, price was below $1.00 a share

Source: Media General Financial Services Inc., Richmond, Va.

10 Biggest Regional Stock Losers for 1996

*--*

Closing Percent price on change in Stock 12/31/96 the year Datametrics $1.06 -87 Voice Powered Technologies $0.25 -85 Unilab $0.44 -84 StreamLogic $0.69 -82 Taitron $2.38 -70 Cosmetic Group USA $1.50 -61 California Amplifier $6.13 -57 Image Entertainment $3.38 -55 International Remote Imagingequipment Fortune Petroleum $2.56 -48

Stock Line of business Datametrics printers Voice Powered Technologies Communications Unilab Medical labs StreamLogic Communications Taitron Semiconductors Cosmetic Group USA Cosmetics California Amplifier Communications Image Entertainment Laser discs International Remote Imagingequipment Fortune Petroleum Oil exploration

*--*

* Note: Excludes stocks whose Dec. 31, 1995, price was below $1.00 a share

Source: Media General Financial Services Inc., Richmond, Va.