Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Snohomish County firms' stock tumbles
An index drops 10 percent in the first quarter of 2008.
The first quarter was not a cheery start to 2008 for the U.S. stock markets, and the majority of locally based stocks followed suit.
Nine of the 13 Snohomish County companies publicly traded on major stock markets lost ground during the three-month period that ended Monday. Of those, most fell by double-digit percentages.
As a whole, the Abarim Snohomish County Stock Index declined by 10 percent during the first quarter, about the same as the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The Dow fell 7.5 percent, while the Nasdaq -- home to all but one of the county's stocks -- fell 14 percent.
Tim Raetzloff, the Edmonds computer store owner who created and tracks the Abarim index, said it is now down 39 percent from its peak in December 2006.
"Snohomish County stocks, at least, are officially in a bear market," he said.
Neah Power Systems, a Bothell-based developer of micro fuel-cell technology, saw its shares lose 81 percent of their value during the quarter. Nastech Pharmaceutical of Bothell, still reeling from the loss of a big drug development partnership last fall, fell by 38 percent.
Zumiez, the Everett-based retailer with a high-flying stock price until last fall, also had a forgettable quarter. With a slower economy hurting retail sales, Zumiez had to revise its earnings forecast, and investors responded badly. In the first week of the year alone, Zumiez shares fell by 27 percent.
"It's a really difficult consumer environment. It came on quickly and forced them to lower their guidance," said Sara Hasan, an analyst who tracks Zumiez at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle. She has a "buy" rating on the stock.
Nationally, the first quarter performance on Wall Street was the worst since the third quarter of 2002, when the aftermath of the dot-com bust, recession, the 2001 terror attacks and corporate wrongdoing combined to send stocks spiraling downward.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
How local stocks stacked up
How they fared during the first quarter, with closing price as of Monday:
HXBM: Helix BioMedix, Bothell, 69 cents, up 38 percent
CBMX: CombiMatrix Corp., Mukilteo, $9.68, up 28 percent
IN: Intermec Inc., Everett, $22.19, up 9 percent
CSCX: Cardiac Science Corp., Bothell, $8.35, up 3 percent
CTBK: CityBank, Lynnwood, $22.24, down 1 percent
FTBK: Frontier Financial Group, Everett, $17.68, down 5 percent
CASB: Cascade Financial Group, Everett, $12.20, up 10 percent
SONO: SonoSite Inc., Bothell, $28.43, down 16 percent
SNUS: Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Bothell, 36 cents, down 17 percent
SGEN: Seattle Genetics Inc., Bothell, $9.10, down 20 percent
ZUMZ: Zumiez Inc., Everett, $15.69, down 36 percent
NSTK: Nastech Pharmaceutical Co., Bothell, $2.35, down 38 percent
NPWS: Neah Power Systems Inc., Bothell, 3.8 cents, down 81 percent
Nine of the 13 Snohomish County companies publicly traded on major stock markets lost ground during the three-month period that ended Monday. Of those, most fell by double-digit percentages.
As a whole, the Abarim Snohomish County Stock Index declined by 10 percent during the first quarter, about the same as the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The Dow fell 7.5 percent, while the Nasdaq -- home to all but one of the county's stocks -- fell 14 percent.
Tim Raetzloff, the Edmonds computer store owner who created and tracks the Abarim index, said it is now down 39 percent from its peak in December 2006.
"Snohomish County stocks, at least, are officially in a bear market," he said.
Neah Power Systems, a Bothell-based developer of micro fuel-cell technology, saw its shares lose 81 percent of their value during the quarter. Nastech Pharmaceutical of Bothell, still reeling from the loss of a big drug development partnership last fall, fell by 38 percent.
Zumiez, the Everett-based retailer with a high-flying stock price until last fall, also had a forgettable quarter. With a slower economy hurting retail sales, Zumiez had to revise its earnings forecast, and investors responded badly. In the first week of the year alone, Zumiez shares fell by 27 percent.
"It's a really difficult consumer environment. It came on quickly and forced them to lower their guidance," said Sara Hasan, an analyst who tracks Zumiez at McAdams Wright Ragen in Seattle. She has a "buy" rating on the stock.
Nationally, the first quarter performance on Wall Street was the worst since the third quarter of 2002, when the aftermath of the dot-com bust, recession, the 2001 terror attacks and corporate wrongdoing combined to send stocks spiraling downward.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
How local stocks stacked up
How they fared during the first quarter, with closing price as of Monday:
HXBM: Helix BioMedix, Bothell, 69 cents, up 38 percent
CBMX: CombiMatrix Corp., Mukilteo, $9.68, up 28 percent
IN: Intermec Inc., Everett, $22.19, up 9 percent
CSCX: Cardiac Science Corp., Bothell, $8.35, up 3 percent
CTBK: CityBank, Lynnwood, $22.24, down 1 percent
FTBK: Frontier Financial Group, Everett, $17.68, down 5 percent
CASB: Cascade Financial Group, Everett, $12.20, up 10 percent
SONO: SonoSite Inc., Bothell, $28.43, down 16 percent
SNUS: Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Bothell, 36 cents, down 17 percent
SGEN: Seattle Genetics Inc., Bothell, $9.10, down 20 percent
ZUMZ: Zumiez Inc., Everett, $15.69, down 36 percent
NSTK: Nastech Pharmaceutical Co., Bothell, $2.35, down 38 percent
NPWS: Neah Power Systems Inc., Bothell, 3.8 cents, down 81 percent
Comments
(
