Bank stocks soared in 2006

U.S. stock markets open today for the first time in 2007, giving shareholders in local publicly held companies renewed hope for a prosperous year.

The year that just ended turned out to be a mixed bag among Snohomish County’s public companies. Investors in Intermec likely are glad to move on from 2006, while shareholders in local banks enjoyed big gains.

“We had a good year, and that translated into our shareholders having a good year,” said John Dickson, president and chief executive of Everett-based Frontier Financial.

His bank’s stock, which underwent a 3-for-2 split during the year, climbed 37 percent for the year. Shares of Lynnwood’s CityBank rose 51 percent for the year, while Cascade Financial’s shares gained 20 percent in value.

While uncertainty over interest rates was a worry among banks as they started 2006, that was offset at Frontier by the strength of the local economy and continued strong lending to local homebuilders, Dickson said.

Local biotechnology companies, with the exception of Mukilteo’s CombiMatrix Corp., also ended the year with stock price gains. The sector’s largest player, ICOS Corp. of Bothell, was helped particularly by a buyout offer from Eli Lilly &Co., which helped to rally the stock between mid-October and the year’s end.

Zumiez, which saw its shares’ values rise by triple-digit percentages during its debut year on the market in 2005, built more modestly on that success last year. The Everett-based retailer of action sports wear ended the year with a 37 percent gain.

One of the biggest companies around also had one of the most volatile stocks last year. Intermec, the maker of bar-code scanners and other inventory-tracking technology, saw its stock dive 25 percent in the second quarter. It then led all local stocks in the third quarter with a 15 percent increase.

That partial recovery didn’t last. The stock fell 8 percent during the fourth quarter, when the company released diminished third-quarter sales and began laying off staff and reorganizing internally.

The county’s medical device companies also had a disappointing year, with shares of ultrasound maker SonoSite and Cardiac Science, which makes heart defibrillators, both down by double digits.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.

Local stocks

How they fared in 2006, with closing price as of Dec. 29:

CTBK: CityBank, Lynnwood, $35.80, up 51 percent

FTBK: Frontier Financial Group, Everett, $29.23,

up 37 percent

ZUMZ: Zumiez Inc., Everett, $29.54, up 37 percent

ICOS: ICOS Corp., Bothell, $33.79, up 22 percent

SNUS: Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Bothell, $6.11,

up 21 percent

CASB: Cascade Financial Group, Everett, $17.09,

up 20 percent