Unova, ICOS lead county stocks

Shares of Snohomish County’s two largest public companies bounced upward by more than 30 percent during the third quarter, although half of the county’s publicly traded companies lost ground.

Unova Inc. of Everett, parent company of Intermec Technologies, and Bothell-based ICOS Corp. saw gains of 31 and 30 percent, respectively. Shares of Sonus Pharmaceuticals of Bothell also were up considerably, from $3.51 to $4.25.

All three of the county’s publicly traded banks enjoyed stock market gains as well, with shares of Everett’s Frontier Financial Group gaining 15 percent.

And Zumiez Inc., the Everett-based teen clothing retailer that rocked up 62 percent between its stock market debut in May and the end of the second quarter, gained another 12 percent.

“Relative to the rest of the teen retailers, Zumiez did well this quarter,” said Sara Hasan, an analyst who tracks Zumiez for Seattle’s McAdams Wright Ragen. She said Zumiez’s rapid addition of stores is helping it against bigger competitors, many of whom have little room for expansion.

In contrast to double-digit percentage gains by six of the county’s public companies during the third quarter, only two companies posted double-digit declines. They were among the county’s smallest public companies: CombiMatrix Corp. of Mukilteo and Helix BioMedix of Bothell.

The mixed results among local biotechnology companies reflected the industry trend nationally, said Scott Smallman, managing director of investments for Piper Jaffray in Seattle.

He said the quarter that ended on Friday was significantly influenced by the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

“You can kind of call it the tale of two quarters. You have pre-Katrina and post-Katrina,” Smallman said. “Before Katrina, there was just a pretty positive underlying feeling about everything.”

Now, spiraling energy costs, the specter of interest rates rising again and potentially restrained consumer spending could put a damper on the year’s final quarter, he said.

There also were some shifts among publicly traded companies based here during the quarter. Quinton Cardiology completed its merger to become Cardiac Science Corp., and Eden Bioscience moved its headquarters to south Bothell.

Frontier Financial also announced its acquisition of Seattle’s NorthStar Bank.

Even amid rumors that ICOS Corp. might be bought in the near future, the fact that local companies are now the dominant partners in mergers or buyouts is a welcome trend, said Tim Raetzloff, the Edmonds computer store owner who tracks the Abarim Snohomish County Stock Index.

“That to me is the big thing,” he said. “We’re not always in the position anymore that when there’s a merger you know the local company will be gone. … Our companies are finally big enough.”

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