Prices of Southland thrift stocks float around their 52-week highs.

Stock prices of Los Angeles-based thrifts have been skyrocketing.

Some, such as Glendale-based Glendale Federal Bank and Los Angeles-based California Federal Bank, continue to have problems with profitability and troubled real estate assets, but those facts have not hurt the performance of the stocks in recent weeks.

As of Aug. 15, shares of the parent companies of California Federal Bank and Glendale Federal Bank were both trading right up around those companies' 52-week highs.

In general, the thrifts credited improved performances compared to last year as one reason for the jump.

Industry analysts, on the other hand, said the share prices are rising because the thrifts are all potential takeover targets by banks and other thrifts that are shopping for a presence in California. Analysts also said Wall Street has reacted favorably to the ongoing disposal of problem assets and out-of-state operations by California thrifts.

The two components really go together. Analysts explained that most California thrifts would not be looked at by potential buyers unless they had gone through the restructuring.

"At some point we expect to see banks or thrifts from outside California come in and buy some institutions," said Jim Marks, financial institutions analyst with San Francisco-based Sutro & Co. When the shopping spree begins, said Marks, there are few institutions that are feasible targets.

The large California banks, specifically downtown L.A.-based First Interstate Bank of California and the two big San Francisco-based banks -- Wells Fargo and Bank of America -- are either too large or too expensive for outsiders to purchase, said Marks.

Smaller banks, such as Inglewood-based Imperial Bank and Beverly Hills-based City National Bank, would not provide potential buyers with a big market share, according to Marks.

The financial institutions that fit nicely somewhere between the huge monolithic banks and the smaller niche banks in terms of asset size are the large thrifts, said Marks.

Though most of them would probably like to remain independent, Marks said, most "can't produce the level of earnings that will allow them to remain independent. It is their level of profitability in relation to their shares that will make them successful. Strategically, they probably can't be independent for very long."

CalFed's financials are still weak. Although the thrift reported net earnings of $6.6 million for the second quarter, its earnings potential is still low. For the first half of 1994, CalFed reported net losses of $319.7 million compared with losses of $35 million a year earlier.

GlenFed recently announced net losses for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended June 30, totaling $4.8 million. That was an improvement over the like quarter last year, when GlenFed reported net losses of $29.9 million.

Company representatives for both CalFed and GlenFed said the high-flying performance of the thrifts' stocks is related to the companies' restructuring plans and has little to do with quarterly earnings.

CalFed spokesman Jim Hurley said the investment community has reacted well to the thrift's restructuring that began last October. Since then, it has implemented plans to reduce problem assets and to restore the institution to profitability.

Likewise, GlenFed's stock price increased at the same time GlenFed announced the sale of its operations in the states of Florida and Washington. GlenFed announced the sale of its Florida operations on April 25. The announcement pushed GlenFed stock up to $7.38 from $6.63.

Another announcement about withdrawing from doing business in Washington state, made last month, pushed GlenFed stock up a tick. When word of the Washington sale hit the street, the stock jumped to $11.38 from $10.63.

The other two big Los Angeles thrifts' stock prices have also been hitting new 52-week highs. The financial conditions of Chatsworth-based Great Western Bank and Irwindale-based Home Savings of America are significantly better than CalFed's and GlenFed's.

Both Great Western and Home Savings have been in the black for some time now. Home Savings reported second quarter net earnings of $73.5 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $291 million.

Great Western reported net earnings of $55.9 million for the second quarter, up from $52.6 million in the like quarter last year.

Campbell Chaney, a financial institutions analyst with Dakin Securities in San Francisco, called Great Western the "crown jewel" of the L.A. thrifts.

"It has branches all over the state. A big regional bank could come in and have a huge presence," said Chaney. "Only thing is, it would be very expensive."