VALLEY GROWTH SPURT FIVE COMPANIES MAKE FORTUNE LIST FOR ACCELERATED REVENUE, PROFITS.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer Call them the fortunate five, a k a corporate America's speed demons Demons See also devil; evil; ghosts; hell; spirits and spiritualism. ademonist one who denies the existence of the devil or demons. bogyism, bogeyism recognition of the existence of demons and goblins. . Over the last four quarters, five San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. area companies - Jakks Pacific JAKKS Pacific, Inc. NASDAQ: JAKK is is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products and is based in Malibu, California. Its product categories include action figures, art activity kits, stationery, writing instruments, performance Inc., THQ THQ Toy Headquarters THQ Territorial Headquarters THQ Tehsil Headquarters (Pakistan) THQ The Holy Quran THQ Theater Headquarters Inc., MiniMed Inc., K-Swiss Inc. and Pinnacle Entertainment Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: PNK) is a gaming and hospitality company based in Las Vegas, Nevada that was created in 1938. It owns and operates casinos in the United States and Argentina. Inc. - achieved some of the best growth rates Growth Rates The compounded annualized rate of growth of a company's revenues, earnings, dividends, or other figures. Notes: Remember, historically high growth rates don't always mean a high rate of growth looking into the future. among the nation's publicly traded firms. Their performance caught the attention of Fortune Magazine, which included them on its list of the nation's 100 fastest-growing companies in the September issue. Fortune started its list in 1988 and expanded it to 100 companies in 1991. Inclusion can draw positive attention from the investment community, to be sure. But a real achievement is turning in a repeat performance. David Rynecki, a Fortune writer who worked on the story, said that some companies do use the ranking for promotional purposes. ``Unfortunately, most of the companies don't make it back on the list. Fast-growth companies also tend to have really ugly car wrecks,'' he said. Fortune used Zacks Investment Research Zacks Investment Research A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms. to compile the list. The magazine focused on U.S.-based companies at least 3 years old with revenues and market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. of at least $50 million. The list was then pared down to those companies with three-year annual growth rate of 30 percent for revenue and earnings per share as well as profitable in the last quarter. And so far the Valley companies are measuring up to the time test; four are repeats and two of them made big improvements from their spot on the 1999 list. Here is a look at the companies in order of their rank. --Jakks Pacific Inc. - The toy maker has seven divisions and is now a challenger to industry heavyweights Mattel and Hasbro. The company designs, develops, produces and markets toys and related products under a variety of brand names. Along with THQ, Jakks Pacific also has WWF See Windows Workflow Foundation. toy and game rights. The company's three-year revenue growth rate was 132 percent while earnings per share jumped 81 percent. Fortune says that Jakks' strength comes from the 6-inch tall WWF action figures, and now the company is expanding into the hot Harry Potter market with craft sets. Company co-founder, president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. Stephen Berman is delighted with the Fortune recognition, even though Jakks Pacific fell three places from last year's list. Jakks Pacific has recorded 16 consecutive quarters of record net income and sales since the company was formed in 1995, he said. ``We definitely strive for success and growth. The dramatic growth we've had is just an additional pat on the back to everyone in our company,'' Berman said. The company's co-founder is Jack Friedman, who also started THQ. Berman also notes that Mattel is the only other toy company with as a diverse brand and category lineup. And he plans to keep growing the growth curve. ``You ain't seen nothing yet,'' Berman said. --THQ Inc. - The video game maker ranked 17th, a drop of 14 places from the 1999 list. Fortune also notes that lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings bought the stock price down. THQ develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software worldwide for a variety of hardware platforms Each hardware platform, or CPU family, has a unique machine language. All software presented to the computer for execution must be in the binary coded machine language of that CPU. Following is a list of the major hardware platforms in existence today. See platform. , including Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sega. The company also works Hollywood studios to bring characters like the Rugrats and Power Rangers This article lists fictional characters from the Power Rangers universe who have served as Power Rangers. Unlike the List of Power Rangers characters, which lists serving Power Rangers alphabetically alongside other characters from the same fictional universe, this article lists only to video game platforms. It is also doing the same thing with the World Wrestling Federation. Last week the company announced a deal with Disney Interactive to publish and distribute ``The Little Mermaid little mermaid the sacrifices her own life to save her beloved prince. [Dan. Lit.: Andersen’s Fairy Tales] See : Self-Sacrifice II'' for the PlayStation game console See video game console. . It is scheduled to be released in the fall throughout North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. in conjunction with the direct-to-video release of Disney's ``The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.'' Formed 10 years ago, THQ now distributes in 160 countries, has five overseas offices and 400 employees. Fortune's recognition is an indication that management goals are being achieved. ``We set an objective for the company of sustained growth, not just one year of great growth,'' said chief executive officer Brian Farrell
Brian Farrell (born Bernard Bredan Farrell January 9, 1929) is an Irish author, journalist, academic & broadcaster. . ``And its very challenging to maintain that kind of growth.'' --MiniMed Inc. - This year the maker of medical devices used in the treatment of diabetes vaulted to 28th place from 55 on the 1999 list. It's no surprise to Eric S. Kentor, MiniMed's senior vice president and general counsel. ``We've had a very strong record of growth and still have strong position going forward,'' he said. The company's main product is an insulin pump insulin pump n. A portable device for people with diabetes that injects insulin at programmed intervals in order to regulate blood sugar levels. that is used to treat patients with the most severe type of diabetes. The pump is worn like a pager, delivering programmable doses that can be closely regulated. Pumps are currently used by about 10 percent of these patients and MiniMed has an 85 percent market share. A 10 percent market penetration Noun 1. market penetration - the extent to which a product is recognized and bought by customers in a particular market penetration - the act of entering into or through something; "the penetration of upper management by women" means that there is still a big potential upside, Kentor said. The company is also rolling out a glucose monitoring glucose monitoring Lab medicine The periodic evaluation of any analyte abnormal in Pts with DM, to assess short and long-term control with antiglycemic agents. See Glucose, Glycated hemoglobin. system. This will enable patients to monitor glucose levels throughout the day rather than having to prick their fingers for a blood sample. The first monitors will be used as physician diagnostic tool with a consumer model to follow later. ``You can treat it and control it,'' Kentor said of diabetes. ``But you have to monitor your blood sugar level very aggressively. We believe our device will both lead to greater (treatment) compliance. It's understandable while people don't want to stick their finger five times a day.'' --Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. - The company has completed its transition from being a horse-racing track and casino company to a just a casino company, a strategy that propelled it from 91 last year to 32 this year. In the process, it enjoyed healthy gains in revenue and earnings per share. ``We eeked our way onto the list last year,'' said company chief executive officer Paul Alanis. Pinnacle also has agreed to be acquired by Harvey's Casino Resorts, with the $900 million deal, which includes assumed debt, expected to close later this year. Alanis is not sure what kind of pop Pinnacle will get from an improved Fortune ranking. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if it really had any significant impact the last time. It's certainly a reaffirmation of our overall strategy and I hope people react favorably to it,'' he said. The company is opening a new casino in Indiana this year and the merger, if complete, will bring the total to nine. --K-Swiss Inc. - The athletic shoe An athletic shoe is a generic name for a shoe designed for sporting and physical activities, and is different in style and build than a dress shoe. Originally known as sporting apparel, today they are known as casual footwear. maker recorded one of the most impressive numbers on the Fortune list. It's three year earnings per share growth soared 403 percent, a leap to $2.99 a share from 35 cents. That's the second best of the 100 companies, behind the 760 percent gain recorded by Lake Forrest, Ill.-based Stericycle, a medical waste disposal company. The shoe industry experienced some blisters last year and K-Swiss's stock price suffered. Nevertheless, Fortune said the company, which makes tennis, casual athletic and training shoes, is having its second most profitable year. Last year was the most profitable. K-Swiss' ranking surprised chief financial officer George Powlick. ``We don't look at this kind of stuff. We just try and produce footwear that responds to the market place and the numbers just have to take care of themselves,'' he said. ``Since we went public we've had up years and down years, but we've never had a loss.'' The company has long been noted for its distinctive, no-frills white leather tennis shoe. The challenge is attracting new customers with other products. ``Obviously our heritage is tennis, and we've got some very innovative and top-quality tennis products. To attract new buyers we have to expand beyond our core business,'' Powlick said. FORTUNE'S FAST FIVE Here's a snapshot of the San Fernando Valley area firms that made the ``Fortune Magazine'' list of the nation's 100 fastest-growing companies. Company: Jakks Pacific Inc. Rank: 12 (9 last year) Headquarters: Malibu Products: Children's toys. Ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors : JAKK Earnings per share growth*: 81% (34 this year) Net income+: $26.6 million Revenue growth*: 132% (3 this year) Revenue+: $209.5 million Company: THQ INC. Rank: 17 (3 last year) Headquarters: Calabasas Products: Video games Ticker symbol: THQI Earnings per share growth*: 100% (24 this year) Net income+: $28.1 million Revenue growth*: 91% (15 this year) Revenue+: $293.9 million Company: MiniMed Inc. Rank: 28 (55 last year) Headquarters: Sylmar Products: Medical devices Ticker symbol: MNMD Earnings per share growth*: 71% (44 this year) Net income+: $28.1 million Revenue growth*: 44% (69 this year) Revenue+: $252.1 million Company: Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. Rank: 32 (91 last year) Headquarters: Glendale Products: Casino owner and builder Ticker symbol: PNK PNK Polynucleotide Kinase PNK Pontianak, Indonesia - Supadio (Airport Code) PNK Prozessnahe Komponente (German) Earnings per share growth*: 88% (30) Net income+: $61.8 million Revenue growth*: 78% (20) Revenue+: $697.5 million Company: K-Swiss Rank: 43 (unranked last year) Headquarters: Westlake Village Products: Athletic shoes Ticker symbol: KSWS Earnings per share growth*: 403% (2) Net income+: $28.4 million Revenue growth*: 43% (74th this year) Revenue+: $268.4 million *Three-year annual rate +Past four quarters CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Terrance Gregg is president of MiniMed Inc., a manufacturer of insulin pumps for diabetics. The company is one of five in the Valley noted by Fortune Magazine for accelerated growth. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News Box: FORTUNE'S FAST FIVE (See text) |
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