Tale of the Tape

Wall Street's hits and misses

When the closing bell tolled at 4 last Friday afternoon, the New York Stock Exchange rang out its busiest year ever. Inspired by a continuing bull market, investors had traded 21.6 billion shares, up from 16.5 billion in 1982. The Dow Jones industrial average closed the year at 1258.64, a gain of 212 points over 1982. Prices on the American Stock Exchange, which is made up largely of younger companies with lower-priced issues, surged ahead 31%. The over-the-counter market, the haven for more speculative stocks, rose 20%. Most shares made their big gains during the first half of the year. The Dow, entering 1983 at 1046.55, rose in June to about 1250, but then remained on a bumpy plateau. The high for the year was 1287.20 on Nov. 29.

While high-technology companies were very popular early last year, investors hooked on those glamour stocks missed some hot plays. Thanks mainly to the economic recovery, some firms in mundane industries were among the big winners. The star performer on the N.Y.S.E. was APL, a once struggling paper-products manufacturer whose fortunes have improved under the direction of Financier Victor Posner. Hesston, a Kansas-based farm-equipment company that makes hay balers and backhoes, harvested healthy earnings from improved tractor sales. Rymer, a little-known company in suburban Chicago, went through a metamorphosis in 1983, going from the furniture business to the food trade. The company's long-neglected stock tripled.

High-tech enthusiasts, though, still pushed up the price of stocks in the industries of the future. Among the winners: California's International Rectifier, a maker of specialized semiconductors, and Connecticut's Gerber Scientific, no relation to the baby-food maker, a producer of automated factory equipment.

The American Stock Exchange's hottest property last year was California's Marshall Industries, a manufacturer of microelectronic components. Its stock rose from 5 15/16 to 31%. Interdyne of Van Nuys, Calif., which makes computer components, led the over-the-counter market, going from 1/4 to 10.

The N.Y.S.E.'S worst casualty of 1983 was Cincinnati's Baldwin-United, the piano maker turned insurance giant. After expanding too boldly into financial services, the company in September filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. California toymaker Mattel was zapped by the collapse of the video-game craze, and its stock fell sharply. Pennsylvania-based Nutri/System, which operates a chain of weight-loss centers, fell from grace when earnings slumped after it acquired an executive job placement service and a cosmetics firm. Anacomp, an Indianapolis data processor, had problems with some software products, and its stock tumbled. The drop in the share price of California's

Oak Industries, which provides an array of broadcasting products, was largely due to weakening demand for over-the-air subscription TV.

Energy Resources, a troubled Dallas oil-and gas-exploration firm, turned in the worst performance on the American Stock Exchange, falling from 8 3/8 to 1 3/4. Massachusetts' Computer Devices, a portable-computer manufacturer that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, had the largest decline on the over-the-counter market, dropping from 11 1/2 to 1/2.

Last year's winner, though, could well be next year's loser. In 1982 Coleco Industries, pushed forward by its successful video-game machine, led the N.Y.S.E., going from 6% to 36%. In 1983 Coleco's stock zoomed further, to 65, but then it ran into delays and glitches with its new Adam computer. The hit of 1982 ended 1983 at 19 1/2