THE TIMES 100 : Buying Into Big Growth : Many of the state's fastest-growing companies got that way by spending the year acquiring other firms. Others enjoyed healthy increases in sales.

April 25, 1995|KAREN KAPLAN | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Janex International, based in Woodland Hills, built upon a host of licenses to create products for children ranging from flashlights to toothbrushes, all adorned with kids' favorite characters from "The Lion King," "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and "Batman."

Janex also expanded its distribution last year to include supermarket and drug store chains in addition to major retailers.

Selling products beyond the toy aisle contributed to a 742% growth in sales last year.

Showscan Corp., with new management installed in April, 1994, saw its ride simulation and giant-screen theater businesses grow 234% last year.

The Culver City company sold 15 rides and theaters and signed a deal with United Artists to build 26 more.

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The Growth 100

Companies ranked by increase in sales from 1993 to 1994.

1994 1994 Revenue Revenue Rank Company ($ millions) % Growth 1 ThermoLase Corp. 18.7 2,889 2 Cinergi Pictures Enter. 109.0 1,111 3 Janex International Inc. 13.1 742 4 Advantage Life Products 11.9 673 5 CareLine Inc. 148.2 357 6 Benton Oil & Gas Co. 34.6 343 7 3DO Co. 26.2 331 8 Incomnet Inc. 46.8 314 9 Helionetics Inc. 62.7 309 10 Craig Corp. 13.2 300 11 Integrated Process Equip. 47.7 270 12 Showscan Entertainment 13.8 234 13 E for M Corp. 146.4 210 14 AmeriQuest Technologies 220.8 200 15 NetManage Inc. 61.6 196 16 Cidco Inc. 100.3 187 17 J.M. Peters Co. 153.4 168 18 Excel Realty Trust Inc. 38.6 153 19 Intuit Inc. 365.1 146 20 MRV Communications Inc. 17.5 136 21 Copart Inc. 34.9 134 22 DSP Group Inc. 28.6 130 23 Cobra Golf Inc. 124.1 121 24 Styles on Video Inc. 14.8 121 25 ChemTrak Inc. 10.3 119 26 EPIC Design Technology 13.9 119 27 Spelling Entertainment 599.8 118 28 HomeTown Buffet Inc. 75.6 118 29 Gensia Inc. 71.8 115 30 Metricom Inc. 21.6 114 31 Bio-Dental Technologies 31.6 113 32 Regency Health Services 377.4 112 33 Aura Systems Inc. 35.9 111 34 Adobe Systems Inc. 685.1 110 35 Aurora Electronics Inc. 136.9 109 36 StrataCom Inc. 154.2 107 37 Ventritex Inc. 125.5 104 38 Agouron Pharmaceuticals 22.5 101 39 Bell Microproducts Inc. 250.8 100 40 Spectrum HoloByte Inc. 82.7 99 41 Alliance Semiconductor 94.7 99 42 Novellus Systems Inc. 224.7 98 43 PeopleSoft Inc. 112.9 94 44 Molecular Biosystems, Inc 16.8 90 45 C-Cube Microsystems Inc. 45.0 90 46 DVI Inc. 28.0 89 47 Kennedy-Wilson Inc. 48.1 89 48 ENCAD Inc. 43.7 88 49 Applied Digital Access 36.9 87 50 Proxima Corp. 116.9 87 51 Tencor Instruments 182.3 86 52 Ortel Corp. 45.4 84 53 Alantec, Corp. 25.1 84 54 McAfee Associates 32.9 84 55 DNA Plant Technology Corp 16.3 82 56 FPA Medical Management 25.3 81 57 Mercury Interactive Corp. 23.5 80 58 Level One Communications 46.8 80 59 Callaway Golf 448.7 76 60 ReSound Corp. 62.3 74 61 LTC Properties Inc. 27.6 74 62 Computer Marketplace 31.4 74 63 Special Devices Inc. 74.4 73 64 Atmel Corp. 375.1 69 65 Ultratech Stepper Inc. 91.3 69 66 ThermoTrex Corp. 91.1 68 67 Wonderware Corp. 35.7 67 68 Wyle Electronics 792.3 67 69 Veterinary Centers of Am. 42.2 67 70 United States Filter 247.3 66 71 Cisco Systems Inc. 1,540.2 66 72 Rexhall Industries Inc. 50.1 66 73 Insurance Auto Auctions 172.1 65 74 Physicians Clinical Lab. 104.1 65 75 Lam Research Corp. 611.3 65 76 PairGain Technologies 59.5 64 77 Odwalla Inc. 24.2 63 78 WCT Communications Inc. 132.2 63 79 All American Communic. 114.9 63 80 Merisel Inc. 5,018.7 63 81 Sybase Inc. 693.8 63 82 KLA Instruments Corp. 322.6 62 83 Cirrus Logic Inc. 786.0 62 84 Cerplex Group Inc. 126.9 61 85 Pacific Physician Srvcs. 264.1 61 86 Pinnacle Micro Inc. 57.7 59 87 Satellite Tech. Mgmt. 26.3 58 88 Hollywood Park Inc. 117.3 57 89 OPTi Inc. 134.1 57 90 Biosys Inc. 15.1 57 91 Broderbund Software Inc. 151.9 57 92 Digital Link Corp. 35.2 56 93 Home Theater Prod. Int'l. 41.5 56 94 Pacific Sunwear of CA 85.3 55 95 Wavefront Technologies 27.7 55 96 Solectron Corp. 1,785.7 54 97 Chad Therapeutics 13.2 54 98 Summa Industries Inc. 17.8 53 99 Read-Rite Corp. 726.1 53 100 QUALCOMM Inc. 293.8 53

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