C Cube Microsystems

Five key measures--all traditional parts of our annual "Times 100" publication--were used to make this honor roll of California companies. The list was created by measuring performance in each area, comparing all 997 eligible publicly traded companies and then blending the five results with equal weighting. In the five columns to the right of each company name, we show where it ranks on the five major "100" lists elsewhere in this section.

This chart ranks companies by their stock market value, determined by multiplying stock price by the number of total shares outstanding. Intel, thus, is valued more highly than any other company headquartered in California. Generally, it's when a company's market cap is measured against other indicators--particularly the company's book value as listed here--that the figure begins to take shape as a useful tool for investors.

It's almost an article of faith in the electronics world these days that two largely separate industries--computers and consumer electronics--are rapidly becoming one. Computer vendors are cutting prices and pushing their products through mass-market retailers, while consumer electronics companies are incorporating more computer-like technologies into their products all the time.

The hottest new California stock issues of 1994 are mostly in the business of getting information from Point A to Point B--and moving it faster, easier and more cheaply. Companies involved in computer and telecommunications networking dominate the Times list of best-performing California IPOs, or initial public offerings, measured from their 1994 offering prices to market prices on April 13. At the top of the list: Ascend Communications, a 6-year-old Alameda-based firm that floated 2.

There's an old Wall Street saw that you don't buy or sell a stock based on its price but rather on its value. It's a maxim that also holds true when understanding the market capitalization leaders of The Times 100. A company's market value--also known as capitalization, or "market cap"--is calculated simply by multiplying its stock price by its number of total shares outstanding.

Here is the complete list of winners of the 47th annual nighttime Emmy Awards, as announced over the weekend by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. * Comedy series: "Frasier," NBC. * Drama series: "NYPD Blue," ABC. * Made for television movie: "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," HBO. * Miniseries: "Joseph," TNT. * Variety, music or comedy series: "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," NBC. * Variety, music or comedy special: "Barbra Streisand The Concert," HBO.

Companies ranked by percent gain in stock price. *--* % Change Price as 12-month Rank Company 52 Weeks of 4/19/96 high 1 L.L. Knickerbocker Co. 1148 9.75 10.40 2 Amati Communications Corp. 882 13.5 19.75 3 PCC Group, Inc. 833 3.5 3.5 4 California Amplifier 599 33.63 36.38 5 Ascend Communications 575 59.5 62 6 Quality Systems, Inc. 575 20.25 32.25 7 IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp 571 26 29.25 8 Vitesse Semiconductor 467 26.94 28.25 9 C-Cube Microsystems Inc. 399 52.38 73.5 10 Proxim, Inc. 390 30.

The video CD is sweeping across China, and the low-tech consumer electronics revolution is having an impact on California's two most dynamic industries, technology and entertainment. The sudden emergence of the inexpensive video player here is undercutting the conventional wisdom in the consumer electronics industry that acceptance in U.S. and Japanese markets is the critical test for products ranging from the Walkman to the DVD, the digital alternative to videotape.

If the end of one year and beginning of the next had to be known for just one thing, it would be for lists. You name it, there's a list for it. There are lists of holiday foods to cook, cards to write and presents to buy. And, of course, there are lists upon lists of New Year's resolutions. Then there are the lists of stocks that gained and lost the most during the previous year. They're in seemingly every newspaper.

There is no faster way to grow than buying another company--that's why you hear a lot about corporate takeovers. And in 1994, it seems, buying was the way to grow. Like last year's Times 100 growth chart-topper Mycogen Corp., a San Diego biotechnology concern, several of the leaders in the 1994 Times Growth 100 are firms that spent last year buying other companies. Here's a look at how California companies grew last year. First, a few that took over other companies: ThermoLase Corp.