Two-thirds of Colorado’s roughly 100 top publicly traded companies lost value during the bruising quarter that ended Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 10 percent, its first quarterly loss since early 2009, largely on concerns over the strength of the global economic recovery and a string of negative news, including the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The Bloomberg Colorado Index of local stocks was up 0.87 percent for the quarter.
“There’s been a lot of bad news,” said Andy Ratkai, a certified financial adviser and president of the Praxis Advisory Group in Denver. “The accumulation of that has really gotten people down on the stock market.”
Investor pessimism is outweighing improving financial performance by corporations and modest growth in the overall economy, Ratkai said.
Vail Resorts, Dish Network, Western Union and ProLogis saw their stocks fall in the second quarter. The biggest loser among large Colorado companies was Janus Capital, whose stock tumbled 38 percent as the mutual-fund operator charted a course under a new chief executive.
Energy companies — mainly oil drillers — performed best, with the most stocks among the winners during the quarter. Also marking positive returns were four gold miners, including Newmont Mining, reflecting the precious metal’s rise.
The top-performing stock was Acceler8 Technology, a small company that is developing a rapid diagnostic system for hospital-acquired infections.
Acceler8, which surged 64 percent during the quarter, in June announced an evaluation agreement with a global diagnostics company. The pact includes an option for the company to license, develop and market Acceler8’s product.
Chipotle Mexican Grill and Crocs each rose 21 percent. Chipotle opened its first restaurant in Europe in May and its 1,000th restaurant in June. Crocs, which had posted big losses in 2008, recently returned to profitability with big sales gains.
The two top-performing energy companies were Venoco, up 28 percent, and Cimarex Energy, up 21 percent. Both are oil-and-natural-gas companies focusing on exploration and production outside of Colorado. Investors have fled pure natural-gas companies because of a supply glut and low prices, but oil companies are doing better.
The Gulf of Mexico disaster and concerns over offshore drilling restrictions are driving some oil investors toward onshore drilling investments, executives for the companies said.
Venoco sold its Texas holdings in April to focus on oil drilling in Southern California.
“We believe we’re on to a very good thing there,” Venoco chairman and chief executive Tim Marquez said. “Occidental Petroleum is the only other one there. They said in May this may be their biggest-producing area in the world. . . . That implies very good things for Venoco.”
Cimarex chief financial officer Paul Korus attributed his company’s stock performance to its diversification of oil and natural-gas assets in Oklahoma and Texas, and good execution on those assets. The company also has relatively little debt, he said.
“Being conservatively financed is in vogue these days,” Korus said. “During the go-go times, our approach wasn’t as widely appreciated as it is now.”
Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com
