The year 2012 will be remembered as the year equities rallied from recessionary lows.
With the Dow Jones industrial average up 7.2 percent and the S&P up more than 13 percent, most stocks experienced gains in 2012.
Only nine companies of the 73 followed by BusinessWeekly saw stocks lose value in 2012. More than half of the stocks' value jumped by more than 10 percent, according to BusinessWeekly's tally of stocks of publicly traded companies with a significant presence in Northeast Pennsylvania.
The gainers gained big, with three stocks more than doubling in value over the year.
Positive corporate earnings and low interest rates helped propel corporate balance sheets and earnings, said Bob Graham Jr., investment adviser at Riggs Asset Management of Wilkes-Barre.
"Most companies were running lean coming out of the recession and the Fed's zero rate policy has helped," Mr. Graham said.
One sector that was clearly beaten down in 2012 was the gas sector, held down by low natural gas prices precipitated by a glut. The long-term prospect of low natural gas prices has driven down the value of the gas leases companies hold throughout the shale fields in the United States. Of the five biggest decliners, four were natural gas exploration and production companies, lead by Exco Resources whose stock slid by one third.
Other companies with more modest declines include Chesapeake Energy Corp., WPX Energy Inc., and Williams Partners.
The problem for the companies, which has been a boon for companies and consumers, has been the low cost of natural gas, Mr. Graham said.
"For a time prices were close to $2 per Mcf (million cubic feet of natural gas)," he said. "If the industry's break even is close to $5, then it become harder for the company to make money."
The largest gainer was one-time laggard, York-based Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which operates more than 250 department stores in 24 states, including one at the Mall at Steamtown in Scranton, one in the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Twp. and another in Wyoming. The retailer got a new chief executive this year, Brendan Hoffman, former head of Lord & Taylor. Comparable store sales last year were positive for the first time since 2010 and the company successfully refinanced debt, implemented cost-saving measures and beat Wall Street expectations.
Howard Davidowitz, of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a investment banking and retail consulting firm, said Bon-Ton, which was troubled just a few years ago, rebounded somewhat in 2012.
"They were able to refinance which helped them and the new CEO made changes that seemed to help prompt a pick-up," he said.
Shares of Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, owner of the Viewmont Mall and Wyoming Valley Mall, increased by 76 percent. Over the year, the company benefited from refinancing mortgage debt, increasing occupancy and selling off under-performing shopping centers.
Shares of New Jersey-based packaging producer AEP Industries Inc. more than doubled in 2012 thanks to a solid acquisition, lower material costs and increased demand.
Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com