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Stock surge bypasses SW Florida
By Tim Engstrom
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Originally posted on July 22, 2007

The stock market has been on a steady roll for the first half of 2007, but few of Southwest Florida's publicly traded companies have been able to ride the wave.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index grew more than 6 percent in the first six months of the year and the Dow Jones Industrials and Nasdaq each gained about 7.5 percent. In the same time, however, 10 of the 16 publicly traded companies based here ended June trading lower than six months ago.

And some of those with gains have simply reclaimed ground lost in 2006.

The reasons for the losses and gains are as varied as the companies, which include national players like luxury homebuilder WCI Communities Inc., women's clothing company Chico's FAS Inc., and Source Interlink, a magazine publisher and distributor.

The companies may not be market behemoths like those represented on the Dow, but together they employ more than 49,000 people nationally and represent market capitalization of more than $9.4 billion.

That diversity is reflected throughout Florida and is key to the mixed results, said David Kamm, an investment adviser with Raymond James. Some sectors are moving strongly while others, particularly builders, continue to struggle.

"I think we are still being controlled by the currents and not by the tide," said Kamm, who writes a column for The News-Press. "If you are in a strong current, you are moving well, but otherwise, you may be stuck."

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Other public companies

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Innova Robotics and Automation Inc., a Fort Myers-based company that sells robot control systems, saw shares fall almost 47 percent in the first half of the year, even as it expanded into servicing robotic systems.

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070722/BUSINESS/707220415/1075