Western Digital’s Stock Gains; Helionetics’ Loses

Two local firms with plenty in common wound up at opposing ends of the American Exchange’s list of biggest percentage changers last week.

Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. posted a 23.3% gain in price last week, while Helionetics Inc., also of Irvine, lost an almost equal amount of its price--23.8% to be exact.

Both firms belong to the volatile high-technology group and both formerly were run by high-tech maverick Charles W. Missler.

Western Digital, which on Wednesday reported sharply improved net earnings and revenues for the third-quarter ended March 29, closed Friday at $13.875 a share, up $2.625 a share for the week. Total sales volume was a heavy 1.1 million shares, enough to put Western Digital on the Amex’s most-active list.

As previously reported, Western Digital posted third-quarter net earnings of $6.4 million, compared with $3.1 million a year earlier. Revenues climbed to $71 million from $47 million during 1985.

In addition to the company’s improved earnings for the last quarter, Bert Moyer, Western Digital’s chief financial officer, credited the gain to the recent strong performance of technology issues.

On the other hand, Helionetics, which last week reported a net loss for 1985 of $22.4 million, its largest annual deficit ever, slid 23.8% to close Friday at $2 a share, down 62.5 cents a share for the week. The 1985 loss compares with net earnings of $586,500 in 1984.

Despite the sharp decline for the week, however, Friday’s close was a 25-cent improvement from Thursday’s closing price of $1.75 a share, or a 14.3% rebound for the day.