An itch to get rich.

• Author: Schafer, Susan
• Position: A number of North Carolina companies file initial public offering - Includes directories - Top 75 Public Companies - Directory

A rash of IPOs has swelled the ranks of the state's public companies.

Since investors began gobbling up stocks with fearless abandon, going public has become the rage for many North Carolina companies. BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA's 10th annual ranking of the state's top public companies reflects this trend with several newly public companies making their debuts on the list.

Veteran stock watchers can't remember a bigger year for initial public offerings in the state. "My instincts say yes, it was a record year," Interstate/Johnson Lane Senior Vice President Allen Rogers says.

top 75 initial public offerings 4/1/92 Company Offering IPO price Price FEDFIRST BANCSHARES March '91 $10.00 $18.88 COASTAL HEALTHCARE GROUP June '91 11.50 20.25 OLD DOMINION FREIGHT LINE October '91 12.50 17.00 EMBREX November '91 8.50 6.63 JIMBO'S JUMBOS December '91 6.00 5.00 INTEGON February '92 15.25 16.75 SPHINX PHARMACEUTICALS January '92 15.00 10.00 BURLINGTON INDUSTRIES March '92 14.00 13.88 Between January 1991 and early April, eight North Carolina companies went public, and at least five more had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A dozen others, attracted by the high valuations bestowed by the booming market, are thinking seriously about making the move, investment bankers and lawyers say. North Carolina is echoing a national trend. Nationwide, a total of $16.4 billion in IPOs came to market in 1991, more than doubling the amount for each of the previous two years.

Riding the wave, the newcomers to our list include Coastal Healthcare Group Inc., Embrex Inc., FedFirst Bancshares Inc., Jimbo's Jumbos Inc., Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. and Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corp.

One name reappears on the list after a long absence: Burlington Industries Equity Inc. The textile manufacturer had gone private through a leveraged buyout orchestrated by Morgan Stanley & Co. in 1988. Burlington returns to a revamped list. Formerly ranked by sales, as of last year corporations have been listed by market value, in part to include companies in such industries as insurance and banking, with "sales" figures incomparable to industrial and retail concerns. This change allows Integon Corp., another returnee to public ownership, to make its bow on the list. Before going public again this year, Integon had been controlled through most of the '80s by Ashland Oil Co. of Kentucky and Dallas-based Southmark Corp. (On April 1, another former public company -- Cone Mills Corp. -- announced plans to sell stock to the public again later this year, reversing a 1984 leveraged buyout; if all goes as planned, it will reappear in next year's rankings.)

Naturally, market value -- the number of common shares outstanding multiplied by the stock price -- represents investors' vote on a company's worth and future performance. And, for the moment, investors are voting a mighty yes to stocks of...