U.S. stock market indices managed to stay on the high road in 2014 while an index tracking Colorado stocks veered off course and got stuck in a muddy bog. The Bloomberg Colorado Index, a basket of 77 companies based in the state, fell 1.45 percent in 2014, its first negative year since 2011.
The decline came in a year when the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 11.4 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 7.5 percent and the Nasdaq composite was up 13.4 percent.
The Colorado index’s poor showing, which came in the second half of the year, is directly linked to a sharp slide in oil and natural gas prices.
“With the 50 percent correction in oil prices since June, it is no surprise that stock market returns for Colorado energy and commodity companies were negative in 2014,” said Fred Taylor, president of Northstar Investment Advisors in Denver.
American Eagle Energy Corp. shed 92.4 percent of its market value, making it the biggest loser in a long list of Colorado oil and gas producers suffering decimating drops in market value in 2014.
Shares of Resolute Energy still lost 85.4 percent — despite a 26.9 percent jump on Wednesday — and Emerald Oil Inc. dropped 84.3 percent.
Lower costs for traditional energy sources clipped alternative energy providers hard. Ascent Solar shed 84.8 percent of its market value and Real Good Solar lost 84 percent. Shares of Gevo Inc., a biofuels company, dropped 77.6 percent.
Taylor said it is too early to tell how the hit the state’s oil and gas producers suffered will impact the overall economy and areas like commercial office space vacancies and home prices.
“Fortunately, the Colorado economy is far more diversified now than it was in the 1980s, when the oil market collapsed and took everything down with it,” he said.
Several Colorado companies managed to put in a strong showing, and many of them were linked to food or agriculture.
Shares of Good Times Restaurant Inc. ended the year with a 176.2 percent gain, making it the state’s top performing stock. Loveland-based Heska Corp., which sells veterinary medicines, rose 107.9 percent, while Greeley-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a poultry producer, was up 101.8 percent.
Class A shares of beer maker Molson Coors Brewing Co. rose 82.5 percent, while the more heavily traded B class shares were up 32.7 percent. The WhiteWave Foods Co. was up 52.5 percent and food ingredients maker Penford Corp. was up 45.4 percent, with much of that gain coming from a buyout bid in October.
Not all commodity companies got flushed. Westmoreland Coal Co. was up 72.2 percent and Hallador Energy Co., a coal and oil producer, was up 36.6 percent, despite investor disdain for coal overall.
Two Colorado oil and gas companies managed to hang onto gains in early 2014. Shares of Synergy Resources Corp. ended the year up 35.4 percent and Earthstone Energy Inc. held onto a 27 percent gain.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
What was hot in colorado …
CompanyReturnGood Times Restaurant Inc.176.2%Heska Corp.107.9%Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.101.8%Westmoreland Coal Co.72.2%WhiteWave Foods Co.52.5%… and what was coldCompanyReturnAmerican Eagle Energy Corp.-92.4%Resolute Energy-85.4%Ascent Solar-84.8%Emerald Oil Inc.-84.3%Molycorp Inc.-84.3%
Sources: Bloomberg, Associated Press