Except for banks, shares of local companies rise in 2010

photo The Unum buildings in downtown serve as home to the largest Chattanooga-based firm.

Shares of Chattanooga's publicly traded companies jumped with the overall markets in 2010 except for banking stocks.

Covenant Transportation Group and shopping center titan CBL & Associates Properties Inc. put up especially solid advances last year.

Trucker Covenant's shares soared 129.9 percent in the year, while CBL's stock roared ahead 81 percent.

Also, insurer Unum Group, Chattanooga's biggest company, recorded a 24.1 percent gain in its stock price.

But banking companies First Security Group and Cornerstone Bancshares both lagged in 2010 as their share prices fell.

Chris Hopkins, vice president of investments for Barnett & Co. in Chattanooga, said he's looking ahead to a "pretty decent" 2011 for the markets.

"We've got a lot of stimulus loaded into the mix," he said, also citing the Federal Reserve System's actions coupled with extension of the tax cuts.

Additionally, wage earners will enjoy a drop in Social Security payroll taxes this year, he said.

Forrest Simmons, vice president of Barclays Wealth in Atlanta, said he is "cautiously optimistic" about the performance of equities in 2011.

LOCAL STOCKSCompany, Dec. 31 close and percent change from year ago:• Astec, $32.41, up 20.3 percent• CBL, $17.50, up 81 percent• Cornerstone, $1.90, down 9.5 percent• Covenant, $9.68, up 129.9 percent• Dixie, $3.72, up 37.3 percent• First Security, 90 cents, down 62.2 percent• Miller, $14.23, up 25.4 percent• Mohawk, $56.76, up 19.2 percent• Unum, $24.22, up 24.1 percent• Dow Jones Ind., 11,577.51, up 11 percent• S&P 500, 1,257.64, up 12.8 percentSource: NYSE, Nasdaq

"We're not too far from record (corporate) earnings," he said, noting the markets haven't gone to record levels.

But Simmons, who is from Chattanooga, said people need to be wary.

"A lot of stuff could go wrong," he said.

Hopkins said stocks could rise another 10 percent this year as joblessness will show better-than-expected declines.

Still, Hopkins said there are a lot of problems in the future. Energy prices are up and if the cost of gasoline goes too high, such as $3.50 a gallon, that could choke off economic activity, he said. But Hopkins added he doesn't think that will happen.

Simmons said the Fed has basically indicated it will do whatever it can to make sure equity prices rise.

"There's the old statement 'Don't fight the Fed,'" he said.

A big shift in Chattanooga's business landscape in 2010 was that 130-year-old Chattem Inc. was bought by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis for $1.9 billion in cash and became part of that Paris-based company.

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