Crown Central Petroleum Corp.'s Class B stock fell to its lowest level in nearly two years yesterday, apparently hammered by the company's continuing financial difficulties.
In American Stock Exchange trading, Crown Central B shares, which have a tenth of a vote apiece, fell $1, to $12.375.
The one-vote-per-share Class A shares, which are mostly controlled by Chairman Henry A. Rosenberg Jr. and his family, fell 37.5 cents to $14.50.
It was the lowest price for the B shares since early January 1993, and nearly half of what they were selling for as recently as April of this year.
The A prices matched a 52-week low set last month.
The continuing stock price declines puzzled and angered some investors yesterday.
Marc Perkins, president of Perkins Capital Management in Palm Beach, Fla., said he can't figure out why his Crown B shares keep falling while his holdings in many other oil companies seem to be doing fine.
"The rest of the industry's stocks are doing very well," Mr. Perkins said.
"Maybe this says something about Crown."
Mr. Perkins noted that Crown shares, which had stabilized between May and October, started falling again at the end of October, after the company announced its worst quarterly loss in 10 years.
The Baltimore-based gasoline refiner and marketer said it lost $26.6 million on revenues of $468.3 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
In the first nine months of 1994, Crown reported losing $25.2 million on sales of $1.3 billion.
In recent weeks, Mr. Perkins said, there has been heavy selling.
Company spokesman Joseph M. Coale said investors may be spooked by "a combination of factors," including a glut of heating oil due to the mild fall temperatures, a decline in oil prices, and tight profit margins.
Mr. Coale said the company believes investors may also be selling shares at year end for tax reasons.
He said it wasn't fair to compare Crown's stock prices to other oil companies' stocks because "every oil company is different."