ORANGE COUNTY NEWS

Home-Building Company’s Stock Leaps: A burst of trading Friday drove the price of J. M. Peters Co. stock to a 52-week high of $4.25 a share, up $1.50 in American Stock Exchange trading. James Peters, chairman of the Newport Beach home-building company, said he knew of no reason for the stock’s activity. Analyst David Rose of Cruttenden and Co. in Newport Beach suggested that speculators may believe a sale is near of controlling interest in the company. The federal Resolution Trust Corp. assumed ownership of 87% of J. M. Peters’ shares last year when it seized insolvent San Jacinto Savings & Loan Assn. in Houston. The S&L; had owned the shares since the mid-1980s. RTC officials have been trying to sell the stock for nearly six months.