The Buffalo, N.Y., stock portfolio, consisting of one share of 21 local-based stocks, suffered a disastrous plunge during the first quarter of 2009, including Sovran Self Storage, whose shares dropped by 44 percent. The Williamsville, N.Y.-based real estate investment trust reported an 11 percent decline in fourth-quarter 2008 earnings and has been scrambling to keep units filled, offering incentives to attract new customers and minimize move-outs.
 
The Buffalo portfolio, fresh off a 27.4 percent decline in the fourth quarter, continued its deterioration in the first three months of this year, losing another 22.1 percent. Since the end of September, the portfolio has lost 43.5 percent of its value. The performance during the first quarter was the third-worst reported by local stocks since the Buffalo portfolio plummeted by nearly 30 percent during the 1987 stock-market crash.
 
Seven stocks in the portfolio managed to increase during the quarter, including four that gained more than 20 percent. But 14 lost value, and more than half dropped by more than 20 percent. Shares of Gibraltar Industries suffered the most, losing 60 percent of their value.
 
Source: Buffalo News, Bear market hits local stocks especially hard

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