Mar. 8--A stylish blue-stemmed martini glass from Libbey Inc.'s Metropolis line was selling for $3.99 on the company's Web site last week.

On Wall Street, the same amount of cash would have purchased four shares of the Toledo company's badly shattered stock.

The destructive economic virus that first swept through banks and investment houses last fall quickly spread to some hallmark U.S. manufacturers such as Libbey, sending investors scrambling for the exits and stock values to lows normally associated with companies headed for bankruptcy court.

Locally, the list of affected firms includes furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc. of Monroe, axle manufacturer Dana Holding Corp. of Toledo, and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. of Findlay. Cooper Tire shares sunk to $3.44 at the close of trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of the other companies were trading for less than $1 each.

And now the firms are battening down the hatches.

"We are in territory we haven't seen since the Great Depression," said Jim Gillette, an auto analyst with CSM Worldwide in Northville, Mich. "A year ago, we were talking about a completely different world. Some people said it would be tough. But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought it would get this bad."

Most U.S. stocks have fallen. But shares of these four regional firms have stumbled especially hard in developments attributed to lost revenues, heavy debt loads, and involvement in sectors of the economy out of favor with managers of mutual funds that dominate the stock market.

When shares of a firm fall below $1 each, investors have historically assumed it is "at high risk of bankruptcy," said Gene Collins, a longtime executive at Citigroup, who ran the firm's trading desk for 18 years. Mr. Collins is executive-in-residence at the University of Toledo business college.

A downward trend

The numbers tell the story.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a barometer of the stock performance of large, leading U.S. companies, has fallen 42 percent since the collapse of Lehman Brothers set events in motion in September.

Shares of three of the four regional companies plummeted. Since Sept. 12, Dana declined 97 percent to 23 cents. Libbey dropped 90 percent to 96 cents. La-Z-Boy cratered 94 percent to 60 cents.

Cooper Tire did slightly better, with a 68 percent decline to $3.44.

In a further sign of how skittish investors are about the local firms, long-term bonds of Libbey traded last week at 41 cents on the dollar; Cooper Tire, at 45 cents on the dollar.

Credit ratings assigned by Standard & Poor's to the two firms, along with Dana, are below investment-grade in a category known as "junk." S&P doesn't rate La-Z-Boy.

Dana woes

Dana appears most vulnerable.

The auto parts producer, which supplies truck axles and other parts to the struggling Detroit Three and other manufacturers, has long-term debt of $1.3 billion. Since emerging from bankruptcy on Feb. 1, 2008, it has failed to meet projections for revenues and profits.

The company last month delayed release of its earnings report for the fourth quarter and full-year 2008 until March 16. But from the day it exited bankruptcy to Sept. 30, Dana lost $435 million on sales of $5.8 billion. That compared to a loss of $294 million on sales of $6.6 billion in the first nine months of 2007. Late last year, the firm was forced to seek a relaxation of loan terms. However, terms are slated to tighten in the second half of 2009, according to Standard & Poor's.

In cost-cutting moves, Dana last year announced 5,000 job cuts and the closing of up to 10 plants over the next two years. The company employs 29,000 people worldwide, including 1,000 in metro Toledo.