By Ronald Rosenberg, Globe Staff

BEAR PROFILES DynaGen, Inc. Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. Designs Inc. Converse Inc. SystemSoft Corp. MAIN STORY Bulls and Bears

ew Route 128 companies underwent as many changes last year as Palomar Medical Technologies which had to divest some of its operations, relocate its headquarters, incur huge restructuring charges, battle patent issues with a rival, and bring in Louis ''Dan'' Valente as chief executive to turn the company around.

And while Palomar hopes to become profitable by year-end, its stock price has plunged from 5 on March 31, 1997 (well below its all-time high of 16 two years ago), to 1 9/16 on March 31, 1998.

Now based in its manufacturing facility in Lexington after moving last fall from Beverly as part of a corporate consolidation, Palomar is focused on developing and manufacturing proprietary laser systems used for cosmetic treatments, including hair removal.

The company, under Valente, has sold off some of its electronics operations and high-tech investments, such as American Materials and Technologies Inc. of Los Angeles, which former chief executive Steven Georgie had invested in to focus on its core cosmetic-laser business. el.4l

Palomar also spun off Nexar Technologies Corp., a personal computer developer based in Southborough. That company has also been struggling as its stock price and revenues have declined recently.

In December, Palomar sold a subsidiary, Tissue Technologies Inc. of Albuquerque, which produced a laser used for skin resurfacing, to the firm's management.

One optimistic sign was a year-end agreement by Coherent Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., the nation's largest laser maker, to be the exclusive distributor of Palomar's hair-removal products.

Two months ago Palomar said the agreement had yielded $7 million in orders for the firm's laser systems.