Diversity at the top: the myriad businesses its largest corporations engage in reflect North Carolina's vibrant - and eclectic - economy.

• Author: McMillan, Alex Frew
• Position: Includes Top 75 list of the largest public companies based in the state

The myriad businesses its largest corporations engage in reflect North Carolina's vibrant - and eclectic - economy.

Scanning this year's Top 75 list of the largest public companies based in this state, you're more likely to come across a drug developer than a textile manufacturer. That shows the ranking's unprecedented diversity and reflects the state's broadening economic base. A fifth of the companies, 15, are health-care or high-tech. In 1991, when BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA expanded the list from 50 companies, there were no healthcare and only six high-tech companies.

More-speculative stocks are making the list because the market has recently been receptive to initial public offerings. Four of the 10 companies debuting on the Top 75 have a technological bent: coaxial-cable maker CommScope Inc. (No. 27), Year 2000 programmer Alydaar Software Corp. (47), phone company US LEC Corp. (51) and wafer maker RF Micro Devices Inc. (59). Only one of the other seven newcomers is in manufacturing or banking, industries that accounted for more than half the Top 75 in 1991. That's Carolina First Bancshares Inc. (70). International Heritage Inc. (45) is a multilevel marketer, Waste Industries Inc. (49) handles garbage, Sonic Automotive Inc. (63) sells cars, Midway Airlines Corp. (68) flies along the East Coast, and Blue Rhino Corp. (73) sells natural-gas cylinders. Carolina First isn't an IPO. But new investor interest pushed it onto the list for the first time.

THE TOP OF THE TOP 75 Market cap (in millions) 1 NationsBank $73,757 2 First Union 55,791 3 Duke Energy 19,913 4 Wachovia 17,160 5 Lowe's 13,333 6 BB&T 9,512 7 Jefferson-Pilot 6,134 8 Carolina Power & Light 6,110 9 Nucor 4,893 10 Food Lion 4,641 The new blood means the cut-off point jumped more than it ever had. No. 75, Intercardia Inc., has $113.7 million in market value, the shares outstanding multiplied by the stock price on May 21. Last year, Tangram Enterprise Solutions Inc. made the cut at $76.2 million. It slipped off this year.

The biggest shift since 1991 has been the winnowing of financial-services companies. This year's ranking has 14 banks and two insurers. Seven years ago, there were 23 and five. As their number shrinks, their size mushrooms. In 1991, NCNB Corp.'s market cap of $3.8 billion put it fourth, behind Duke Power Co., Food Lion Inc. and Carolina Power & Light Co. If what's now NationsBank Corp. merges with Bank America Corp. in the fourth quarter, it will have a market cap...