Nine that count: six recent IPOs and three new arrivals to the state number among this year's ranking of the Top 75 public companies.

• Author: Maley, Frank

Birth means nothing," the French playwright Moliere wrote, "where there is no virtue." For public companies, the standard is higher: Birth and virtue mean nothing without decent returns on investment.

In the 12 months that ended June 30, six of North Carolina's 75 largest public companies--measured by market capitalization--offered stock publicly for the first time. That constitutes a public-company baby boom for the state. Just two of the Top 75 had gone public the previous year, and none had in the two before that.

Four of this year's newborns have given investors reason to smile. The golden child so far is Horizon Lines, a shipper whose share price jumped 53% between its arrival Sept. 27 and its close June 30. Mattress maker Sealy, the biggest of the new Tar Heel public companies, opened at $17.50 a share April 7 but closed at $13.19 June 30.

Newcomers--the six infants and three companies that moved to North Carolina in the past year--helped raise the market cap needed to make the Top 75 from $70.7 million to $107.8 million. Last year's list was larded with banks aided by strong demand for mortgages. "Now the momentum seems to be shifting to the industrials," says Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wachovia.

Nationwide, manufacturers are using a higher percentage of their capacity than in 2005, and that's reflected in the Top 75. Two steel companies, Insteel Industries and Nucor, posted the best total returns for the period. Vitner expects the year ahead to favor manufacturers, too--especially makers of industrial equipment such as SPX and Carlisle. "I don't know that it's going to bring about any change in the top 10," Vitner says, "just because of the size of the companies that are based here."

Major stock indexes slipped in May and were tumbling in mid-July, so another mother lode of new public companies in North Carolina might be too much to expect. Those companies considering an initial public offering might do well to remember that patience, after all, is a virtue.

COMING AND GOING Nine companies made the Top 75 for the first time this year. 2006 2005 Newcomers rank Dropouts rank Sealy (1) 27 Jefferson-Pilot (3) 9 Tekelec (2) 32 SpectraSite (3) 14 Pike Electric (1) 38 Integrity Financial (3) 64 Horizon Lines (1) 40 1st State Bancorp (3) 66 Alliance One International (2) 46 Citizens South Banking 69 Xerium Technologies (2) 48 Embrex 70 James River Group (1) 49 Waccamaw Bankshares 72 Cogdell Spencer (1) 66 US LEC 74 Targacept (1) 70 BNC Bancorp 75 (1) Went public after 6/30/05 (2) Moved to state after 6/30/05 (3) Acquired by another company PUBLIC COMPANIES MARKET VALUE 6/30/06 '06 RANKED BY 6/30/06 value '05 MARKET VALUE Industry (millions) 1 Bank of America Banking $219,504.5 1 (N-BAC) Charlotte 2 Wachovia Banking 86,987.2 2 (N-WB) Charlotte 3 Lowe's Hardware stores 47,042.2 3 (N-LOW) Mooresville 4 Duke Energy Energy 36,271.4 4 (N-DUK) Charlotte 5 BB&T Banking 22,891.5 5 (N-BBT) Winston-Salem 6 Reynolds American Tobacco 17,037.4 6 (N-RAI) Winston-Salem 7 Nucor (1) Steel 16,904.1 8 (N-NUE) Charlotte 8 Progress Energy Energy 10,844.8 7 (N-PGN) Raleigh 9 Laboratory Corp. Medical testing 7,760.1 of America 10 (N-LH) Burlington 10 VF Clothing 7,445.5 11 (N-VFC) Greensboro 11 Goodrich Aerospace and 4,992.2 12 (N-GR) Charlotte defense equipment 12 Red Hat Software 4,461.3 18 (Q-RHAT) Raleigh 13 Martin Marietta Rock quarries 4,168.1 Materials 16 (N-MLM) Raleigh 14 PPD (2) Drug research 4,096.0 17 (Q-PPDI) Wilmington 15 R.H. Donnelley Publishing 3,763.0 20 (N-RHD) Cary 16 Family Dollar Discount stores 3,704.4 Stores 13 (N-FDO) Matthews 17 SPX Industrial prdoucts 3,344.2 15 (N-SPW) Charlotte 18 Carlisle Construction and 2,423.3 19 (N-CSL) Charlotte Industrial products 19 First Citizens Banking 2,089.0 BancShares (3) 25 (Q-FCNCA) Raleigh 20 Highwoods Real estate 1,958.7 Properties 24 (N-HIW) Raleigh 21 Cree Semiconductors 1,830.9 21 (Q-CREE) Durham 22 Piedmont Natural Gas utility 1,829.2 Gas 22 (N-PNY) Charlotte 23 CommScope Telecommunications 1,822.3 28 (N-CTV) Hickory cable 24 Speedway Racetracks 1,654.8 Motorsports 23 (N-TRK) Concord 25 Old Dominion Trucking 1,401.5 Freight Line (4) 34 (Q-ODFL) Thomasville 26 The Pantry Convenience stores $1,304.8 30 (Q-PTRY) Sanford 27 Sealy (5) Mattresses 1,201.2 - (N-ZZ) Trinity 28 Ruddick Grocery stores, 1,162.4 26 (N-RDK) Charlotte textiles 29 RF Micro Devices Semiconductors 1,142.5 27 (Q-RFMD) Greensboro 30 Tanger Factory Shopping centers 1,002.2 Outlet Centers 31 (N-SKT) Greensboro 31 Sonic Automotive Car dealerships 941.5 (6) 29 (N-SAH) Charlotte 32 Tekelec (7) Telecommunications 829.5 - (Q-TKLC) parts Morrisville 33 Cato Clothing stores 813.5 36 (N-CTR) Charlotte 34 First Charter Banking 762.5 33 (Q-FCTR) Charlotte 35 Triad Guaranty Insurance 725.2 32 (Q-TGIC) Winston-Salem 36 EnPro Industries Engine parts 708.5 37 (N-NPO) Charlotte 37 Lance Snacks 696.9 39 (Q-LNCE) Charlotte 38 Pike Electric (8) Electrical 621.4 - (N-PEC) Mount Airy contractor 39 Salix Drugs 572.2 Pharmaceuticals 35 (Q-SLXP) Raleigh 40 Horizon Lines (9) Shipping 538.5 - (N-HRZ) Charlotte 41 FairPoint Telecommunications 504.5 Communications 38 (N-FRP) Charlotte 42 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts 502.8 Doughnuts (10) 42 (N-KKD) Winston-Salem 43 Coca-Cola Bottling Soft-drink bottling 464.3 Consolidated 41 (Q-COKE) Charlotte 44 Insteel Industries Wire 439.6 (11) 63 (Q-IIIN) Mount Airy 45 CT Communications Telecommunications 439.6 50 (Q-CTCI) Concord 46 Alliance One Tobacco 421.8 International (12) - (N-AOI) Morrisville 47 Ingles Markets (6) Grocery stores 418.3 45 (Q-IMKTA) Asheville 48 Xerium Clothing 411.9 Technologies (13) - (N-XRM) Youngsville 49 James River Group Insurance 375.7 (14) - (Q-JRVR) Chapel Hill 50 MedCath Heart hospitals 350.9 40 (Q-MDTH) Charlotte 51 First South Banking $334.2 Bancorp (15) 54 (Q-FSBK) Washington 52 Winston Hotels Real estate 324.2 48 (N-WXH) Raleigh 53 Waste Industries Garbage disposal 313.8 USA 55 (Q-WWIN) Raleigh 54 First Bancorp Banking 300.4 47 (Q-FBNC) Troy 55 Bank of Granite Banking 267.9 49 (Q-GRAN) Granite Falls 56 TriPath Imaging Cancer testing 254.2 46 (Q-TPTH) Burlington 57 Trimeris Drugs 254.0 53 (Q-TRMS) Morrisville 58 Pozen Drugs 205.3 51 (Q-POZN) Chapel Hill 59 FNB United Banking 201.0 65 (Q-FNBN) Asheboro 60 Inspire Drugs 196.3 Pharmaceuticals 43 (Q-ISPH) Durham 61 Charles & Colvard Synthetic gems 192.0 (16) 44 (Q-CTHR) Morrisville 62 Capital Bank Banking 188.9 67 (Q-CBKN)Raleigh 63 BNP Residential Real estate 177.4 Properties 60 (A-BNP) Charlotte 64 Southern Community Banking 171.3 Financial (17) 56 (Q-SCMF) Winston-Salem 65 Gateway Financial Banking 163.9 Holdings 61 (Q-GBTS) Elizabeth City 66 Cogdell Spencer Real estate 156.0 (18) - (N-CSA) Charlotte 67 Unifi Textiles 151.4 52 (N-UFI) Greensboro 68 Yadkin Valley Banking 150.9 Financial (19) 58 (Q-YAVY) Elkin 69 LSB Bancshares Banking 147.3 59 (Q-LXBK) Lexington 70 Targacept (20) Drugs 131.7 - (Q-TRGT) Winston-Salem 71 Four Oaks Fincorp Banking 129.0 (21) 71 (O-FOFN) Four Oaks 72 Investors Title Insurance 125.4 68 (Q-ITIC) Chapel Hill 73 Icagen Drugs 110.9 57 (Q-ICGN) Durham 74 Cooperative Banking 108.9 Bankshares 73 (Q-COOP) Wilmington 75 FNB Financial Banking 107.8 Services 62 (Q-FNBF) Greensboro MARKET PRICE AND EARNINGS VALUE Change Shares 6/30/06 Change '06 RANKED BY 6/30/06 from outstanding stock from '05 MARKET VALUE 6/30/05 (millions) price 6/30/05 1 Bank of America 19.7% 4,563.5 $48.10 5.5% 1 (N-BAC) Charlotte 2 Wachovia 11.2 1,608.5 54.08 9.0 2 (N-WB) Charlotte 3 Lowe's 4.6 775.4 60.67 4.2 3 (N-LOW) Mooresville 4 Duke Energy 31.7 1,235.0 29.37 (1.2) 4 (N-DUK) Charlotte 5 BB&T 4.8 550.0 41.59 4.1 5 (N-BBT) Winston-Salem 6 Reynolds American 46.7 147.8 115.30 46.3 6 (N-RAI) Winston-Salem 7 Nucor (1) 131.3 311.6 54.25 137.8 8 (N-NUE) Charlotte 8 Progress Energy (3.6) 253.0 42.87 (5.2) 7 (N-PGN) Raleigh 9 Laboratory Corp. 15.5 124.7 62.23 24.7 of America 10 (N-LH) Burlington 10 VF 16.1 109.8 67.92 18.7 11 (N-VFC) Greensboro 11 Goodrich 1.1 123.9 40.29 (1.6) 12 (N-GR) Charlotte 12 Red Hat 92.7 190.7 23.40 78.6 18 (Q-RHAT) Raleigh 13 Martin Marietta 29.4 45.7 91.15 31.9 Materials 16 (N-MLM) Raleigh 14 PPD (2) 53.8 116.6 35.12 49.9 17 (Q-PPDI) Wilmington 15 R.H. Donnelley 91.7 69.6 54.07 (12.8) 20 (N-RHD) Cary 16 Family Dollar (14.9) 151.6 24.43 (6.4) Stores 13 (N-FDO) Matthews 17 SPX (3.2) 59.8 55.95 21.7 15 (N-SPW) Charlotte 18 Carlisle 13.4 30.7 79.30 15.5 19 (N-CSL) Charlotte 19 First Citizens 39.8 10.4 200.50 38.7 BancShares (3) 25 (Q-FCNCA) Raleigh 20 Highwoods 22.5 54.1 36.18 21.6 Properties 24 (N-HIW) Raleigh 21 Cree (4.5) 77.1 23.76 (6.7) 21 (Q-CREE) Durham 22 Piedmont Natural (0.7) 75.3 24.30 1.2 Gas 22 (N-PNY) Charlotte 23 CommScope 91.9 58.0 31.42 80.5 28 (N-CTV) Hickory 24 Speedway 3.0 43.8 37.74 3.2 Motorsports 23 (N-TRK) Concord 25 Old Dominion 110.3...