Banks on it: five more break into our annual ranking of Tar Heel public companies, which is headed by two of their bigger brethren.

• Author: Roush, Chris

Collectively, the state's largest public companies didn't have an awesome year, but it was better than a poke in the eye. BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA's Top 75, which ranks public companies based in the state by their market capitalization on June 30, shows growth that was promising, if not spectacular, by several measures.

The market cap required to make the list increased 24%, but the median market value increased only 5%. "We have seen modest economic growth over the past year in North Carolina," says Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wachovia.

The financial-services industry, already well represented, added a few members. Bank of America and Wachovia topped the list, as they did last year, BB & T ranks fifth, and five of the eight newcomers are banks.

The biggest newcomer, however, isn't a bank. FairPoint Communications makes its debut at No. 38. Incorporated in 1991, it went public Feb. 4, netting $435 million in its initial public offering. At the end of June, its stock traded at $16.15 a share.

The other new public company didn't fare as well. Icagen, a drug developer, netted $37 million in its IPO on Feb. 3--the first by a Tar Heel company since 2002. Its shares traded at $7.85--less than its IPO price--at the end of June, and it landed at No. 57 on the Top 75.

The market cap needed to make the Top 75 might have been even larger if some big companies hadn't been sold. Wilmington, Mass.-based Charles River Laboratories International bought Cary-based drug researcher Inveresk Research Group. Camden Property Trust, a Houston real-estate investment trust, bought Charlotte-based Summit Properties. New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson bought Raleigh-based Closure Medical. Danville, Va.-based DIMON bought Wilson-based tobacco and wool trader Standard Commercial.

Two longtime Top 75 companies dropped from the ranking for other reasons. Wilmington-based drug researcher aaiPharma is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Greensboro-based Culp, like many of its fellow textile makers, is restructuring.

COMING AND GOING Eight companies made the Top 75 for the first time or returned after missing the cut last year. 2005 2004 Newcomers rank Dropouts rank FairPoint Communications (1) 38 Inveresk Research Group (3) 24 Icagen (2) 57 Summit Properties (3) 33 Gateway Financial Holdings 61 Closure Medical (3) 45 Insteel Industries 63 Standard Commercial (3) 53 Integrity Financial 64 aaiPharma 56 Four Oaks Fincorp 71 Culp 68 Waccamaw Bankshares 72 Peoples Bancorp 74 BNC Bancorp 75 ECB Bancorp 75 (1) Went public Feb. 4 (2) Went public Feb. 3 (3) Acquired by another company PUBLIC COMPANIES MARKET VALUE 6/30/05 Change '05 RANKED BY 6/30/05 value from '04 MARKET VALUE Industry (millions) 6/30/04 1 Bank of America (1) Banking $183,423.8 7.1% 1 (N-BAC) Charlotte 2 Wachovia Banking 78,190.9 35.0 2 (N-WB) Charlotte 3 Lowe's Hardware stores 44,973.1 7.8 3 (N-LOW) Mooresville 4 Duke Energy Energy 27,551.2 49.7 5 (N-DUK) Charlotte 5 BB & T Banking 21,837.7 6.4 4 (N-BBT) Winston-Salem 6 Reynolds American Tobacco 11,613.6 103.3 9 (N-RAI) Winston-Salem 7 Progress Energy Energy 11,250.3 4.7 6 (N-PGN) Raleigh 8 Nucor (2) Steel 7,308.1 23.9 8 (N-NUE) 9 Jefferson-Pilot Insurance 6,854.0 (2.4) 7 (N-JP) Greensboro 10 Laboratory Corp. of Lab testing 6,717.3 19.5 America 10 (N-LH) Burlington 11 VF Clothing 6,415.6 20.0 11 (N-VFC) Greensboro 12 Goodrich Aerospace and 4,937.5 31.3 14 (N-GR) Charlotte defense equipment 13 Family Dollar Stores Discount stores 4,352.2 (16.0) 12 (N-FDO) Matthews 14 SpectraSite (3) Cell-phone towers 3,493.7 64.8 17 (N-SSI) Cary 15 SPX Industrial 3,455.2 0.5 15 (N-SPW) Charlotte products 16 Martin Marietta Rock quarries 3,221.7 50.7 Materials 16 (N-MLM) Raleigh 17 PPD Drug research 2,664.0 50.2 19 (Q-PPDI) Wilmington 18 Red Hat Software 2,315.5 (44.4) 13 (Q-RHAT) Raleigh 19 Carlisle Construction and 2,137.1 11.4 18 (N-CSL) Charlotte industrial products 20 R.H. Donnelley Publishing 1,962.7 45.1 23 (N-RHD) Cary 21 Cree Silicon carbide, 1,916.6 18.0 20 (Q-Cree) Durham semiconductors 22 Piedmont Natural Gas utility 1,842.5 13.5 Gas (4) 21 (N-PNY) Charlotte 23 Speedway Motorsports Racetracks 1,607.3 8.8 22 (N-TRK) Charlotte 24 Highwoods Real estate 1,598.6 27.2 Properties (5) 28 (N-HIW) Raleigh 25 First Citizens Banking 1,492.1 18.2 BancShares (6) 27 (Q-FCNCA) Raleigh 26 Ruddick Grocery stores, $1,210.1 18.3% 30 (N-RDK) Charlotte textiles 27 RF Micro Devices Semiconductors 1,017.7 (23.9) 25 (Q-RFMD) Greensboro 28 CommScope Telecommunications 949.4 (25.9) 26 (N-CTV) Hickory cable 29 Sonic Automotive (7) Car dealerships 886.2 (0.0) 31 (N-SAH) Charlotte 30 The Pantry Convenience stores 843.3 91.5 43 (Q-PTRY) Sanford 31 Tanger Factory Outlet Shopping centers 743.6 38.4 Centers (8) 38 (N-SKT) Greensboro 32 Triad Guaranty Insurance 740.0 (10.7) 32 (Q-TGIC) Winston-Salem 33 First Charter Banking 667.6 5.9 36 (Q-FCTR) Charlotte 34 Old Dominion Freight Trucking 666.6 (4.3) Line 35 (Q-ODFL) Thomasville 35 Salix Drugs 647.4 (17.8) Pharmaceuticals (9) 34 (Q-SLXP) Raleigh 36 Cato (7, 10) Clothing stores 647.1 39.0 41 (N-CTR) Charlotte 37 EnPro Industries Engine parts 604.2 25.8 40 (N-NPO) Charlotte 38 FairPoint Telecommunications 565.6 na Communications (11) -- (N-FRP) Charlotte 39 Lance Snacks 513.3 14.2 42 (Q-LNCE) Charlotte 40 MedCath Heart hospitals 512.7 43.0 44 (Q-MDTH) Charlotte 41 Coca-Cola Bottling Soft drinks 457.4 (11.8) Consolidated 39 (Q-COKE) Charlotte 42 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts 429.8 (62.5) Doughnuts (5) 29 (N-KKD) Winston-Salem 43 Inspire Pharmaceuticals Drugs 354.2 (34.4) 37 (Q-ISPH) Durham 44 Charles & Colvard Gem 353.2 338.2 71 (Q-CTHR) Morrisville 45 Ingles Markets (7) Grocery stores 332.4 28.3 52 (Q-IMKTA) Asheville 46 TriPath Imaging Cancer testing 326.8 (7.1) 46 (N-TPTH) Burlington 47 First Bancorp (12) Banking 313.3 2.6 48 (Q-FBNC) Troy 48 Winston Hotels Real estate 298.5 9.4 49 (N-WXH) Raleigh 49 Bank of Granite Banking 252.7 (5.2) 51 (Q-GRAN) Granite Falls 50 CT Communications Telecommunications 248.0 (8.6) 50 (Q-CTCI) Concord 51 Pozen Drugs $238.8 25.7% 54 (Q-POZN) Chapel Hill 52 Unifi Textiles 221.1 42.4 57 (N-UFI) Greensboro 53 Trimeris Drugs 219.1 (28.6) 47 (Q-TRMS) Durham 54 First South Bancorp Banking 200.3 42.7 58 (Q-FSBK) Washington 55 Waste Industries Garbage disposal 193.3 22.2 55 (Q-WWIN) Raleigh 56 Southern Community Banking 171.7 88.9 Financial 67 (Q-SCMF) Winston-Salem 57 Icagen (13) Drugs 170.5 na -- (Q-ICGN) Durham 58 Yadkin Valley Bank and Banking 154.9 73.7 Trust 69 (Q-YAVY) Elkin 59 LSB Bancshares Banking 153.9 11.9 59 (Q-LXBK) Lexington 60 BNP Residential Real estate 147.7 59.5 Properties 66 (A-BNP) Charlotte 61 Gateway Financial Banking 133.4 121.5 Holdings -- (Q-GBTS) Elizabeth City 62 FNB Financial Banking 128.6 38.8 Services (14) 65 (Q-FNBF) Reidsville 63 Insteel Industries Wire 116.7 113.8 -- (Q-IIIN) Mount Airy 64 Integrity Financial Banking 113.6 30.3 -- (Q-IFCB) Hickory 65 FNB Banking 111.5 1.1 62 (Q-FNBN) Asheboro 66 1st State Bancorp (15) Banking 104.5 30.6 72 (Q-FSBC) Burlington 67 Capital Bank Banking 98.6 (8.2) 64 (Q-CBKN) Raleigh 68 Investors Title Insurance 92.2 5.2 70 (Q-ITIC) Chapel Hill 69 Citizens South Banking Banking 92.0 (16.9) 61 (Q-CSBC) Gastonia 70 Embrex Egg-injection 88.6 (19.0) 63 (Q-EMBX) Durham systems 71 Four Oaks Fincorp (16) Banking 85.9 41.0 -- (O-FOFN) Four Oaks 72 Waccamaw Banking 81.6 15.3 Bankshares (17) -- (Q-WBNK) Whiteville 73 Cooperative Banking 80.3 26.3 Bankshares (18) 73 (Q-COOP) Wilmington 74 US LEC (7) Telecommunications 73.3 (41.0) 60 (Q-CLEC) Charlotte 75 BNC...