Colorado's public companies reflect, defy recession's ill effects.

Publicly traded companies based in Colorado showed the effects of the recession in 2008, with moves out of state, mergers and bankruptcies combining to push 15 companies off this year's Top 100 Public Companies ranking.

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The most visible absence this year is Frontier Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2008. Originally scheduled to submit a reorganization plan on June 4, the airline in May asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for a deadline extension to Oct. 9, The Denver Post reported.

Overall, nearly half - 48 - of the companies in the ranking reported negative net incomes in 2008. On a positive note, Qwest Communications International, the state's largest public company with revenues of $13,475 billion in 2008, reported a profit of $681 million last year.

Despite the economic downturn, 71 of the companies in the ranking reported increased revenues in 2008 compared with the previous year.

-TOP 100 COLORADO-BASED PUBLIC COMPANIES Ranked by revenue 2009 COMPANY TICKER '08 '08 SALES '07 SALES RANK RANK (000's) (000's) 1 Qwest Q 1 $13,475,000 $13,778,000 Communications International Inc. 2 Dish Network DISH 2 11,617,000 11,090,375 Corp. 3 Liberty Global LBTYA 4 10,561,100 9,003,300 Inc. 4 Liberty Media LCAPA 3 10,084,000 9,423,000 Holding Corp. 5 Liberty Media LINTA 8,079,000 7,802,000 Interactive 6 Ball Corp. BLL 5 7,561,000 7,475,300 7 Newmont Mining NEM 8 6,199,000 5,526,000 Corp. 8 ProLogis PLD 6 5,655,000 6,204,666 9 Western Union WU 9 5,282,000 4,900,200 Co. 10 Molson Coors TAP 7 4,774,300 6,190,592 Brewing Co. 11 Level 3 LVLT 10 4,301,000 4,269,000 Communications Inc. 12 Emergency EMS 13 2,409,864 2,106,993 Medical Services Corp 13 EchoStar Corp. SATS 15 2,150,520 1,544,065 14 Cimarex Energy XEC 16 1,970,347 1,431,166 Co. 15 Forest Oil FST 21 1,647,163 1,083,892 Corp. 16 MDC Holdings MDC 12 1,458,108 2,933,249 Inc. 17 Apartment AIV 14 1,457,918 1,721,184 Investment & Management Co. (AIMCO) 18 Teletech TTEC 17 1,400,147 1,211,297 Holdings Inc. 19 MarkWest Energy MWE 33 1,338,490 602,879 Partners LP 20 Chipotle CMG 20 1,331,968 1,085,782 Mexican Grill Inc. 21 St. Mary Land & SM 25 1,301,301 990,094 Exploration Co. 22 DCP Midstream DPM 26 1,285,800 960,900 Partners LP 23 Woodward WGOV 24 1,258,204 1,042,337 Governor Co. 24 Whiting WLL 29 1,222,100 818,718 Petroleum Corp. 25 Ciber Inc. CBR 23 1,191,567 1,081,975 26 Time Warner TWTC 22 1,159,019 1,083,679 Telecom Inc. 27 Vail Resorts MTN 27 1,152,156 940,536 Inc. 28 Janus Capital JNS 19 1,037,900 1,117,000 Group 29 Red Robin RRGB 30 869,215 763,472 Gourmet Burgers Inc 30 IHS Inc. IHS 32 844,030 688,392 31 Crocs Inc. CROX 28 721,589 847,350 32 Bill Barrett BBG 39 617,911 390,270 Corp. 33 UDR Inc. UDR 35 590,598 500,194 34 Venoco Inc. VQ 48 559,520 233,860 35 Westmoreland WLB 34 509,696 504,217 Coal Co. 36 Air Methods AIRM 38 498,802 396,349 Corp. 37 CSG Systems CSGS 36 472,057 419,216 International Inc. 38 Intrepid Potash IPI 415,334 213,459 Inc. 39 Einstein Noah BAGL 37 413,450 402,902 Retaurant Group 40 National NCMI 42 369,500 331,900 CineMedia 41 Penford Corp. PENX 41 345,576 362,364 42 Advanced Energy AEIS 40 328,918 384,699...