SAFETY IN NUMBERS.

• Author: Maley, Frank
• Position: Top 75 public companies in North Carolina - Statistical Data Included

When high-flying tech stocks crashed, performance again became what counts for top Tar Heel public companies.

It was fun while it lasted. Daredevil dotcom, software and telecom companies were rewarded with high stock prices and mostly cheerful forecasts as they spent furiously trying to build revenues. Earnings and other traditional performance measures? As Tony Soprano might say, "Fuggedaboutit."

"A year ago, you were dealing with an economy that looked like it was going to continue to grow forever," says Jack White, director of research at Charlotte-based Wachovia Securities Inc. "Now the pendulum has swung the other way."

That means safety and earnings are back in vogue. Tech is out. Drugs, tobacco and lab testing are the rage. So says our annual ranking of the state's Top 75 public companies, compiled by Wachovia Securities. The ranking is based on the market capitalization of North Carolina-based companies May 31.

It wasn't just tech companies that lost money last fiscal year -- such as Durham-based software distributor Red Hat Inc. and Cary-based cellphone-tower operator SpectraSite Holdings Inc. -- that saw their market caps plummet. Charlotte-based Glenayre Technologies Inc., which makes paging equipment, made $14 million in 2000, but sales in the first quarter of 2001 were off 22% from 2000. Its market value nearly evaporated, dropping 83%.

Tobacco, on the other hand, is getting a second wind. Standard Commercial Corp., the Wilson-based leaf trader, saw its market cap quintuple. That of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., the Winston-Salem cigarette maker, more than doubled. A string of legal victories in the past year lightened the cloud hanging over the industry. So has the election of a pro-business president.

Drug and medical companies are flying high, too. The Top 75's top three newcomers are all young drug companies. The state's second-biggest gainer, Burlington-based medical-testing company Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings Inc., saw its value jump fivefold, aided by a quintupling of net income to $77.5 million in 2000.

Overall, the state's Top 75 public companies increased their value 12% from last year to $297.5 billion. Lower interest rates helped improve bank stocks, which account for 56% of the Top 75's market cap. And some tech stocks rebounded slightly in early 2001. "People are starting to look through the period of economic weakness and saying, 'OK, the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train,' "White says.

THE TOP OF THE TOP 75 Market capitalization (in millions) 1 Bank of America $94,917.6 2 Duke Energy 35,250.1 3 First Union 31,645.9 4 Lowe's 26,760.2 5 BB&T 14,809.5 6 Wachovia 14,166.1 7 Progress Energy 8,768.8 8 Jefferson-Pilot 7,208.8 9 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings 6,054.7 10 Laboratory Corp. of America 4,890.9 TOP 75 Top of the charts in 10 categories

Net sales (fiscal 2000) (not including financial institutions; in millions) 1 Duke Energy $48,911.0 2 Lowe's 18,778.6 3 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings 8,167.0 4 Sonic Automotive 6,052.5 5 VF 5,747.9 6 Nucor 4,586.1 7 Goodrich 4,363.8 8 Progress Energy 4,118.9 9 Jefferson-Pilot 3,238.0 10 Family Dollar Stores 3,132.6 TOP 75 MEDIAN $300.7 MILLION Net income (fiscal 2000; in millions) 1 Bank of America $7,511.0 2 Duke Energy 1,757.0 3 Wachovia 832.3 4 Lowe's 809.9 5 BB&T 626.4 6 Jefferson-Pilot 512.0 7 Progress Energy 478.4 8 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings 352.0 9 Nucor 310.9 10 Goodrich 286.3 TOP 75 MEDIAN $14.7 MILLION Shareholders' equity (fiscal 2000; in millions) 1 Bank of America $47,556.0 2 First Union 15,347.0 3 Duke Energy 10,056.0 4 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings 8,436.0 5 Wachovia 6,284.5 6 Lowe's 5,494.9 7 Progress Energy 5,424.2 8 BB&T 4,785.9 9 Jefferson-Pilot 3,159.0 10 VF 2,191.8 TOP 75 MEDIAN $207.8 MILLION Dividend yield (2000 dividend to 5/31/01 price) 1 Konover Property Trust 15.7% 2 BNP Residential Properties 12.6 3 Tanger Factory Outlet Centers 10.9 4 Winston Hotels 10.7 5 Highwoods Properties 9.1 6 Summit Properties 7.6 7 Ingles Markets 6.5 8 Lance 5.5 9 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings 5.2 10 Progress Energy 5.0 TOP 75 MEDIAN 0.2% Sales growth (fiscal 2000) 1 Information Architects 1560.5% 2 Inspire Pharmaceuticals 386.2 3 Paradigm Genetics 370.5 4 Salix Pharmaceuticals 370.2 5 LendingTree 342.5 6 SpectraSite Holdings 246.6 7 Red Hat 143.8 8 Duke Energy 125.0 9 RF Micro Devices 89.0 10 Cree 80.8 TOP 75 MEDIAN 14.5% Net Profit margin (fiscal 2000) 1 Triad Guaranty 41.3% 2 CT Communications 35.3 3 Summit Properties 33.9 4 Cree 28.1 5 Winston Hotels 24.7 6 Bank of Granite 24.6 7 Highwoods Properties 24.4 8 RF Micro Devices 17.3 9 Embrex 17.1 10 Jefferson-Pilot 15.8 TOP 75 MEDIAN 7.7% Return on average equity (fiscal 2000) 1 Embrex 31.4% 2 Market America 30.7 3 Coca-Cola Bottling 24.9 4 CommScope 24.5 5 Family Dollar Stores 22.4 6 Goodrich 22.0 7 CT Communications 20.9 8 Cato 20.0 9 Triad Guaranty 19.7 10 Duke...