Tight fists choke stocks.

• Author: Maley, Frank
• Position: TOP 75 PUBLIC COMPANIES

Slowly, it seems, Americans are opening their wallets, swiping their plastic and buying more. Consumer spending rose 0.3% in May, the latest month figures were available, but it will take a lot more than a tiny bump to pull the country out of recession.

Tight consumer and corporate purse strings strangle stock prices, says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte. "For companies that sell into the domestic marketplace, the underlying demand for their products has weakened even more than the gross domestic product. Revenue and earnings have taken a huge hit, and that's had a significant impact on their share prices."

Public companies based in North Carolina haven't been immune. In the latest fiscal year, more than two-thirds of the 75 largest lost money or saw net income drop. During the 12 months that ended June 30, more than three-quarters lost market value. The market cap needed to make BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA'S Top 75 list--compiled this year by Memphis, Tenn.-based Mercer Capital Management Inc.--slid from $62 million to $42 million.

The biggest percentage gain belonged to a newcomer, Raleigh-based BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. Its shares surged on news about a pain treatment in development. The biggest loser on the Top 75 was FairPoint Communications Inc., a Charlotte-based rural telephone-service provider burdened with debt and decreased demand. It fell to 69th from 32nd last year. But no company fell as far and fast as R.H. Donnelley Corp. The Cary-based Yellow Pages publisher failed to make the cut this year after placing 13th two years ago and 55th last year. Struggling with debt and sagging advertising sales, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May and by early July had a market cap of less than $4 million.

Economists say there's reason to believe the recession will end later this year or early next, but full recovery will take longer. "It's a bit like you've been in an ice storm and the temperature has been 20 degrees for a couple of days and it rises up to 33 or 34 degrees," Vitner says. "Technically it's not freezing outside, but it's pretty cold. That's kind of where the economy is going to be later this year. Maybe the economy isn't declining anymore, but conditions are still going to be awfully weak."

--Frank Maley

COMING&GOING Newcomers 2009 rank Dropouts 2008 rank Lorillard 6 Wachovia 2 Cornerstone 51 R.H. Donnelley 55 Therapeutics BioDelivery 52 NewBridge Bancorp 65 Sciences Intl. Tree.com 57 FNB United 69 Nexxus Lighting 71 Icagen 74 New Century 75 Peoples Bancorp of N.C. 75 Bancorp Measuring Up Net margin (latest fiscal year) 1 Trimeris 68.9% 2 Hatteras Financial 39.9 3 Triangle Capital 35.8 4 Lorillard 25.4 5 Speedway Motorsports 17.3 6 First South Bancorp 15.8 7 Reynolds American 15.1 8 BB&T 14.6 9 Cornerstone Therapeutics 13.9 10 First Bancorp 13.0 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 6.4% Total one-year return 1 BioDelivery Sciences Intl. 187.9% 2 The Pantry 55.7 3 Coca-Cola Consolidated 52.7 4 Family Dollar Stores 44.6 5 Hatteras Financial 41.3 6 Salix Pharmaceuticals 40.4 7 Inspire Pharmaceuticals 29.9 8 RF Micro Devices 29.7 9 Cree 28.9 10 First Bancorp 28.3 TOP 75 MEDIAN: (22.4)% Total five-year return 1 Insteel Industries 195.3% 2 Nucor 167.0 3 BioDelivery Sciences Intl. 122.7 4 Tanger Factory Outlet Centers 107.1 5 Martin Marietta Materials 90.3 6 Lance 77.2 7 Old Dominion Freight Line 70.8 8 Laboratory Corp. of America 70.8 9 Goodrich 70.3 10 PowerSecure International 67.1 TOP 75 MEDIAN: (9.1)% Earnings per share (latest fiscal year; millions 1 First Citizens Bancshares $8.73 2 Nucor 5.98 3 VF 5.42 4 Goodrich 5.33 5 Lorillard 5.15 6 SPX 4.68 7 Reynolds American 4.57 8 Laboratory Corp. of America 4.16 9 Martin Marietta Materials 4.09 10 Hatteras Financial 2.99 TOP 75 MEDIAN: $0.63 Net income growth (latest fiscal year) 1 Cornerstone Therapeutics 1,477.7% 2 Alliance One Internationa 1,367.4 3 Speedway Motorsports 175.8 4 Tekelec 80.6 5 Insteel Industries 80.0 6 EnPro Industries 41.9 7 Goodrich 35.8 8 Nucor 24.4 9 Ruddick 19.9 10 The Pantry 18.9 TOP 75 MEDIAN: (4.0)% Price/earnings ratio (6/30/09 price to latest fiscal year) 1 Highwoods Properties 447.4 2 Cree 81.7 3 Coca-Cola Consolidated 55.7 4 Red Hat 51.6 5 Tanger Factory Outlet Centers 45.7 6 Lance 41.3 7 Horizon Lines 38.6 8 Polymer Group 29.3 9 Bank of America 24.0 10 Tekelec 23.7 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 13.0 Return on capital (latest fiscal year) 1 Lorillard 140.6% 2 BioDelivery Sciences Intl. 51.3 3 Trimeris 38.1 4 Cornerstone Therapeutics 28.3 5 Insteel Industries 25.7 6 Goodrich 19.2 7 Nucor 16.6 8 PPD 15.9 9 Family Dollar Stores 15.5 10 Laboratory Corp. of America 14.1 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 3.7% Return on average equity (latest fiscal year) 1 Lorillard 134.8% 2 Cornerstone Therapeutics 105.0 3 Hanesbrands 53.7 4 Alliance One International 49.1 5 Goodrich 28.8 6 Nucor 28.1 7 Insteel Industries 27.9 8 Laboratory Corp. of America 27.2 9 Reynolds American 19.5 10 Family Dollar Stores 19.2 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 8.3% Return on average assets (latest fiscal year) 1 Lorillard 35.3% 2 Insteel Industries 21.8 3 Cornerstone Therapeutics 21.0 4 Nucor 15.5 5 Trimeris 11.6 6 PPD 10.9 7 Laboratory Corp. of America 10.3 8 PowerSecure International 9.6 9 VF 9.4 10 Goodrich 9.0 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 1.8% Dividend yield (expected 12-month dividend to 6/30/09 price) 1 Cogdell Spencer 21.0% 2 Hatteras Financial 15.3 3 Triangle Capital 14.7 4 Horizon Lines 11.4 5 Reynolds American 8.8 6 BB&T 8.6 7 Highwoods Properties 7.6 8 First South Bancorp 6.9 9 Capital Bank 6.7 10 Progress Energy 6.6 TOP 75 MEDIAN: 0.0% Common equity (latest fiscal year; billions) 1 Bank of Americ $139.4 2 Duke Energy 21.0 3 Lowe's 18.1 4 BB&T 13.0 5 Progress Energy 8.7 6 Nucor 7.9 7 Reynolds American 6.2 8 VF 3.6 9 Goodrich 2.1 10 SPX 2.0 TOP 75 MEDIAN: $0.3 Cash from operations (latest fiscal year; millions) 1 BB&T $5,355.0 2 Lowe's 4,122.0 3 Bank of America 4,034.0 4 Duke Energy 3,328.0 5 Nucor 2,498.7 6 Reynolds American 1,342.0 7 Progress Energy 1,218.0 8 Lorillard 980.0 9 Goodrich 784.0 10 Laboratory Corp. of America 780.9 TOP 75 MEDIAN: $71.6 TOP 75 PUBLIC COMPANIES MARKET VALUE '09 RANKED BY 6/30/09 Change 6/30/09 value from '08 MARKET VALUE Industry (millions) 6/30/08 1 Bank of America Financial $84,492.5 (20.5)% 1 (N-BAC) services Charlotte 2 Lowe's Hardware 28,610.3 (5.7) 3 (N-LOW) stores Mooresville 3 Duke Energy Energy 18,748.2 (14.7) 5 (N-DUK) Charlotte 4 Nucor Steel 13,962.4 (35.2) 4 (N-NUE) Charlotte 5 BB&T Financial 12,321.2 (1.0) 7 (N-BBT) services Winston-Salem 6 Lorillard (1) Tobacco 11,385.4 51.8 -- (N-LO) Greensboro 7 Reynolds Tobacco 11,251.1 (18.4) American 6 (N-RAI) Winston-Salem 8 Progress Energy Energy 10,554.6 (3.3) 8 (N-PGN) Raleigh 9 Laboratory Corp. Medical 7,341.7 (5.3) of America testing 10 (N-LH) Burlington 10 Goodrich Aerospace and 6,189.1 4.3 12 (N-GR) defense Charlotte equipment 11 VF Clothing 6,103.8 (21.3) 9 (N-VFC) Greensboro 12 Family Dollar Discount 3,965.4 42.4 Stores stores 17 (N-FDO) Matthews 13 Red Hat Software 3,824.7 (3.4) 15 (N-RHT) Raleigh 14 Martin Marietta Construction 3,511.6 (18.0) Materials 14 (N-MLM) Raleigh materials 15 PPD Drug 2,737.8 (46.7) 13 (Q-PPDI) research Wilmington 16 Cree Semiconductors 2,609.2 27.6 19 (Q-CREE) Durham 17 SPX Industrial 2,398.3 (65.9) 11 (N-SPW) equipment Charlotte 18 CommScope Telecommunications 1,906.6 (48.2) 16 (N-CTV) Hickory equipment 19 Piedmont Natural Energy 1,758.6 (8.5) Gas 20 (N-PNY) Charlotte 20 Carlisle Construction and 1,472.5 (16.8) 22 (N-CSL) industrial Charlotte products 21 Highwoods Real estate 1,426.4 (20.8) Properties 21 (N-HIW) Raleigh 22 Hanesbrands Clothing 1,421.3 (44.3) 18 (N-HBI) Winston-Salem 23 First Citizens Financial 1,394.5 (4.2) Bancshares (2) services 24 (Q-FCNCA) Raleigh 24 Old Dominion Trucking 1,251.7 11.8 Freight Line 26 (Q-ODFL) Thomasville 25 Ruddick Grocery stores, 1,136.7 (31.3) 23 (N-RDK) textiles Charlotte 26 Tekelec Telecommunications $1,119.7 14.3% 28 (Q-TKLC) equipment Morrisville 27 Tanger Factory Shopping 1,034.1 (8.7) Outlet Centers centers 25 (N-SKT) Greensboro 28 Hatteras Real estate 994.9 71.2 Financial (3) 35 (N-HTS) Winston-Salem 29 RF Micro Semiconductors 992.8 31.3 Devices 30 (Q-RFMD) Greensboro 30 Lance Snacks 738.4 25.4 33 (Q-LNCE) Charlotte 31 Speedway Racetracks 589.4 (33.5) Motorsports 29 (N-TRK) Concord 32 Cato Clothing 515.0 22.4 41 (N-CTR) stores Charlotte 33 Coca-Cola Soft drinks 505.2 49.4 Bottling Consolidated 42 (Q-COKE) Charlotte 34 Polypore Filters 493.5 (51.7) International 27 (N-PPO) Charlotte 35 Salix Drugs 475.3 41.7 Pharmaceuticals 45 (Q-SLXP) Morrisville 36 Sonic Car 407.7 (21.4) Automotive dealerships 38 (N-SAH) Charlotte 37 Pike Electric Electrical 402.7 (26.9) 36 (N-PIKE) Mount contracting Airy 38 Harris Stratex Telecommunications 381.4 (31.3) Networks equipment 37 (Q-HSTX) Morrisville 39 Ingles Markets Grocery 373.6 (34.7) 34 (Q-IMKTA) Black stores Mountain 40 The Pantry Convenience 373.0 57.6 53 (Q-PTRY) stores Sanford 41 EnPro Industrial 359.6 (51.7) Industries equipment 31 (N-NPO) Charlotte 42 Alliance One Tobacco 338.1 (25.6) International distribution 40 (N-AOI) Morrisville 43 Inspire Drugs 315.1 30.1 Pharmaceuticals 52 (Q-ISPH) Durham 44 First Bancorp Financial 260.6 43.3 54 (Q-FBNC) Troy services 45 MedCath Heart 232.0 (33.8) 43 (Q-MDTH) hospitals Charlotte 46 Pozen Drugs 229.0 (29.2) 46 (Q-POZN) Chapel Hill 47 Krispy Kreme Doughnut 202.5 (38.3) Doughnuts 44 (N-KKD) shops Winston-Salem 48 Sealy Mattresses 180.1 (65.5) 39 (N-ZZ) Trinity 49 Polymer Group Textiles 154.5 (38.9) 50 (O-POLGA.OB) Charlotte 50 Insteel Steel wire 144.4 (54.8) Industries 47 (Q-IIIN) Mount Airy 51 Cornerstone Drugs $132.1 na Therapeutics (4) -- (Q-CRTX)Cary 52 BioDelivery Drugs 128.5 189.2% Sciences International -- (Q-BDSI) Raleigh 53 Trans 1 Medical 128.1 (57.8) 49 (Q-TSON) devices Wilmington 54 Chelsea Drugs 127.1 (13.1) Therapeutics International 59 (Q-CHTP) Charlotte 55 Horizon Lines Shipping 116.5 (60.8) 48 (N-HRZ)...