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Three local firms make top-50 State ranking includes Lithia Motors, Klamath First Bancorp, VRB Bancorp Wire and staff reports Three Southern Oregon companies rank among the state's 50 most valuable publicly held firms, according to an annual analysis by The Oregonian. Southern Oregon companies making the list were Lithia Motors at No. 25, Klamath First Bancorp at No. 29 and VRB Bancorp at No. 44. Companies are ranked by market capitalization: the number of stock shares outstanding multiplied by the company's stock price. Nike Inc. remained the largest company based in Oregon. The Beaverton-based company was worth more than $16 billion at the end of March when the rankings were compiled. The rankings do include companies from southwest Washington. While Lithia and Klamath First Bancorp have made the list before, this year marked the first showing for Rogue River-based VRB Bancorp -- the holding company for Valley of the Rogue Bank. "I was surprised to find out we were even in the running," said Felice Belfiore, the company's chief financial officer. VRB Bancorp's ranking is somewhat surprising because its market value actually dropped from $89.7 million at the end of the first quarter of 1998 to $63.6 million at the end of the first quarter of 1999. But Belfiore notes that companies do have to apply for the list and wondered whether the bank's application was received a year ago. Seven community banks made the list and VRB Bancorp was ranked sixth among them in market value. But in terms of total assets as of the end of 1998, VRB Bancorp ranked fourth with $311.2 million in assets. Belfiore said she hopes the recognition will help people realize that Valley of the Rogue can offer the same services as its larger, national competitors and, she contends, better customer service. "We've been working really hard to increase the local community's awareness of who we are," Belfiore said. Klamath First Bancorp, parent company of Klamath First Federal Bank, had a market value of $129.9 million -- third among financial firms and 29th overall. The Klamath Falls-based company's assets of $1.031 billion at the end of 1998 ranked second to West Coast Bancorp of Oregon ($1.255 billion). Lithia Motors' rapid growth in revenue and number of dealerships has helped fuel solid growth in its market value. Its shares were valued at $174.4 at the end of 1999's first quarter, up from $146.9 million in the first quarter of 1998. Brian Neill, Lithia's chief financial officer, said the company is more focused on being the best auto company than the biggest or most valuable. The Medford-based auto dealership firm's revenues rose to $714.7 million in 1998, up from $319.8 million in 1997. With the acquisition of more dealerships already this year, Lithia's revenues are projected to top the $1 billion mark. Based on its 1998 revenue, Lithia ranked as the state's second largest retail firm, behind Wilsonville-based Hollywood Video. Nike's continued run atop the annual list isn't likely to end soon, but some other big players could be moving out of the rankings. If the planned purchase of PacifiCorp is approved as expected, the state's second-largest public company will take the high road to Scotland as part of ScottishPower, the first foreign corporation to take over a major U.S. utility. Fred Meyer fell out of this year's rankings following its purchase by The Kroger Co., which shifted its corporate headquarters out of state. In addition, because of the 1997 sale of Portland-based U.S. Bancorp to First Bank System in Minneapolis, there no longer are any banks among the state's biggest businesses. The first Oregon-based bank doesn't show up until No. 19: West Coast Bancorp of Lake Oswego. The seven community banks on The Oregonian's Top 50 list saw their stock prices shrink in the past year, but their assets and income grew. They seized the marketing opportunities created by the vacuum when local ownership of the big banks departed. Two lumber companies, Willamette Industries Inc. and Louisiana-Pacific Corp., both based in Portland, still hold places among the top five. High-technology companies, led by Wilsonville-based Tektronix Inc., occupy three of the first 10 spots. In ninth position on the list is Hollywood Entertainment Corp., also based in Wilsonville, and one of the success stories of the year as measured by growth in the market value of its stock. Hollywood's share value doubled to $845.1 million as of March 31. Region's top 50 The Top 50 public companies based in Oregon or southwest Washington as ranked by The Oregonian according to market value of shares outstanding on March 31 (all figures are in millions of dollars): 1. Nike Inc., $16,448 2. PacifiCorp, $5,129 3. Willamette Industries Inc., $4,189 4. Louisiana-Pacific Corp., $1,998 5. Tektronix Inc., $1,182 6. Lattice Semiconductor Corp., $1,065 7. Precision Castparts Corp., $985 8. Mentor Graphics Corp., $885 9. Hollywood Entertainment Corp., $845 10. Longview Fibre Co., $598 11. Crown Pacific Partners LP, $565 12. Northwest Natural Gas Inc., $545 13. Egghead.com Inc., $542 14. Electro Scientific Industries Inc., $530 15. Sequent Computer Systems Inc., $395 16. GST Telecommunications Inc., $395 17. Monaco Coach Corp., $288 18. Oregon Steel Mills Inc., $269 19. West Coast Bancorp, $265 20. RadiSys Corp., $246 21. Flir Systems Inc., $216 22. Centennial Bancorp, $212 23. In Focus Systems Inc., $195 24. TriQuint Semiconductor Inc., $177 25. Lithia Motors Inc., $174 26. Metro One Telecommunications Inc., $162 27. FEI Co., $153 28. The Greenbrier Cos. Inc., $135 29. Klamath First Bancorp Inc., $130 30. Cascade Corp., $123 31. Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., $117 32. Timberline Software Corp., $108 33. Northwest Pipe Co., $106 34. Cascade Bancorp, $105 35. Gardenburger Inc., $87 36. Pope & Talbot Inc., $86 37. Planar Systems Inc., $82 38. OrCAD Inc., $79 39. Electric Lightwave Inc., $79 40. Thrustmaster Inc., $72 41. Obie Media Corp., $70 42. Epitope Inc., $68 43. Riverview Bancorp Inc., $67 44. VRB Bancorp, $64 45. Synthetech Inc., $62 46. CFI Proservices Inc., $62 47. Praegitzer Industries Inc., $58 48. Integrated Measurement Systems Inc., $54 49. Oregon Trail Financial Corp., $54 50. Summit Design Inc., $54 Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA