4 VALLEY FIRMS ON FORBES LIST.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Four of the nation's 200 fastest-growing small companies are in the San Fernando Valley, and two give their chief executives enough compensation to make them among the 50 highest-paid, according to Forbes magazine.

On Assignment Inc., a Calabasas-based provider of temporary professionals for the scientific and environmental industries, ranked No. 75, with five-year sales growth averaging 30 percent and five-year earnings growth of 31 percent, according to the annual ranking in the Nov. 2 issue.

On Assignment's five-year return on equity was 22 percent.

The company ranked 89 in last year's list.

Electro Rent Corp., the Van Nuys-based renter of electronic equipment and computers, came in at No. 127, with five-year average sales growth of 15 percent, earnings per share growth of 33 percent and five-year return on equity of 18 percent. Electro Rent was not on last year's list.

Electro Rent Chairman Daniel Greenberg, meanwhile, was the sixth-highest paid chief executive among the Forbes 200, with salary, bonuses, stock gains and other compensation last year earning him about $4 million.

On Assignment's Chairman and chief executive H. Tom Buelter ranked 18th in the listing of top-paid company heads, with salary and other compensation totaling $2.25 million. He ranked 75th in last year's listing.

Burbank-based Align-Rite International, a maker of photographic plates used in the semiconductor industry, ranked 141st, with 24 percent average sales growth, 39 percent earnings per share growth, and 25 percent return on equity.

IHOP Corp., the Glendale-based operator and franchiser of the International House of Pancakes restaurants, was No. 198 with 12 percent average sales growth, 14 percent earnings per share growth and 15 percent five-year return on equity.

Neither Align-Rite nor IHOP appeared in last year's list.