All-star stocks: a top-10 list of Indiana winners.

THOUGH 2004 HASN'T been Wall Street's finest, with the overall markets up only slightly through November, Indiana has had its share of winners this year.

Top gainers among Indiana companies represent many of the state's strongest and up-and-coming sectors. Manufacturing is well represented, and the list also includes entries from the logistics and life-sciences sectors. The list also includes two examples of Indiana companies solidifying their hold as industry leaders.

Topping the list with a stock gain of 200.9 percent through November is Hurco Companies of Indianapolis, which makes interactive computer controls, software and computerized machine systems for the metal-cutting and metal-forming industries. "They have some new products that have been accepted extremely well," notes analyst Mark Patton, president of Patton Fund Management in Indianapolis.

That acceptance was on full display this fall at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, an annual trade show Hurco has been attending for 30 years. This year proved to be Hurco's most successful show ever. "It's great to see the enthusiastic response from our customers regarding not only our new products, but also our current machines," says Jim Fabris, Hurco president and COO. "These products were also in high demand. We broke a record for the number of transactions at the show."

It's been 20 years since Hurco first introduced its patented microprocessor-based control with graphical software, a pioneering development in its field. Hurco introduced several new application software options a couple of years ago, and this year made improvements to its lathe line.

Second in line with a stock gain of 94.9 percent through November is Cohesant Technologies, an Indianapolis-based maker of specialty coating products and dispensing equipment through two subsidiaries: Raven Lining Systems and Glas-Craft. Earlier this fall the company announced its 14th consecutive quarter of record earnings.

"Equipment sales at Glas-Craft were up 27 percent over the same period last year in its domestic market, and Glas-Craft's international equipment sales continued to be strong, beating the same period last year by 14 percent," according to president and CEO Morris H. Wheeler. "Coatings sales remained on a record pace for the year, with an over 24 percent increase over the first nine months."

Last month the company appeared on the Forbes list of the 200 best small companies. Cohesant, despite having the smallest market capitalization on the list, ranked 84th among the top 200 in five-year return on equity, and 149th overall. Earlier this year, Cohesant made Fortune Small Business magazine's 100 fastest-growing small companies in America, ranking 98th.

Next comes Steel Dynamics, the Fort Wayne-based steelmaker, which saw its stock value grow by 76.2 percent through November. Patton is impressed with this company but also notes that the gains are part of an overall industry up tick. "The price of steel has gone up significantly in the past 12 months and has raised the tide of all of these ships."

In October the company announced record sales and earnings, with third-quarter sales up 21 percent from the second quarter and 150 percent higher than a year earlier. And that's not all, notes president and CEO Keith Busse. "Several of our operations set monthly and quarterly records for both production and shipments."

Can the strong prices of steel continue? Investment advisor Jim Kocon, principal at Peerson & Co. in Whiting, wonders. "Steel as a whole may have been a little overpriced," he says. "That may be a little bit of an overreaction to the need for steel in China and India."

Still, Steel Dynamics is building its business in ways that go well beyond higher steel prices. The company hopes to expand its building-products business in the Southeast, and to that end it broke ground in October on a new steel-fabrication facility in Lake City, Florida. The $30 million facility will provide building components for non-residential construction projects in Florida and surrounding states.

Fourth on the list is Cummins Inc., the Columbus-based maker of engines, fuel systems, controls, electrical power-generation systems and other products. Through the end of November, Cummins stock had picked up 62.7 percent. "Cummins is an excellent company with excellent cash flow," Kocon notes. "Overseas, they have a quite a bit going for them."

Patton says Cummins benefits by, among other things, making turbo diesel engines for the popular Dodge Ram truck. He says Cummins has been an economically sensitive company, but for now the economy is in a good position to benefit Cummins.

Cummins in October reported a second straight quarter of record sales, along with profits that substantially exceeded its earlier forecasts. Its third-quarter revenues were up 34 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The company had been projecting net earnings of $1.30 to $1.40 per diluted share but when all was counted its earnings were at $2.40, or $116 million, in the third quarter.

With energy prices soaring, it's no surprise that a company offering an alternative has been a good investment. WaterFurnace, based in Fort Wayne, is a pioneering maker of geothermal heating and cooling systems that move heat energy to and from the earth in order to cool and heat homes and businesses. Its parent is WFI Industries, which enjoyed a stock-price gain of 62.5 percent by the end of November, ranking it fifth on the list of top Indiana gainers.

Chairman Timothy Shields reports an upwards sales trend that gained steam about a year ago. At the end of this year's third quarter, revenues were up 14.3 percent, and profits are up as well.

The need for alternative heating and cooling is global, and so are WFI's opportunities. Earlier this year the company entered into a cooperative production agreement with its Chinese distributor. The venture will produce geothermal systems for sale in China under the WFI Shenglong brand and aims to be the preeminent geothermal supplier in China.

With a 2004 stock gain of 49.8 percent, Indianapolis-based Celadon Group lands sixth on the list. "Trucking and transportation companies have been doing extremely well," Patton notes. "That's definitely linked to the strength of the economy."

Celadon, which will turn 20 years old in 2005, has grown to become one of the nation's top 10 truckload carriers. It's one of the few set up to provide time-sensitive, door-to-door trailer shipments within and between any of the NAFTA countries. The company also owns nearly all of TruckersB2B, a business-to-business membership program that provides volume buying power and vendor rebates to thousands of small and medium-sized trucking companies on fuel, tires, trailers and virtually anything else they might need.

The company's latest fiscal-year results show an operating revenue increase of 8.4 percent, which continued into the fiscal-year first quarter that ended in September. Profitability is on an upward trend as well.

Based in West Lafayette, Bioanalytical Systems Inc. is a drug-development firm offering contract research services and other products for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical-device industries. Its stock value grew by 43.7 percent through the end of November, placing it seventh on our list. The stock price actually peaked about the end of October, when it was Indiana's second-hottest stock, and has fallen off a bit since then.

"I think this is a great company," Patton says. "They made a couple of very strategic acquisitions that have integrated very well with their existing businesses."

BASI is another honoree on the Fortune Small Business list of the country's 100 fastest-growing small companies. "Naturally, we are extremely pleased to be recognized by Fortune Small Business," chairman and CEO Peter T. Kissinger said in a statement. "With the acquisition of PharmaKinetics Laboratories Inc. in Baltimore and LC Resources Inc. in Oregon earlier this year, we are poised for future growth."

Ranking eighth is Indianapolis-based FinishMaster Inc., which claims to be the leading national independent distributor of paints, coatings and accessories to the American automotive paint refinishing market. It was created in 1968 and has grown to 168 sales outlets and four major distribution centers in 28 states. FinishMaster's stock gained 36.7 percent through November.

Through the third quarter, the company's sales are up about 12 percent over 2003, and profits are up about 6 percent. FinishMaster has been busily growing through acquisition, having taken over two companies in the first three quarters: a North Carolina auto-supply business and a paint company in Virginia. It made three acquisitions in 2003.

But FinishMaster is enjoying organic growth as well. The company attributes its increase in same-branch sales to the implementation of various sales and marketing initiatives.

Say "hello" to the newest name among the state's public companies: WellPoint Inc. Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Inc. had been having a decent 2004 already, but as November ended its stock shot up to ninth place on our list with the announcement that its acquisition of California-based WellPoint Health Networks had finally been completed. Anthem, which remains based in Indianapolis but has taken on the WellPoint name, saw its stock value grow by 34.0 percent.

"This merger creates the nation's leading health-benefits company," says Larry C. Glasscock, president and CEO. WellPoint now serves approximately 28 million medical members through its Blue Cross/Blue Shield operations in 13 states and its non-Blue branded operations in other states. The company has more than 38,000 employees.

The $20.8 billion purchase of WellPoint was announced more than a year earlier but faced a number of regulatory hurdles along the way The deal was closed within hours of the last state approval. The company promises that the merger will create new efficiencies that will slow premium increases. Eliminating overlapping operations will generate cost savings of as much as a quarter-billion dollars a year, the company estimates.

Rounding out this top-10 list is Simon Property Group, the Indianapolis-based real-estate investment trust that is the leader in mall development. Simon owns or has an interest in about 300 properties in 39 states plus Canada and Puerto Rico, totaling 204 million square feet of gross leasable area. The company also has interests in 49 European shopping centers as well as four premium outlet centers in Japan.

Simon, whose stock gained 34.0 percent through November, made its latest Indiana splash in October with the opening of Clay Terrace, a 570,000-square-foot, upscale lifestyle center developed in Carmel in partnership with Lauth Property Group of Indianapolis. At about the same time, Simon completed its $5.1 billion acquisition of Chelsea Property Group, a New Jersey-based operator of premium outlet centers with properties in a number of plum locations including New York, Los Angeles and Orlando.

As of the third quarter, Simon's year-to-date diluted funds from operations were up 9.1 percent over 2003. During that nine-month period its net income grew by 30.4 percent. Simon continues to benefit from strong leasing activity and reports that its tenants are enjoying healthy sales.

Hurco                       201%
Cohesant Technologies        95%
Steel Dynamics, Inc.[TM]     76%
Cummins                      63%
WFI[TM]                      63%
Celadon                      50%
BASj                         44%
FinishMaster[TM]             37%
WellPoint[R]                 35%
Simon[TM]                    34%