Davidson 99 Value Below Other Key Indices for First Time Since Regional Stock Index's Inception.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm based in the Northwest, today announced first-quarter results for the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index. The Davidson 99 Regional Index declined 3.4% during the quarter and trailed the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 by approximately 1% after substantially outperforming these indices during 2004. Since it was created on Jan. 1, 2004, the Davidson 99 has risen 11.8%.

"The region continues to benefit from strong revenue growth in the natural resource companies included in the index. Soaring product prices for oil, natural gas, forest products and metals helped boost earnings for these companies and maintained a high degree of investor interest in these names during the quarter," said Fred Dickson, Senior Vice President and Chief Market Strategist for D.A. Davidson. "Investors becoming more cautious have trimmed gains in several of the index's best-performing issues during 2004, thus limiting the overall performance of the Davidson 99."

Only two Davidson 99 stocks enjoyed gains of more than 10 percent for the first quarter. USANA, a Utah-based nutritional and personal care products producer, posted a 13.1 percent gain, reflecting its continuing revenue and earnings growth for a rapidly expanding industry segment. Precision Castparts Corp., an Oregon-based manufacturer of high-performance industrial products, was up 11.33 percent. Precision Castparts is enjoying strong sales into the defense and industrial market. Three Davidson 99 stocks dropped more than 10% during the first quarter. Amazon.com, off 10.02 percent, has been hit by profit-taking in Internet retailing stocks. Altiris, a Utah-based information technology company, was off 11.6 percent, and Seattle-based Starbucks declined 10.7 percent. Altiris and Starbucks appear to have been caught up in a sector rotation away from consumer discretionary and technology stocks.

On a year-over-year basis, the three highest performers were up more than 20 percent each. Precision Castparts increased 33 percent, USANA was up 24 percent and Questar increased 23 percent. The three worst performers were NPS Pharmaceutical, down 16 percent, ICOS Corporation, off 14.5 percent, and Monaco Coach Group, which fell 10.7 percent.

The Davidson 99 has slightly underperformed the Dow and S&P 500 so far this year in part because of the relatively small-cap nature of its components compared with the major indices. It continued to outperform the Nasdaq and Russell 2000, both of which tend to be more volatile due to their broad representation of small companies.

The Davidson 99 was launched Jan. 1, 2004. It is comprised of 99 stocks from companies operating within seven Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The securities were selected based on market capitalization, importance within their sectors and importance in the states they represent. All 10 major market sectors are represented, showing the diversification of the region's companies.

The Davidson 99 Regional Index is published daily at www.dadavidson.com, along with commentary from D.A. Davidson's Retail Strategy Team. The index is price-weighted, or calculated in the same manner as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the world's most widely followed stock index. The closing price of each component in the index is determined daily after the markets' close, and the values are summed and compared with the value set on Dec. 31, 2003, then adjusted for stock splits and mergers. The index was set to a base value of 100 on Dec. 31, 2003.

About D.A. Davidson & Co.

Founded in 1935, D.A. Davidson & Co. is an independently owned, full-service investment firm with offices in 14 states. D.A. Davidson & Co. is owned by Davidson Companies, a financial services holding company based in Montana. Also part of Davidson Companies are Davidson Trust Co., a wealth management and trust operation; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional money management firm; Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment adviser offering fixed income services; and Davidson Travel, a full-service travel agency.

Shares in the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index cannot be bought or sold, and companies included in the index may or may not be covered by D.A. Davidson's research team. Information regarding the national indices referred to above can be obtained at www.dadavidson.com or by contacting a local D.A. Davidson office. D.A. Davidson makes a market in: Western Wireless, Amazon.com, Altiris, Starbucks and RightNow Technologies. The firm's institutional analysts provide research coverage for Oregon Steel and Precision Castparts. D.A. Davidson was a co-manager of an equity offering for RightNow Technologies and for Oregon Steel within the last 12 months.