Diversity at the top: the myriad businesses its largest corporations engage in reflect North Carolina's vibrant - and eclectic - economy.

The myriad businesses its largest corporations engage in reflect North Carolina's vibrant - and eclectic - economy.

Scanning this year's Top 75 list of the largest public companies based in this state, you're more likely to come across a drug developer than a textile manufacturer. That shows the ranking's unprecedented diversity and reflects the state's broadening economic base. A fifth of the companies, 15, are health-care or high-tech. In 1991, when BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA expanded the list from 50 companies, there were no healthcare and only six high-tech companies.

More-speculative stocks are making the list because the market has recently been receptive to initial public offerings. Four of the 10 companies debuting on the Top 75 have a technological bent: coaxial-cable maker CommScope Inc. (No. 27), Year 2000 programmer Alydaar Software Corp. (47), phone company US LEC Corp. (51) and wafer maker RF Micro Devices Inc. (59). Only one of the other seven newcomers is in manufacturing or banking, industries that accounted for more than half the Top 75 in 1991. That's Carolina First Bancshares Inc. (70). International Heritage Inc. (45) is a multilevel marketer, Waste Industries Inc. (49) handles garbage, Sonic Automotive Inc. (63) sells cars, Midway Airlines Corp. (68) flies along the East Coast, and Blue Rhino Corp. (73) sells natural-gas cylinders. Carolina First isn't an IPO. But new investor interest pushed it onto the list for the first time.

THE TOP OF THE TOP 75

Market cap
(in millions)

1 NationsBank                    $73,757
2 First Union                     55,791
3 Duke Energy                     19,913
4 Wachovia                        17,160
5 Lowe's                          13,333
6 BB&T                             9,512
7 Jefferson-Pilot                  6,134
8 Carolina Power & Light           6,110
9 Nucor                            4,893
10 Food Lion                       4,641

The new blood means the cut-off point jumped more than it ever had. No. 75, Intercardia Inc., has $113.7 million in market value, the shares outstanding multiplied by the stock price on May 21. Last year, Tangram Enterprise Solutions Inc. made the cut at $76.2 million. It slipped off this year.

The biggest shift since 1991 has been the winnowing of financial-services companies. This year's ranking has 14 banks and two insurers. Seven years ago, there were 23 and five. As their number shrinks, their size mushrooms. In 1991, NCNB Corp.'s market cap of $3.8 billion put it fourth, behind Duke Power Co., Food Lion Inc. and Carolina Power & Light Co. If what's now NationsBank Corp. merges with Bank America Corp. in the fourth quarter, it will have a market cap of about $135 billion. How big is that? It's half the size of all the other public companies in North Carolina - slightly more than 150 of them - combined.

All but one of the banks that made this year's ranking increased market cap from last year. BB&T Corp. more than doubled with a string of mergers, moving from eighth last year to sixth. First Union Corp. posted a 100% gain, too. All told, banks account for 64% of the Top 75's total market cap. The state's increasing reliance on that sector could pose a problem if mergers claim the North Carolina headquarters of banks such as Wachovia Corp., which speculation has long linked with SunTrust Bank of Atlanta, or even First Union, whose potential merger mates include New York-based Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

TOP 75 Top 10 lists

Total sales (fiscal 1997)
(not including financial institutions in millions)

1 Duke Energy                                          $16,309
2 Food Lion                                             10,194
3 Lowe's                                                10,137
4 Nucor                                                  4,185
5 Carolina Power & Light                                 3,024
6 Ruddick                                                2,300
7 Burlington Industries                                  2,091
8 Family Dollar Stores                                   1,995
9 Unifi                                                  1,705
10 United Dominion Industries                            1,655

TOP 75 MEDIAN $398.9 MILLION

Net income (fiscal 1997)
(in million)

1 NationsBank                                         $3,077.0
2 First Union                                          1,896.0
3 Duke Energy                                            974.4
4 Wachovia                                               592.8
5 Jefferson-Pilot                                        396.0
6 Carolina Power & Light                                 388.3
7 BB&T                                                   359.9
8 Lowe's                                                 357.5
9 Nucor                                                  294.5
10 Food Lion                                             172.3

TOP 75 MEDIAN $17.2 MILLION

Shareholder's equity (fiscal 1997)
(in millions)

1 NationsBank                                          $21,274
2 First Union                                           12,032
3 Duke Energy                                            7,540
4 Wachovia                                               5,174
5 Carolina Power & Light                                 2,819
6 Jefferson-Pilot                                        2,732
7 Lowe's                                                 2,601
8 BB&T                                                   2,238
9 Nucor                                                  1,876
10 Highwoods Properties                                  1,401

TOP 75 MEDIAN $150 MILLION

Dividend yield
(1997 dividend to 5/21/98 price)

1 Winston Hotels                                         9.05%
2 Summit Properties                                      8.05
3 Tanger Factory Outlet Centers                          7.30
4 Highwoods Properties                                   6.06
5 Ingles Markets                                         5.28
6 Carolina Power & Light                                 4.75
7 Lance                                                  4.52
8 Public Service Co. of N.C.                             4.37
9 North Carolina Natural Gas                             4.02
10 Duke Energy                                           3.95

TOP 75 MEDIAN 0.8%

Sales growth (fiscal 1997)

1 Alydaar Software                                   28,152.6%
2 Triangle Pharmaceuticals                               301.6
3 RF Micro Devices                                       202.7
4 International Heritage                                 128.8
5 Highwoods Properties                                    99.0
6 Personnel Group of America                              95.2
7 Speedway Motorsports                                    88.2
8 Flanders                                                83.6
9 Blue Rhino                                              73.0
10 Cree Research                                          70.7

TOP 75 MEDIAN 13.99%

Net profit margin (fiscal 1997)

1 Medco Research                                          51.1%
2 Winston Hotels                                          46.4
3 Triad Guaranty                                          38.5
4 Bank of Granite                                         27.7
5 Summit Properties                                       23.2
6 Carolina First Bancshares                               22.7
7 Highwoods Properties                                    21.3
8 Speedway Motorsports                                    19.9
9 CT Communications                                       17.5
10 Jefferson-Pilot                                        15.3

TOP 75 MEDIAN 6.2%

Return on average equity (fiscal 1997)

1 Coca-Cola Bottling                                    96.82%
2 Blue Rhino                                             35.22
3 Medco Research                                         25.17
4 Quintiles Transnational                                20.58
5 Unifi                                                  20.44
6 Standard Commercial                                    19.50
7 Martin Marietta Materials                              18.90
8 Oakwood Homes                                          18.70
9 NationsBank                                            17.61
10 Speedway Motorsports                                  17.01

TOP 75 MEDIAN 12.23%

Sales per employee (fiscal 1997)
(in 000s)

1 Medco Research                                       $869.57
2 Standard Commercial                                   615.58
3 Nucor                                                 606.45
4 Personnel Group of America                            528.47
5 Carolina Power & Light                                438.27
6 Piedmont Natural Gas                                  407.31
7 North Carolina Natural Gas                            341.55
8 Food Lion                                             327.50
9 Speedway Motorsports                                  320.21
10 Public Service Co. of N.C.                           307.21

TOP 75 MEDIAN $180,170

Ratio of market cap to 1997 sales

1 Closure Medical                                        224.5
2 Triangle Pharmaceuticals                               107.8
3 US LEC                                                  36.3
4 Intercardia                                             28.1
5 Alydaar Software                                        24.7
6 Medco Research                                          11.1
7 Blue Rhino                                               8.8
8 Highwoods Properties                                     7.5
9 Cree Research                                            7.0
10 Speedway Motorsports                                    5.8

TOP 75 MEDIAN 1.3

05/21/98 price/earnings ratio

1 Applied Analytical Industries                          164.1
2 Waste Industries                                        89.0
3 Quintiles Transnational                                 66.0
4 Cree Research                                           57.4
5 Pharmaceutical Product Dev.                             54.6
6 Family Dollar Stores                                    37.6
7 Lowe's                                                  37.0
8 Ladd Furniture                                          35.0
9 Coca-Cola Bottling                                      34.5
10 Sonic Automotive                                       33.6

TOP 75 MEDIAN 21.7

Return on capital (fiscal 1997)

1 Coltec Industries                                     26.97%
2 Medco Research                                         25.17
3 Triad Guaranty                                         16.95
4 Lance                                                  16.21
5 Unifi                                                  15.84
6 Family Dollar Stores                                   15.73
7 Martin Marietta Materials                              14.74
8 Bank of Granite                                        13.94
9 Nucor                                                  13.82
10 Jefferson-Pilot                                       13.22

TOP 75 MEDIAN 7.05%

Return on average assets

1 Midway Airlines                                       27.23%
2 Medco Research                                         22.14
3 Triad Guaranty                                         13.72
4 Lance                                                  12.04
5 Unifi                                                  11.74
6 Coltec Industries                                      10.71
7 Nucor                                                  10.51
8 Martin Marietta Materials                              10.51
9 CT Communications                                      10.49
10 Family Dollar Stores                                  10.11

TOP 75 MEDIAN 4.75%

All but four of the 30 largest companies in 1991 are on this year's list. Of the bottom 45, just 10 still appear. The majority sold out, often due to lackluster performance.

It's the lower echelons of the Top 75 that hold the diversity and the most risk. The 10-largest are very traditional: four banks, two utilities, two retailers, an insurer and an industrial. That's about as conservative a portfolio as you'll find.