Roth Capital Partners Analysts Earn #1 Rankings in Wall Street Journal, Forbes/StarMine Analyst Surveys.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Roth Capital Partners research analysts Anton Brenner, Mark Taylor and Richard Eckert earned top rankings in the recently published Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street Analysts Survey" and the Forbes.com/StarMine-North American Analyst Survey.

In addition, Roth Capital Partners ranked 25th overall in the Wall Street Journal survey, up from 29th last year.

Anton Brenner earns the Wall Street Journal's #1 ranking for his coverage of Restaurants, beating out 31 other analysts. This is Brenner's sixth year of being named a "Best on the Street Analyst." Rich Eckert finished 1st out of 23 analysts for his 2004 coverage of the Consumer and Specialty Finance sector. Mark Taylor was ranked #2 out of 41 analysts covering the Pharmaceuticals sector.

In the Forbes.com/StarMine survey, Brenner and Taylor earned distinction as #1 Stock Pickers for their 2004 research in the Restaurants and Pharmaceuticals sectors, respectively.

These accolades follow on last month's news that Roth Capital's Steve Gish was honored in Institutional Investor's 26th annual "Home-Run Hitters" survey, which highlights "analysts who picked best-performing stocks of 2004." Gish was honored in the small cap stocks category with a stock pick that generated a positive return of 361%. He focuses on companies in the Security, Defense and Industrial Markets.

Russell Hoss, Director of Research at Roth Capital Partners, said, "We are extremely proud of Tony, Mark, Rich and Steve, and believe the recognition by three prestigious financial publications is well deserved. Tony, Mark, Rich and Steve have demonstrated our commitment to providing our clients with quality and insightful research."

The Wall Street Journal survey ranked 2004 performance scores and was conducted in cooperation with Thomson Financial. The "Best on the Street Analysts Survey" is based solely on an analyst's stock picking acumen, and which stock recommendation generated the best return. The Wall Street Journal survey included 1779 analysts from a field of 73 research firms covering 44 industry sectors.

In performing its annual North American Analyst Survey, Forbes.com/StarMine monitored 3,300 analysts and measured the performance of their stock recommendations and the accuracy of their earnings estimates. In measuring stock picking ability, the analysts were ranked according to an item StarMine calls Industry Excess Return, which is designed to measure how well an analyst's recommendations in a particular industry perform in comparison to a benchmark for that industry.

Anton Brenner's coverage list includes: BJRI, BNHNA, CHKR, CKR, EVCI, LNDC, MGPI, MIDD, NEOG, PEET, PTC, RUBO, SNAK.

Richard Eckert's coverage list includes: AACE, CCBI, CSH, DFC, ECPG, EZPW, FCFS, IMH, LEND, NDE, NEW, NKBS, QCC.

Steve Gish's coverage list includes: AH, APSG, ARTX, ASEI, CRDN, DHB, DVS, HRLY, LCRD, OSIS, RAE, STST, ULBI, VISGE, WINS.

Mark Taylor's coverage list includes: AUXL, BCII, BNT, BTRX, CGPI, CNCT, CUTR, ISTA, LGNDE, MTXX, SLXP, TARO.

About Roth Capital Partners, LLC:

With corporate headquarters in Newport Beach, California and offices in strategic locations in the Western United States, Roth Capital Partners, LLC is a full service investment bank serving corporate and institutional clients throughout the world. Offering a wide array of investment banking services including: initial public offerings, follow-ons, PIPEs, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, investment research, and institutional sales and trading, the firm is perhaps best known for finding, funding and fostering the growth of emerging companies. Visit the Roth Capital Partners website at www.rothcp.com.