Advertising
The Seattle Times

Winner of Nine Pulitzer Prizes

Business / Technology

Advanced Search | Events & Venues | Obituaries

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - Page updated at 07:31 AM

Top Northwest companies 2011: By the numbers

Related: Interactive: Financial data | Interactive: Operating income, return on equity | 2011 Best of the Northwest rankings

There are a lot of different ways to look at a company — how much it sells, how many people it employs, whether it makes any money. These tables offer investors greater insights into what makes Northwest companies tick. Click on a graphic to view it full-size.

Sales stats

Sales: Sound of cash registers

Many lists, including the Fortune 500, use top-line revenue to rank companies. In fact, only 11 Northwest companies had enough 2011 sales to crack the 500.

Sales growth: Fast out of the gate

Smaller companies often experience the fastest revenue growth — it's easier to show big percentage gains when your sales are measured in millions (or thousands) rather than billions.

Asset turnover: Stocked shelves

The turnover ratio — net sales divided by average total assets — measures a company's efficiency at generating revenue from its asset base.

Earnings picture

Profit growth: Bottom line

As with sales, smaller companies often show bigger year-to-year changes in profits (or losses) than large ones.

Profits: Name of the game

For businesses, the bottom line is literally the bottom line: A company that can't show net profits sooner or later won't be around very long.

Profit margin: Top line to bottom

Companies want as much of their revenue as possible to end up as profit. That means keeping costs — for labor, raw materials, paper clips, executive jets — as stable as possible.

Cash flow

Free cash flow: Ready money

Cash isn't immune to accounting gimmickry, but it's harder to manipulate than earnings — hence the old saw, "Earnings are an opinion, but cash is king."

Cash-flow change: Hoard, spend?

If a company wants to develop new products, pursue other growth opportunities, service its debts or pay dividends, it has to lay out actual cash.

Measuring returns

Return on assets

Return on assets — net income divided by total assets — is a standard profitability measure; think of it as a mileage rating for businesses.

Return on invested capital

Though a useful analytic tool, return on invested capital (ROIC) can be affected dramatically by changes in deferred tax liabilities, as was the case with several of the top-ranking companies on this list.

Stock performance

P-E: Are you paying too much?

Essentially, P-E tells potential investors how much they'd be paying for each dollar of a company's earnings.

Market cap: There might be giants

Market capitalization — the number of common shares outstanding multiplied by the stock price — is a common gauge of a company's size.

Dividends: Show me the money!

Dividends are perhaps the ultimate expression of a stock's value to investors.

Employees

Employee growth: The payroll

A company's workforce can grow or shrink for many reasons besides changes in the core business: acquisitions, spinoffs, asset sales or entering new markets.

Employees: Where the jobs are

Retail and manufacturing are both labor-intensive businesses, so it's no surprise that most of the region's biggest employers are either manufacturers or retailers with nationwide footprints.