In The Lead: Top 50 / Pittsburgh region's overall top-performing public companies

Telecommunications giant Verizon defended its title as the region's top performing company, beating out Glaxo-SmithKline and Royal Philips Electronics.

Comcast, last year's second place finisher, dropped to fifth place.

The rankings are based on seven factors: revenue and revenue growth during a company's most recently reported fiscal year; net income and net income growth for the same period; market capitalization (a measure of a company's value determined by multiplying its share price by the number of shares outstanding); how well a company's stock did in 2013; and return on equity, which measures how effectively a company's managers deploy capital provided by shareholders.

Companies that are based in Pittsburgh as well as those that are based elsewhere but have a sizable presence in the region were considered in determining the list.

Top public companies overall
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New York-based Verizon earned the top spot by finishing in the top 10 in five of the seven categories, including being No. 1 in earnings and market cap, No. 2 in revenue and No. 3 in earnings growth.

Verizon was the only company that earned more than No. 2 GlaxoSmithKline. In addition to finishing second based on earnings, the United Kingdom health care product supplier placed first in return on equity and third in market cap.

Royal Philips, the Dutch parent of Respironics, finished in the top 10 in two of the seven categories, including a first place finish in earnings growth. The company reported net income of $1.6 billion for 2013 compared to a $47.8 million loss in 2012.

Two of the companies ranked in the top 10 for overall performance are based in Pittsburgh, the same number that made last year's list. Newcomer The ExOne Co., placed sixth. The North Huntingdon 3-D printing concern went public in February and was the region's best-performing stock last year, climbing 236 percent. ExOne also topped the charts for revenue growth.

PPG Industries finished ninth, moving up one spot from the previous year. The home-grown coatings provider finished in the top in four of the seven categories, including second in earnings growth and return on equity.

Dropping out of the top 10 was Moon titanium producer RTI International Metals, which fell from seventh place last year to 35th this year. Last year, RTI was the top performer in the growth category, a ranking based on revenue and earnings growth, stock performance, and return on equity.

In addition to Glaxo and Royal Philips, two other European companies — both Germany-based — were represented in the Top 10. Siemens, which has operations in Cranberry, Westmoreland and other locations in the region, placed fourth while Bayer, which has its U.S. corporate headquarters in Robinson, ranked seventh.

— Len Boselovic: lboselovic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1941.