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FORTUNE Announces 2004 List of America's Fastest Growing Companies; InVision Technologies, Producer of Airport X-Ray Machines, Tops List for Second Consecutive Year
NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Aug. 23, 2004 -- FORTUNE announced today its 16th annual list of America's Fastest Growing Companies. At No. 1 for the second consecutive year is InVision Technologies, the Newark, California producer of airport x-ray machines. No. 2 is eResearchTechnology, a Philadelphia company that makes software to track test data and help healthcare clients streamline FDA applications. Revenues at No. 3 New Century Financial, the Irvine, California sub-prime mortgage lender, are rising along with the rates; quarterly profits just jumped 68%. At No. 4 is Central European Distribution of Sarasota, which imports and distributes alcohol in Poland. The online mega-auctioneer eBay, No. 5 on the list, now reaps more than 20% of its revenue from its money-moving PayPal division. Rounding out the top ten are National Medical Health Card Systems (No. 6); Countrywide Financial (No. 7); Neoware Systems (No. 8); Friedman Billings Ramsey Group (No. 9); and Bradley Pharmaceuticals (No. 10).
Editors please note: The complete list and state-by-state database of the companies, appears in the September 6 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands August 30 and at www.fortune.com on August 23.
"For the head of any public company, growth, like yardwork, is the job that's never done--the new blanket of autumn leaves falls before you're able to haul the first batch away," says writer Ellan Florian in her introduction to the list. "Robust expansion of the kind that lands a company on a list like this one is rare." In "Six Lessons from the Fast Lane," Florian looks at six companies from the Fastest Growing list--Electronic Arts (No. 30), Coach (No. 42), Genentech (No. 61), Chico's (No. 26), Symantec (No. 24), and J.M. Smucker (No. 92)--that provide a blueprint for managing growth successfully. FORTUNE also picked seven companies from the list whose stocks--with an average P/E ratio that matches the S&P 500--have plenty of room to grow.
To compile the 2004 list of America's Fastest Growing Companies, FORTUNE asked Zacks Investment Research to find U.S. companies with a minimum market cap of $50 million, at least $50 million in revenues over the past four quarters, and at least 20% annual growth in sales and earnings over the past three years. FORTUNE then factored in total stock market return to come up with the final list.
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