Best of the Northwest | How we ranked the companies

The biggest change to occur during the 20 years of compiling data about the publicly traded companies based in the Pacific Northwest is that fewer than 100 have qualified in each of the last three years. The trend has made us change the name of our ranking from the Northwest 100 to Best of the Northwest.

Otherwise, our methodology has remained consistent. We start with all the companies with headquarters in Washington, Oregon or Idaho traded on a major stock exchange during all of 2009 and 2010. That's why you won't find Boeing or recent IPOs such as Symetra Financial and Motricity on our list.

The next cut is the deepest: Companies whose shares closed below $2 at any time in 2009-10. That's to exclude bargain-basement stocks that can record dramatic price jumps even with rises of just a few cents per share. But the stock plunge of 2009-10 sent dozens of companies crashing through the $2 floor, excluding them from consideration.

This year, only 82 companies qualified for our ranking.

We measure superior business performance by combining four key metrics: sales per employee, operating income, return on equity and stock-price appreciation. Together, those measurements get at a business's main purpose: efficiently using its resources to earn a return for its owners.

Each company is ranked on each metric over the previous two fiscal years, to filter out the one-hit wonders. Return on equity gets the most weight in our ranking, but no single measure predominates: To come out on top, a company needs to do well on all four metrics.

Lead news assistant Gary Dougherty compiled the data from Bloomberg News, supplemented by company reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.