Eleven companies from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia made Forbes magazine’s 200 best small companies list, including 10 from the Washington-Baltimore area.
Two companies, Baltimore athletic apparel company Under Armour and Alexandria engineering firm VSE, ranked third and fourth, respectively.
Natural soft drink and juice company Hansen Natural, based in Corona, Calif., topped the list.
Fitness program developer NutriSystem, headquartered in Horsham, Pa., came in second.
“It’s nice to be recognized,” said Craig Weber, VSE chief administrative officer.
Under Armour attributes its success to seizing opportune markets, adding footwear to its lineup of products and tapping into the international marketplace, said Wayne Marino, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
The metro area has “access to international markets, a highly qualified work force and an environment that companies find very beneficial,” said Jim Dinegar, president and CEO of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
Although this is the first year Under Armour and VSE appeared on the Forbes list, other companies were ranked last year. United Industrial, based in Hunt Valley, moved up eight spots from 34 to 26.
“Our sales growth can be attributed to our acquisitions and the organic growth we experienced in our aerospace and defense product lines,” company President and CEO Fred Strader said.
United Industrial announced last week it would be acquired by defense company Textron, based in Providence, R.I., for $1.1 billion.
To qualify for the Forbes list, companies had to meet certain criteria — revenue between $5 million and $750 million, share prices above $5 since the beginning of the month, low debt, bright prospective futures and no legal troubles.
Firms were ranked based on return on equity, sales, profits, market value, and sales and earnings-per-share growth over the last 12 months and five years.
The same number of companies from Maryland, Virginia and Washington made the list in 2006, although some companies fell off the list and others were added.
