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PNC Financial Services Group distanced itself from the field last year, using its acquisition of Cleveland's beleaguered National City to attain a market value nearly twice as large as No. 2 H.J. Heinz.
Pittsburgh's biggest banker has a market capitalization of $25.6 billion, up from $10.3 billion on last year's rankings. Market cap, which is a measure of the value investors place on a company, is determined by multiplying the number of a company's publicly traded shares by the price of a single share.
The list is based on the market cap of Top 50 public companies as measured at the end of January. At that time, the cumulative value of the stock of all 50 companies in the region was valued at about $123 billion vs. $69 billion last year.
The growth in PNC's market cap was aided by an 8 percent increase in its stock price last year and the 93 million shares it issued to acquire National City.
Heinz finished No. 2 for the second consecutive year with a market cap of $13.7 billion, up 37 percent the previous year. PPG Industries and Consol Energy were repeat performers at No. 3 or No. 4, while U.S. Steel moved up to No. 5, ousting EQT, which dropped one notch to No. 6.
PDFAllegheny Energy, in what could be its last appearance on the roster, was one of two companies to drop out of the top 10. The Greensburg power generator, which is in the process of being acquired by FirstEnergy of Akron, fell to No. 11 with a market cap of $3.6 billion. South Side teen apparel provider American Eagle Outfitters, No. 10, last year, dropped to 12th place.
They were replaced by Allegheny Technologies and Ansys. The Pittsburgh specialty metals producer climbed three spots to No. 8 while Ansys, the Cecil-based software writer, placed 10th, up three spots from the previous year.
The smallest company on the list is Fidelity Bancorp. The West View bank has a market cap of $14.8 million, down from $25.8 million a year ago. Five other banks were among the region's 10 smallest companies: Commercial National Financial of Latrobe, Parkvale Financial of Monroeville, Allegheny Valley Bancorp of Pittsburgh, Johnstown's AmeriServ Financial and WVS Financial of McCandless.
The stock market's strong recovery from its March 2009 lows elevated the market values of many regional companies. There were 21 companies on the list with markets caps exceeding $1 billion, up from 16 last year.
The list includes two newcomers. Education Management, the Downtown educator that became a public company again in October, placed 13th with a market cap of nearly $2.8 billion. Rue21, the Cranberry discount teen clothier, ranked 27th with a market value of $717 million. It went public in mid-November.
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