Hart Capital Management Inc., a Spokane-based financial advising company, says the composite value of the region’s seven publicly traded companies rose to $11.1 billion in the third quarter, the first time this year the composite has topped $11 billion.

The 9% third quarter rise from $10.2 billion in the second quarter marks the third straight quarter in which the composite value has risen.

The composite value reached $12.5 billion at the end of the first quarter in 2018 but then fell to $12.1 billion, $11.4 billion, and $9.2 billion in successive quarters to end the year. The composite value rose to $9.6 billion and the end of the first quarter this year.

At the conclusion of the third quarter in 2017, the composite value stood at $12.2 billion, compared with $10.6 billion the year prior.

Hart Capital tracks the seven publicly traded companies in the Inland Northwest with its composite and Inland Northwest Index. Those companies are Avista Corp., Clearwater Paper Corp., Hecla Mining Co., Itron Inc., Key Tronic Corp., PotlatchDeltic Corp., and WTB Financial Corp., the holding company for Washington Trust Bank.

Market capitalization, the total dollar value of outstanding shares of stock, increased for five of the seven companies.

Itron experienced a 19% gain to $2.92 billion, and Avista had capital growth of 9% to $3.2 billion; PotlatchDeltic was up 5% to $2.76 billion; Clearwater Paper rose 14% to $348 million; and Key Tronic climbed 27% to $68 million. Hecla saw a 2% drop to $861 million, and WTB experienced a 3.6% drop to $937 million.

The region’s publicly traded companies are still in recovery mode, the report says.

“Notably, only Itron and PotlatchDeltic produced a positive return over the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2019, with a gain of 15.2% and 0.3%, respectively,” the Hart report says.

The remaining companies in the Index produced negative returns as they were still recovering from the deep losses of the fourth quarter of 2018, the report says.

Avista was down 4.2%, while Hecla Mining lost over a third (36.9%) of its value during the period.

The Hart Index uses a methodology similar to that of the S&P 500. 

Hart Capital is an independent, research-focused investment firm that serves the Inland Northwest from its offices in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. The 21-year-old company now has $400 million in assets under management.