Hart Capital Management Inc.'s Inland Northwest Composite, which gauges the total market value of 15 publicly traded companies in the region, rose 5 percent during the first quarter of this year compared with the previous quarter.

However, the composite dropped by $2.7 billion—or 20 percent—from a year earlier, with seven of the 15 companies in positive territory.

Spokane-based Hart Capital also generates an Inland Northwest Index that tracks the companies in a methodology similar to that of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The S&P 500 rose 12 percent in the first quarter, while the regional index increased by 7 percent for that period, boosted by the stock performances of Key Tronic Corp., Itron Inc., and Sterling Financial Corp.

Key Tronic's growth in new customers and related increase in sales and earnings more than doubled its stock value over the past three months, the Hart Capital report says.

Hart Capital says that as of March 31, the composite of the 15 companies was $10.9 billion, up $507 million from the $10.4 billion value as of the end of the year.

A year ago, the composite totaled a record $13.6 billion, but Hart says that the 12-month overall composite decline was largely due to the performance of Hecla Mining Co. and Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. They were down $1.1 billion and $972 million, respectively, in market capitalization, which is share price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares.

Itron, Sterling Financial, and Key Tronic had the greatest first-quarter increases in market capitalization, and those increases offset lower values for Clearwater Paper Corp., as well as Hecla.

Itron's $1.8 billion market capitalization value increased by $352 million in the three-month period; Sterling, at $1.29 billion, rose by $261.3 million; and Key Tronic's value, at nearly $99 million, went up by $50 million. Clearwater's value dropped by $51.8 million, and Hecla—dealing with a year-long mine shutdown at its Lucky Friday Mine, in North Idaho—had the largest value decline, at $171.1 million.

In Hart's Inland Northwest Index, the best performers during the three-month period after Key Tronic were Itron, up nearly 27 percent; and Sterling Financial, up 25 percent. The worst-performing stock in the index compared with the prior quarter was Hecla, with an almost 12 percent decline, and Clearwater Paper Corp., down 6.7 percent.

The 15 companies included in the composite and the index are Ambassadors Group Inc., Avista Corp., Clearwater Paper, Coeur d'Alene Mines, Coldwater Creek Inc., Hecla Mining, Idaho Independent Bank, Intermountain Community Bancorp., Itron, Key Tronic, WTB Financial Corp., Northwest Bancorp., Potlatch Corp., Red Lion Hotels Corp., and Sterling Financial.