Area companies beat S&P, Russell

Inland Northwest companies had a strong quarter from July through September.

The Hart Capital Inland Northwest Index grew 14.3 percent in the third quarter. That’s dramatically better than the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes, which grew 5.8 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

Hart Capital Management, a Spokane-based investment company, produces the index as a way to track the stock performance of 15 major Inland Northwest companies. Hart doesn’t manage an investment fund based on the index, but uses the tool to track how regional companies are doing, said company President Craig Hart, the firm’s chief investment officer.

The top performers in the quarter were Coeur d’Alene Mines (up 64 percent), Coldwater Creek (up 51 percent) and Hecla Mining (up 38 percent). For the year so far, the big leader is Sterling Financial, up 37.6 percent since the first quarter.

Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. took the heaviest hit, down 27.7 percent in the third quarter.

Hart also produces a separate tracking tool based on total market value of the 15 companies. In the third quarter the composite grew by $2.2 billion – a 31 percent gain from the previous year. That bump largely stems from market value increases of $1 billion and $500 million in Coeur d’Alene Mines and Hecla Mining, respectively.

Updates on the index and its individual companies can be found at www.hartcap.blogspot.com.>