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Tuesday, April 09, 2002

By Jim McKay, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Correction/Clarification: (Published April 10, 2002) An incorrect figure was given for the stock price change for ESB Financial in yesterday's Top 50 business section. The correct figure is a 26.5 percent increase rather than a 10 percent decrease. The figures are on this chart

Despite the slow economy last year, engineering software purveyor Ansys Inc. continued to pick up orders from the likes of Allied Signal, the U.S. Army, John Deere, General Motors, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp., Sony and others.

	Ansys Inc. BUSINESS: Supplier of analysis and engineering software for optimizing the design of new products HEADQUARTERS: Technology Drive, Canonsburg EMPLOYEES: 450 Ansoft Corp. BUSINESS: developer of electronic design automation software used in high- technology products and industries HEADQUARTERS: Station Square EMPLOYEES: 283 Michael Baker Corp. BUSINESS: engineering, management and operations services HEADQUARTERS: Moon EMPLOYEES: 3,970 L.B. Foster BUSINESS: manufacture, fabrication and distribution of products that serve the surface transportation market including railroads and mass transit systems. HEADQUARTERS: Holiday Drive, Pittsburgh EMPLOYEES: 743 North Pittsburgh Systems BUSINESS: telecommunication services HEADQUARTERS: Gibsonia EMPLOYEES: 431 Online Graphic: 2001 Stock Price Change

That steady demand for Ansys' computer-aided design products, used by consumer and defense industries in new product development, pushed up revenue last year by 14 percent over 2000.

Under the leadership of President and Chief Executive Officer James Cashman III, the price of Ansys stock also shot up by 119 percent over the course of the year, putting the small business based in Southpointe in Canonsburg on top of the Post-Gazette's annual list of local companies and their stock price changes. Last week, the company's stock was trading on Nasdaq in the $24 to $25 range, near its 52-week high of $28.90.

Ansys, founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, has regularly posted reliable increases. It now employs 450 and does business in 20 countries.

While a high-tech company by any definition, Ansys largely missed the tech-stock boom. But it also managed to avoid the dot.com bust that followed and is now looking comparably good.

Well-known among engineers, Ansys software can determine how well a structure can hold up to stress. Its products were used to plan the successful raising of the sunken Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley, which sank off the coast of Charleston, S.C. in 1864 after firing a torpedo into a Union warship.

Ansys software, however, is more often used in industry, from consumer goods to electronics packaging to biomedical products. It has helped build a faster sailboat, a shatter-resistant cell phone and a heat-conserving coffee cup.

Ansoft Corp., another engineering software provider whose products stay in demand during economic slow downs, came in a close second to Ansys on the stock price list. Ansoft's stock rose by 116 percent over 2000. Its revenue was up by 30 percent.

Ansoft's software can simulate the construction of complex electronics components. It allows researchers to work the kinks out of new technologies before they start the time-consuming and expensive process of actually building them. Michael Baker, the engineering and energy services company based in Moon, ranked third with a 96 percent increase in its stock price. Michael Baker, however, has started this year off slowly and is projecting its first quarter earnings will be well below year-ago figures.

L.B. Foster, a manufacturer and distributor of rail and trackwork, piling, highway products, earth wall systems and tubular goods, took fourth place on the list as its stock rose by 80 percent over the year.

North Pittsburgh Systems Inc., best known as the parent company of North Pittsburgh Telephone Co., ranked fifth with a stock price that rose by 68 percent.

At the bottom of the list of 56 companies was Ubics Inc., an IT services company which saw its stock price decline last year by 51 percent. Seec Inc., which develops and markets software related to Web-based business systems, ranked next to last with a stock price decline of 43 percent.

A stock price decline of 42 percent put DQE, the parent of Duquesne Light, in the 54th spot. Adelphia Communications, the Coudersport cable operator that recently disclosed it was liable for $2.3 billion in debt over loans made to the family of founder John Rigas, ranked 53rd. Its stock has fallen precipitously to around $10 from a high of $86.60 in 1999.

Wesco, a provider of electrical products and construction materials, ranked 52nd. Its stock fell by 32 percent.