Companies landing atop the heap in the region's growth category this year can boast double-digit gains in revenue and surging profits, or in the case of generic drug maker Mylan Inc., at least a lot less red ink.

		Top 50 rankings • See the rankings for this year's Top 50 in Business report.

The growth rankings aim to give the region's smaller companies a fighting chance to make it to the top of the charts. Unlike the equation used to calculate Pittsburgh's overall top performer, the growth formula ignores a company's market capitalization, actual revenue and actual net income so that size is taken out of the equation.

Growth rankings consider four standard measures of performance: How much a company's revenues have grown, how much profits have grown, how well the company's stock performed and how effectively management used shareholders' money to generate profits, a calculation known as return on equity.

First place finisher Robinson-based CNX Gas was aided by record natural gas production that helped boost net income by 76 percent on revenue that jumped 65 percent.

At No. 2, Cecil-based Mylan saw revenue rocket 93 percent, reflecting the purchase of Germany-based Merck Generics, a company twice Mylan's size. Losses shrunk dramatically to $320 million, down from a loss of $1.2 billion in 2007 when the company recorded big acquisition-related charges.

The 74 percent improvement in the bottom line helped Mylan snag a top spot on the list despite posting a negative return on equity and a 30 percent drop in the price of the company's battered stock.

Calgon Carbon rode its recession-resistant business to third place, recording a 148 percent surge in net income on revenue that rose 14 percent. The Robinson-based supplier of activated carbon and other products and services for treating water benefited from price increases, strong demand and a tight rein on expenses.

Last year's top growth company, L.B. Foster, sunk to near the bottom of the pack this year at No. 38. The Green Tree-based railroad supplier posted flat revenues and saw profits plunge 75 percent compared to a year earlier when it recorded a hefty gain on the sale of its stake in a regional railroad.

At the bottom of the standings, HFF Inc. narrowly escaped the caboose, finishing at No. 49 for the second year in a row. The Downtown company, which provides debt placement and investment services to the commercial real estate industry, felt the brunt of the credit crisis as revenue plunged 48 percent and profits all but vanished.

Trailing the pack this year was a newcomer to the rankings, Atlas Pipeline Partners. The Moon-based operator of natural gas pipelines and gas processing plants saw losses widen, posted a negative return on equity and suffered an 86 percent plunge in its stock price.