It’s finally that time of year again where I go through 200 companies that made it to Forbes 200 Best Small Companies list.

There has been a big shuffle this year with 71 companies from last year falling out of the list. The requirement is that the company have annual revenue between $5 million and $750 million, be publicly traded for at least a year and have a stock price no lower than $5.

Tuesday's Wall Street Journal had an article that asked the question "Can Rally Run without Revenue?" Is the revenue situation really that bad?

Let's take a quick look at some the data compiled through the Alert HQ process.

If you've had CNBC on today, you have undoubtedly heard that today is the 5-year anniversary of Google's (GOOG) IPO. Someone on the channel even called it the most important IPO of all time. While buyers of GOOG's IPO have certainly made money (+423%), to call it the most important IPO of all time is a bit of hyperbole. Historically, there have been plenty of IPOs that have made investors more money over similar or shorter periods of time. BIDU and FSLR are just two examples of IPOs that have returned more than 800% in a shorter period of time. Additionally, of the current Russell 3000 stocks that were around at the time of GOOG's IPO, 38 have returned more to shareholders over the same time period.

The 38 stocks that are up more than Google over the last five years aren't all penny stocks either. Many of the names highlighted below have market caps of more than $10 billion. The only stock on the list that is larger than GOOG, however, is Apple Computer (AAPL), which has gained more than twice GOOG's 423%. Hmm. Maybe it was a case of stock envy that recently caused GOOG CEO Eric Schmidt to resign from Apple's board.

Fortune Small Business is out with its annual FSB 100 list, which measures the fastest growing (by revenues) publicly-traded small business listed on U.S. exchanges. As always, it is both fascinating and frustrating.

Though the FSB 100 has many intriguing prospects, it is horribly laid out and almost impossible to assess in the format provided. For example, there’s no way on the FSB site to get a handle on the market cap of the list except one company at a time. It's another instance of a layout designed to generate unnecessary page views (and advertisement cpm’s) at the cost of reader convenience.

Transcend Services, based in Atlanta GA, provides accurate, reliable, and timely medical transcription services to medical professionals, hospitals, and clinics throughout the U.S. It has developed Beyond TXT, an Internet-based speech recognition and editing system that substantially boosts the productivity (and profitability) of its transcriptionists, nearly all of whom work from home. The company also utilizes third-party transcriptionists located in India, which provide lower labor cost and 24/7 workflow capability.

Transcend Services Inc. (TRCR) Q4:08 diluted EPS of $0.17 was $0.02 short of our estimate due to acquisition costs while revenue of $12.8 million trailed our estimate by $800,000. New business wins position TRCR for a solid 2009. Raising price target; reiterate BUY rating.

So much of the sentiment is negative right now, I set out to find some companies that have been doing things right. Having a high EBITDA growth rate means the company is growing nicely either internally or through acquisition. The low debt means that the companies are well positioned financially, which is important in this tumultuous time. And, finally, the high ROC shows that the company used its shareholders’ money well and is providing them an excellent return. Putting all of these qualities together means a company had a successful year in an awful environment.

Singular Research's Annual "Best of the Uncovereds" Conference Presentation

Q4 2007 Earnings Call

January 28, 2008 11:00 am ET

Asked to comment on the volatility in the stock trading, Lance Cornell, Chief Financial Officer of the Atlanta-based provider of transcription and editing services, said:

We are not aware of any particular rumors, leaks, or news—local or national—that would have been driving it, or any information on particular sellers that would have been causing it—the price decline—over the last few days…. I know that’s not much, but I hope that this helps.

Industry Overview

The market for medical transcription services is sizable. The total annual market potential for outsourced medical transcription services is estimated to be approximately $6 billion. While competition is significant, with perhaps 1,500 transcription services companies nationally, and few barriers to entry, Transcend is one of only a handful of companies that operate on a single, Internet-based technology.