Davidson 99 Value Outpaces Other Key Indices.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm based in the Northwest, today announced that the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index gained 1.1 percent during the second quarter of the year, outpacing both the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500. The Dow

"Investors focused on rapidly growing technology, industrial and consumer cyclical stocks operating in the Northwest region during the second quarter," said Fred Dickson, D.A. Davidson & Co.'s Chief Market Strategist. "This marks a shift in investor focus away from the region's natural resource and industrial materials stocks that were star performers in 2004. The message embedded in the second quarter performance of the Davidson 99 Regional Index is that the region's economy continues to grow at a moderate pace that is consistent with the overall growth rate seen across the country."

Six Davidson 99 stocks enjoyed gains of more than 25 percent for the second quarter. Drugstore.com, a Washington-based distributor of health and beauty aids products posted a 62 percent gain during the quarter narrowly edging out aQuantive Inc., a Washington-based digital marketing services and technology company for the top quarterly performance spot among the 99 component companies in the index. aQuantive, Inc. was up 61 percent during the quarter. Itron Inc., Coldwater Creek Inc., and Unova, Inc. round out the top five companies based on second quarter performance with each posting gains in excess of 25 percent.

Seven Davidson 99 stocks dropped more than 25 percent during the first quarter. Cray, Inc., a Washington-based maker of super-computers dropped 50 percent. U.S. Energy, a Wyoming-based methane gas exploration and production company declined 40 percent. Altiris Inc., Schnitzer Steel Industries, and TTM Technologies round out the bottom of the list, with each stock dropping in excess of 25 percent. Dickson noted that industrial materials stocks represented the worst performing sector in the overall stock market during the second quarter.

On a year-to-date basis, aQuantive Inc. is up 98 percent while Itron, Inc., the index's second best performer, is up 87 percent. The two worst performers were Cray Inc., which was down 73 percent, and Altiris Inc., off 59 percent. The stocks of both Cray and Altiris were hurt by factors specific to each company.

The Davidson 99 was launched Jan. 1, 2004. It is comprised of 99 stocks from companies operating within seven Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The securities were selected based on market capitalization, importance within their sectors and importance in the states they represent. All 10 major market sectors are represented, showing the diversification of the region's companies.

At year-end 2004, two companies were removed from the index because they moved their headquarters out of the Davidson 99 region. Louisiana Pacific and Office Max were removed replaced by Oregon-based Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. and Montana-based RightNow Technologies.

The Davidson 99 Regional Index is published daily at www.dadavidson.com, along with occasional commentary from D.A. Davidson's Retail Strategy Team on the performance of the index and implications regarding the economic health of these regions. The index is price-weighted, or calculated in the same manner as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the world's most widely followed stock index. The closing price of each component in the index is determined daily after the markets' close, and the values are summed and compared with the value set on Dec. 31, 2003, then adjusted for stock splits and mergers. The index was set to a base value of 100 on Dec. 31, 2003.

About D.A. Davidson & Co.

Founded in 1935, D.A. Davidson & Co. is an independently owned, full-service investment firm with offices in seven states. D.A. Davidson & Co. is owned by Davidson Companies, a financial services holding company based in Montana. Also part of Davidson Companies are Davidson Trust Co., a wealth management and trust operation; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional money management firm; Kirkpatrick Pettis Capital Management Inc., a registered investment adviser providing fixed income services; and Davidson Travel, a full-service travel agency.

Shares in the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index cannot be bought or sold, and companies included in the index may or may not be covered by D.A. Davidson's research team. Information regarding the national indices referred above can be obtained at www.dadavidson.com or by contacting a local D.A. Davidson office. D.A. Davidson was a co-manager of an equity offering of RightNow Technologies and Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. within the last 12 months.