St. Louis-based bakery-café chain Panera Bread Company was listed this week as the top-performing company, in total return to its shareholders over the last three years, in an analysis of the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 index performed by Business Week magazine and USA Today.
The listing appeared in the Spring 2002 edition of the Business Week Fifty, prepared in conjunction with USA Today.
The publications built their “Small-Cap 50” list by adding the one-year and three-year stock-price increases of companies in the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 index.
As well as ranking as the premier performer, Panera, with a 769.4% three-year return and a 165.2% one-year return, was also the only restaurant company among the top ten companies.

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