11.   Companies are ranked in descending order according to the percentange change in same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least a year.

12.   Customers ranked phone companies on their reliability, trustworthiness and quality of service, among other factors.

13.   His company was ranked as the fourth-largest owner of shopping and retail space in the nation last year.

14.   It ranked companies from best to worst.

15.   Profit numbers used to rank the companies are from company operations and exclude extraordinary items and income or loss from discontinued operations.

16.   The companies were ranked for each of the above measures.

17.   The researchers ranked the companies by total return, which includes gains in stock price as well as dividends.

18.   The study also ranks companies based on the amount of pollution produced relative to their power output.