Thirteen of the 18 Iowa-based companies on the Business Record’s Iowa Index posted stock price gains for the month of February. Six companies posted double-digit percentage gains. Five Iowa-based stocks posted losses, with four being single-digit percentage losses.

Lee Enterprises Inc. had the largest gain of the month with a 55.00% increase. Lee Enterprises reported strong first-quarter results at the beginning of February. Principal Financial Group Inc. had the second-biggest gain at 14.84%. Meredith Corp. had the third-biggest with a 13.00% increase.

Renewable Energy Group Inc. had the biggest loss for February at 13.20%. REG had the largest gain the previous month. American Equity Investment Life Holding posted the second-biggest loss at 5.34%. Ames National Corp. was third with a 4.26% decrease.

The Iowa Index, an unweighted average price of 18 Iowa-based public companies, increased 3.65% in February, compared with a 0.93% increase in the Nasdaq stock index and a 3.17% increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Iowa-based companies that make up the Iowa Index are in bold in this list of companies with sizable operations in the state.

See the full Iowa Index