Publicly traded companies in the Houston area are ranked using four performance criteria for 2018. The final ranking score is based on the average of the rankings for these criteria: total revenue, annual growth in earnings per share, annual revenue growth and one-year total return.
A full explanation of how the companies were ranked is available on the Houston Chronicle website:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/chron-100/article/How-the-rankings-were-determined-13950215.php