Oklahoma businesses dealt with adversity this year, and the state's publicly traded companies are no exception.

COVID-19 continues to affect business. There are direct impacts to businesses, like working from home or extended sick time for employees, and then there are more indirect effects, like supply chain disruptions and broad workforce struggles.

Oklahoma Inc. rankings, which take into account performance through the end of June 2021, provide a glimpse at how some of these companies have dealt with these issues and excelled in spite of them.

I applaud all the companies on the list, working through the past couple years has brought more challenges than any of us ever imagined, and I offer my congratulations to the winners who performed incredibly amid such difficult circumstances.

Our list ranks companies on three measures, and the methodology rewards companies that grow quickly, increase profitability and benefit shareholders. Those with the best composite score of the three rankings rise to the top.

This is the 25th year The Oklahoman has worked with S&P Capital IQ to compile numbers using a system aimed at evaluating profitable growth.

Standard & Poor's began assembling Oklahoma Inc. earlier this year by gathering the financial data that all publicly held companies in Oklahoma regularly file with regulators. The data are compiled for each company's two most recent fiscal years.

To measure growth, S&P ranked each company according to how quickly its revenues grew in the year ending June 30.

To gauge profitability, each company was ranked according to its percentage change in earnings per share over the 12-month period.

The Oklahoma Inc. rankings also consider how companies rewarded shareholders over the year, ranking changes in share price, including dividends.

Generally it is difficult for a company to excel in all three categories.

Continental Resources Inc. was a clear winner with Top 10 finishes in each of the three main categories. The company posted an impressive 625% change in earnings per share, as well as an 18.6% change in revenues from 2020 to 2021.

Laredo Petroleum Inc., ONEOK Inc., LSB Industries Inc., and Devon Energy Corp. round out the Top 5.

I hope you enjoy reading about the Top 10 companies and learning a little bit about the ways these companies drove success throughout the year.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How the Oklahoma Inc. rankings are calculated