Apr. 6--I'll bet you can't guess the best performing Jacksonville stock in the first quarter of this year.

It was Stein Mart Inc., with a 156 percent gain. Yes, the same Stein Mart that two weeks ago reported a $71.3 million loss for fiscal 2008 and a 9 percent drop in total sales.

But despite those negative numbers, Stein Mart's year-end report showed the company remains in a "solid" financial position, according to CEO David Stovall, and it actually increased its cash from operations in 2008. And with some signs that the economy has finally hit bottom and may be turning around, investors are regaining interest in apparel retailers like Stein Mart. Standard & Poor's index of small cap apparel retailers has risen more than 40 percent in the past month.

Stein Mart has actually been by far the best performing of the 17 companies in that S&P index. After its 156 percent gain, the next best gain in the first quarter was 46 percent by The Buckle Inc.

Of course, Stein Mart had nowhere to go but up after its stock price bottomed out at 99 cents in December and started 2009 at $1.13. Its big percentage gain represented a $1.76 increase to $2.89 as of March 31. The stock continued to rise as the second quarter began, reaching as high as $3.49 on Thursday before closing at $3.38 on Friday.

But a rough start for 2009

Despite a recent rally in the market, it was still an ugly first quarter overall for Jacksonville companies. The Bloomberg Jacksonville index of 50 companies based in or with major operations in Northeast Florida fell 18 percent in the quarter, worse than the 13 percent decline in the Dow Jones industrial average and the 12 percent drop in the S&P 500.

Only seven of the 50 stocks registered net gains in the quarter. Interestingly, the gainers included all three of the Fidelity National companies -- Fidelity National Financial Inc., Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Lender Processing Services Inc. (which was spun off from Fidelity National Information).

Analysts like acquisition

Fidelity National Information's stock declined on the first day of the second quarter as the company announced its $4.4 billion agreement to acquire Metavante Technologies Inc. But the combination of the two companies, which both provide technology services to financial companies, received generally positive reviews from analysts.

"Overall, we believe the combined entity should be a strong player in the core bank processing sector," said Credit Suisse analyst Bryan Keane in a research note.