Where can you find the "Wall Street of the West?" In Colorado, of course -- specifically, Denver's 17th Street financial district.

Colorado's economy has come a long way from its foundation on trapping and mining. Denver's location, equidistant between Los Angeles and Chicago, between Seattle and New Orleans, has helped the Centennial State become the economic center of Rocky Mountain states -- even Denver's time zone and elevation help it keep in touch with the rest of the world. It's no wonder there's a large federal government presence in the state (U.S. Air Force Academy, NORAD, NOAA, Denver Mint, U.S. Geological Survey).

Companies such as Lockheed-Martin (NYSE: LMT), Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP), and Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) offer a sense of the diversity of the state's economy. And so do the three companies examined here: Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN), Dynamic Materials Corp. (NASDAQ: BOOM), and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM).

Avon-based Vail Resorts made the Forbes 2007 list of best mid cap stocks. The company operates four Colorado resorts and one in California, owns or manages more than 20 hotels throughout the western U.S., as well as six golf courses. Cereal maker Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH) owns about 15% of Vail Resorts. For the past six months, the consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial has been to buy Vail Resorts. Its seasonal loss in the fourth quarter was in line with Wall Street estimates, and its forecast five-year earnings growth of 45.2% is about the same as hotels industry average, but better than the S&P 500. The share price reached a ten-year high of $66.25 in early October, but closed Monday at $50.03. Among Vail Resorts green efforts are introducing organic food at its resorts. Unfortunately, a lack of snow has pushed back the opening of Colorado ski resorts this year.

Dynamic Materials is headquartered in Boulder, and Business Week picked it as one of the hot growth stocks of 2007. Formerly known as Explosive Fabricators, Dynamic Materials binds metal plates with explosives, in facilities in Pennsylvania, France, and Sweden for petrochemical, shipbuilding and power generation industries. The company also offers traditional welding for the aerospace industry. The consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial has recently shifted from buy to hold Dynamic Materials. But Dynamic Materials beat Wall Street expectations in the past four quarters, and its five-year earnings growth forecast is 131%, easily beating the sector average and the S&P 500. The share price reached a ten-year high of $58.13 earlier this month, up from a 52-week low of only $25.56 back in January. The stock has caught the eye of the Motley Fool recently not once, but twice, and Dynamic Materials is also a Zacks favorite.

The Motley Fool took notice of Newmont Mining when it explored investment opportunities in Denver earlier this year. Newmont is one of the world's top producers of gold, putting out eight million ounces per year. Newmont is also a major producer of copper, silver, and zinc, with facilities in Canada, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Australia, and New Zealand. Though Newmont's forecast earnings growth for the next few years is 15.1%, better than the industry average, and the company recently had a breakout quarter, the consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is to hold Newmont. The share price reached a 52-week high of $56.35 in early November, climbing from a 52-week low of $38.01 in August. Newmont was recently selected to be part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and is in the process of acquiring Miramar Mining Corp. (AMEX: MNG). For more news about this company, see BloggingStocks' Newmont Mining coverage.

I do not own shares in these stocks. As always, be sure to do your homework before investing.
See also: Investing in Nebraska, Investing in Oregon, and Investing in Ontario.