Clearfield Ranks 14th in Forbes' Annual Ranking of the Best Small Companies in America

The Fiber Network Specialist's Strong Stock Performance, Earnings, Sales Growth and Return on Equity Earns It a Spot on Forbes' List of Top 25 Best Small Companies

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 10, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearfield, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLFD), the specialist in fiber management and connectivity platforms for communications providers, today announced that it ranked 14^th on Forbes' 35^th annual list of America's Best Small Companies.

"Inclusion in this prestigious list is an honor. Our entire organization works hard to deliver above and beyond for our customers and this recognition reflects the dedication of each and every member of the Clearfield community," said Cheri Beranek, president and CEO of Clearfield. "We are pleased that we have been able to continually generate strong financial and market success in this challenging market. As the world continues to demand more high-bandwidth services, Clearfield is poised to match the industry momentum and is proud to be a key telecommunications partner delivering the latest technology for fiber optic networks."

As one of the top 25 ranked public companies, Clearfield joins Questor Pharmaceuticals, Proto Labs, Annie's, SolarWinds and CommVault Systems along with other successful businesses.

Forbes' list of the 100 Best Small Companies in America features outfits with strong sales and earnings growth across industries. Candidates must have been publicly traded for at least a year, generate annual revenue between $5 million and $1 billion and boast a stock price no lower than $5 a share. The rankings are based on earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity in the past 12 months and over five years. Forbes also factors in stock performance versus each company's peer group during the last year.

About Clearfield

Clearfield, Inc. (Nasdaq:CLFD) designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management products for the communications networks of leading ILECS, CLECs, MSO/cable TV companies and mobile broadband providers. We help service providers solve the Fiber Puzzle, which is how to reduce high costs associated with deploying, managing, protecting and scaling a fiber optic network to deliver the mobile, residential and business services customers want. Based on the patented Clearview™ Cassette, our unique single-architected, modular fiber management platform is designed to lower the cost of broadband deployment and maintenance by consolidating, protecting and distributing incoming and outgoing fiber circuits and enable our customers to scale their operations as their subscriber revenues increase. Headquartered in Plymouth, MN, Clearfield deploys millions of fiber ports each year throughout North America.

CONTACT: Clearfield PR Contact
         Christy Kemp
         Calysto Communications
         Tel: + 1 404 266 2060 x539
         ckemp@calysto.com

Released October 10, 2013