BW 50 Scoreboard
Here's our annual list of the 50 best corporate performers. To arrive at the BusinessWeek 50, we run data screens on all of the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, focusing on sales growth rate and return on invested capital. All the companies are measured over time, to reward sustained performance, and compared against other companies in the same sector, to enable us to identify the best performers within their peer group. A board of BusinessWeek editors reviews the list, bringing the judgment that purely financial measures alone can't provide. You can sift through the interactive ranking below, to see how the BusinessWeek 50 companies stack up on any number of financial or qualitative measures.
12-mo. Net Income ($bil) One-yr. Total Return (%)
2009 Rank
2008 Rank
Company Name
Profitability %
Sales Growth Rate %
Market Value ($bil)
12-mo. Sales ($bil)
Three-yr. Total Return (%)
Sector
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
2 Gilead Sciences NR CF Industries Holdings NR Diamond Offshore Drilling NR Windstream 7 12 22 41 36 NR 42 26 18 35 6 1 13 5 NR 25 4 Colgate-Palmolive Robinson (C.H.) Worldwide Exelon Microsoft Best Buy MasterCard Precision Castparts Varian Medical Systems Avon Products Schlumberger Apple Coach IntercontinentalExchange Questar Fastenal Nucor Verizon Communications
48.6 47.2 40.4 19.5 58.8 49.7 21.4 59.3 35.3 49.9 32.5 40.6 52.8 35.4 32.7 67.2 37.7 24.4 39.0 39.8 14.6 43.5 29.2 48.3 37.2 35.1 100.8 35.8 30.5 25.2 28.3 30.4 36.4 19.5 25.5 24.3 30.1
38.2 28.0 40.8 3.1 10.6 14.4 8.3 15.5 14.4 19.6 28.5 14.0 9.9 23.5 27.0 20.4 298.5 7.1 15.2 21.9 11.3 11.8 31.9 22.2 24.9 12.2 12.5 13.0 36.3 69.1 47.3 15.5 11.2 7.9 52.9 146.9 25.9
40.8 3.1 8.7 3.3 30.2 7.0 31.1 143.6 11.9 20.4 7.8 3.8 7.5 45.4 79.5 4.5 4.1 5.0 4.5 10.6 81.0 12.5 27.7 3.4 0.8 94.4 11.6 5.8 6.4 4.2 5.4 6.8 3.5 4.0 106.5 12.2 0.5
5.3 3.9 3.5 3.2 15.3 8.6 18.9 62.0 43.7 5.0 7.0 2.1 10.7 27.2 33.0 3.2 0.8 3.5 2.3 23.7 97.4 22.0 19.2 2.0 5.1 31.9 3.3 5.6 3.4 3.6 2.8 10.2 1.6 1.6 21.8 2.6 4.5
2.0 0.7 1.3 0.4 2.0 0.4 2.7 17.2 1.2 -0.3 1.0 0.3 0.9 5.4 4.9 0.7 0.3 0.7 0.3 1.8 6.4 0.8 0.6 0.4 -1.0 5.8 0.5 0.3 1.6 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.3 4.2 0.7 0.1
-5.3 -47.0 -44.1 -30.6 -19.0 -17.1 -34.8 -39.3 -31.9 -16.6 -49.7 -41.8 -52.3 -55.3 -28.6 -53.9 -56.4 -47.2 -24.1 -46.0 -16.7 -14.9 0.5 -80.3 -85.6 -28.1 18.1 -29.4 -49.1 -49.7 -39.1 -49.1 -40.9 -49.0 -28.3 -63.5 -89.9
43.9 269.4 -5.1 N/A 17.8 -3.6 -10.1 -36.8 -44.7 N/A 5.0 -47.3 -34.4 -31.7 30.4 -60.9 3.7 -18.6 -28.1 -12.2 1.5 15.3 73.1 -55.2 -87.4 5.6 46.8 -27.8 -31.9 -48.4 -36.1 -74.8 -17.6 -10.2 -6.8 -55.5 -78.5
Health Care Materials Energy Telecommunication Services Consumer Staples Industrials Utilities Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Information Technology Industrials Health Care Consumer Staples Energy Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Financials Utilities Industrials Materials Telecommunication Services Health Care Consumer Discretionary Information Technology Financials Consumer Staples Consumer Discretionary Industrials Energy Financials Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Health Care Utilities Information Technology Financials Industrials
NR Express Scripts 23 Amazon.com MEMC Electronic 10 Materials 11 CB Richard Ellis Group 45 Coca-Cola NR Apollo Group Expeditors Intl. of 32 Washington NR Noble NR NASDAQ OMX Group Cognizant Technology 19 Solutions 16 Starbucks NR Waters NR EQT 34 Google 15 CME Group NR Manitowoc
38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
27
AT&T
11.9 43.3 36.4 25.1 29.9 37.1 20.8 38.9 43.9 47.7 14.2 25.2 43.2
45.6 14.1 10.2 57.2 11.0 17.4 45.8 15.0 11.7 5.7 16.0 15.0 8.8
140.1 1.9 74.8 3.6 20.1 42.0 12.1 2.9 2.3 9.3 4.2 12.4 1.9
124.0 5.3 43.3 0.9 19.7 24.2 9.5 2.3 4.6 19.0 16.1 5.7 3.5
12.9 0.6 5.1 0.2 1.9 6.8 0.9 0.2 0.3 0.9 1.2 0.8 0.3
-27.9 -74.2 -29.0 -67.7 -29.9 -31.8 -53.3 -59.2 -41.7 -29.3 -65.0 -16.4 -71.0
-1.5 -60.0 -13.1 0.8 0.0 19.0 -56.4 -66.3 -55.3 -5.5 -63.6 10.7 -65.9
3 Allegheny Technologies 31 PepsiCo NR Intuitive Surgical NR Nike NR Occidental Petroleum PNC Financial Services 38 Group 28 Autodesk 17 Robert Half International 47 TJX NR AES NR Northern Trust 9 Abercrombie & Fitch
Telecommunication Services Materials Consumer Staples Health Care Consumer Discretionary Energy Financials Information Technology Industrials Consumer Discretionary Utilities Financials Consumer Discretionary
PROFITABILITY: Three-year average pretax profit as a percentage of average invested capital, or in the case of financial companies, as a percentage of average equity. Operating profit for nonfinancial companies is before special items. SALES GROWTH RATE: Three-year average annual sales growth based on most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method. For financial companies, three-year average annual asset growth is used. MARKET VALUE: Share price on Feb. 27, 2009, multiplied by the latest available common shares outstanding. SALES: Latest available sales through the most recent 12 months ended Jan. 31, 2009. Includes all sales and other operating revenues. For financialservices companies, this includes interest and non-interest income, and for banks, this includes revenues for all banking operations. PROFITS: Latest available profits through the most recent 12 months ended Jan. 31, 2009. Net income from continuing operations before extraordinary items. TOTAL RETURN (1 YEAR): Annual dividend per share, reinvested, plus Feb. 27, 2009, share price, as a percent of Feb. 29, 2008, share price. TOTAL RETURN (3 YEAR): Annual dividend per share, reinvested, plus Feb. 27, 2009, share price, as a percent of Feb. 28, 2006, share price. Companies with no ranking (NR) for 2008 did not make the BW 50 list that year. * Data compiled on Feb. 27, 2009. NOTE: Compustat data provided by Standard & Poor’s, from sources such as statistical services, registration statements, and company reports that S&P believes to be reliable but are not guaranteed by S&P or BusinessWeek as to correctness or completeness. This material is not an offer to buy or sell any security. Data: Standard & Poor's Compustat
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