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RANKINGS

BW 50 Interactive Scoreboard

Inside the Ranking

The companies in the S&P 500, which was the starting point for our research, represent a huge universe--some 75% of the market capitalization of all U.S. stocks. We ran our proprietary data screens on these companies, then vetted the list with a board of BusinessWeek editors and correspondents to get the insights and commonsense judgments that purely financial measures can't provide. That process resulted in our list of 50 companies playing at the top of their game. We then extended the list to include the next 25 companies that made it through the vetting process. Dive in.

PROFITABILITY For nonfinancial companies, three-year average pretax operating profit before interest and special items as a percentage of average invested capital. For financial companies, pretax profits as a percentage of average shareholders' equity.
SALES GROWTH RATE Three-year average annual sales growth based on the most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method.
MARKET VALUE Share price on Feb. 28, 2007, multiplied by the latest available common shares outstanding.
TOTAL RETURN (1-YEAR ) Annual dividend per share, reinvested, plus Feb. 28, 2007, share price, as a percent of Feb. 28, 2006, share price.
TOTAL RETURN (3-YEAR ) Annual dividend per share, reinvested, plus Feb. 28, 2007, share price, as a percent of Feb. 27, 2004, share price.
SALES Latest available sales through the most recent 12 months. Includes all sales and other operating revenues. For financial service companies, this includes interest and noninterest income; for banks, it includes revenues for all banking operations.
PROFITS Latest available profits through the most recent 12 months. Net income from continuing operations before extraordinary items.
GRADES The overall sector letter grade reflects how the weighted average of the ranked return on capital and ranked sales growth compares with others in the same sector. For the overall grade as well as the ROE/ROI and sales growth grades, an "A" places a company in the top 7% of its sector and an "A-" in the top 14% of the sector. The actual ranking was done using the underlying numerical measures. Grades are for information only. Some grades were adjusted for the small size of the sector
Click column heading once to reorder from highest to lowest. Click twice to reorder from lowest to highest.
BW
Rank
Company Name
Overall grade
Profitability %
Profitability Grade
Sales Growth Rate %
Sales Growth Grade
Stock Market Value
($bil)
12-Month Sales
($bil)
12-Month Net Income
($bil)
Total Return Past 12 Months
Total Return Past 36 Months
Economic Sector
1GOOGLE  C-  32.8 C-  93.3 C-  136.7 10.6 3.1 23.9 nullInformation Technology
2COACH  C-  62.7 C-  28.7 C-  17.4 2.4 0.6 32.1 138.2 Consumer Discretionary
3GILEAD SCIENCES  C-  40.5 C-  51.8 C-  33.0 3.0 -1.2 14.9 163.7 Health Care
4NUCOR  C-  45.7 C-  30.7 C-  18.3 14.8 1.8 47.3 321.1 Materials
5QUESTAR  C-  22.2 C-  26.4 C-  7.2 2.8 0.4 16.2 145.1 Utilities
6SUNOCO  C-  36.7 C-  31.4 B   7.8 36.0 1.0 -11.8 118.7 Energy
7VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS  C-  13.5 C-  8.1 B   108.9 88.1 5.5 20.5 15.9 Telecommunication Services
8COLGATE-PALMOLIVE  C-  55.0 C-  7.3 B   34.6 12.2 1.4 26.3 29.2 Consumer Staples
9GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP  C-  34.7 C   43.4 C-  83.3 69.4 9.5 43.9 95.7 Financials
10PACCAR  C-  34.5 C   25.9 C-  17.3 16.5 1.5 55.9 112.5 Industrials
11AMAZON.COM  C-  31.6 C   26.3 C-  16.2 10.7 0.2 4.5 -9.0 Consumer Discretionary
12COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS  C-  29.5 C   56.4 C-  12.9 1.4 0.2 56.6 281.6 Information Technology
13AVON PRODUCTS  C-  65.1 C-  8.2 B   16.2 8.8 0.5 29.9 10.0 Consumer Staples
14VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS  C-  40.5 C-  14.2 B- 5.9 1.7 0.3 -20.6 9.7 Health Care
15BED BATH & BEYOND  C-  35.1 C   14.1 B- 11.3 6.3 0.6 10.7 -2.5 Consumer Discretionary
16CB RICHARD ELLIS GROUP  C-  43.2 C-  35.2 C-  7.5 4.0 0.3 45.5 nullFinancials
17ROBERT HALF INTERNATIONAL  C-  37.4 C-  26.5 C-  6.6 4.0 0.3 9.8 78.7 Industrials
18CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE HOLDINGS  C-  50.5 C-  28.3 C+  18.8 1.1 0.4 27.3 489.3 Financials
19ADOBE SYSTEMS  C-  32.3 C   25.0 C+  23.0 2.6 0.5 1.8 111.0 Information Technology
20EOG RESOURCES  C-  33.3 C   33.4 B- 16.5 3.9 1.3 0.8 207.5 Energy
21SEMPRA ENERGY  C-  13.5 C   15.0 C+  15.7 11.8 1.1 28.6 105.2 Utilities
22SHERWIN-WILLIAMS  C-  35.3 C-  13.5 B- 8.9 7.8 0.6 49.6 100.7 Consumer Discretionary
23LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS  C-  28.9 C+  40.6 C-  39.1 46.7 4.0 1.2 73.0 Financials
24ROCKWELL COLLINS  C-  44.2 C-  15.2 B- 11.0 4.0 0.5 24.6 108.0 Industrials
25IMS HEALTH  C-  46.3 C-  12.3 B   5.8 2.0 0.3 20.4 18.0 Health Care
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BW50/ S&P 500 Scoreboard Footnotes

**adjusted for small size of sector
Because BusinessWeek is owned by the McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP), the S&P 500 Scoreboard does not include a forecast of the company's earnings.

Note: Compustat data provided by Standard & Poor's, a unit of The McGraw- Hill Companies, 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.