McKesson Corp.
John H. Hammergren
, 44
CEO since 2001
Industry:
Health-Care Equipment & Services
Sales:
$55.2 billion
Net Income:
$506 million
Corporate Snapshot:
MCK
McKesson (MCK) has come a long way since a 1999 accounting scandal that led to earnings restatements, fraud charges, and shareholder lawsuits. Amid the controversy, the San Francisco health-care company made key acquisitions and expanded its core drug-distribution business by 21% last year. That helped it register an impressive 324% growth in net income on a 14% jump in sales. McKesson stabilized its scandal-plagued technology unit, partly by improving customer service. Even so, a new industrywide federal probe is another concern. No wonder shareholder returns are down 23.8% in a year of impressive growth.
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Stryker Corp.
John Brown, 68
CEO since 1977
Industry:
Health-Care Equipment & Services
Sales:
$3 billion
Net Income:
$346 million
Corporate Snapshot:
SYK
The Kalamazoo (Mich.) maker of hip and knee replacements continues to outrun rivals with a quarter century of almost uninterrupted double-digit growth. Last year's 27% profit gain reassured investors of Brown's dedication to keeping Stryker (SYK) a fast-growth phenom via cost-cutting, acquisitions, and product innovation. Last year, Brown grabbed a spinal-implant unit from troubled Tyco International for $135 million. He also benefited from having Medicare and Medicaid increase reimbursement for joint replacements by 7%. But the real boon came last month, when the Food & Drug Administration approved Stryker's long-lasting Trident hip, the nation's first ceramic hip replacement. Its durability -- Trident is expected to last a lifetime vs. a decade or two for traditional metal hip joints -- is expected to win over a generation of younger patients. And the high price could win over a new generation of investors.
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U.S. Bancorp
Jerry A. Grundhofer, 58
CEO since 2001
Industry:
Financial Services
Sales:
$15.4 billion
Net Income:
$3.3 billion
Corporate Snapshot:
USB
When Grundhofer, then CEO of Firstar, bought U.S. Bancorp (USB) from older brother Jack in 2001, he preserved the name and kept its headquarters in Minneapolis. But he has reshaped the new entity in Firstar's image -- a retail bank with excellent customer service. He spun off the money-losing Piper Jaffray unit in February. Meanwhile, the bank's high-margin payment services business has grown 26%, helping to fuel a 95% increase in net income last year. But with a shaky economy ahead and $67 billion of business and commercial real estate loans on the bank's books, investors may soon worry the marriage is already souring.
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Copyright 2003, Bloomberg L.P.
