Methodology: How We Measured the Top 50

Current BW Magazine Table of Contents

April 3, 2006 BW Magazine Table of Contents

April 3, 2006 The BusinessWeek 50 2006 Table of Contents

THE 2006 BW50

1	Apple Computer
2	WellPoint
3	Caremark Rx
4	UnitedHealth Group
5	Schlumberger
6	Occidental Petroleum
7	Halliburton
8	Qualcomm
9	Amgen
10	Aetna
11	Lowe's
12	Burlington Northern Santa Fe
13	Motorola
14	Yahoo!
15	Goldman Sachs Group
16	Lehman Brothers Holdings
17	Gilead Sciences
18	Jabil Circuit
19	Best Buy
20	EMC
21	Baker Hughes
22	Texas Instruments
23	Cisco Systems
24	Starbucks
25	Intel
26	D. R. Horton
27	National Oilwell Varco
28	JPMorgan Chase
29	Merrill Lynch
30	Valero Energy
31	ConocoPhillips
32	Marathon Oil
33	Prudential Financial
34	Microsoft
35	Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
36	Weatherford International
37	eBay
38	Coventry Health Care
39	CVS
40	FedEx
41	Franklin Resources
42	Lennar
43	Coach
44	Staples
45	NVIDIA
46	Norfolk Southern
47	Caterpillar
48	McKesson
49	Hartford Financial Services Group
50	Home Depot

Data: Standard & Poor's Compustat

APRIL 3, 2006

STORY TOOLS

THE BUSINESSWEEK 50

The Best Performers 2006

Graphic: The BusinessWeek 50

Chart: Evolution: The 50 Through The Years

Graphic: Earnings

Graphic: Total Returns

Graphic: Sales Growth

Graphic: Net Margin

Graphic: Long-Term Earnings Growth

Methodology: How We Measured the Top 50

THE BUSINESSWEEK 50

Methodology: How We Measured the Top 50

One of the BusinessWeek 50's main goals is to capture the dynamic nature of strong growth. That's reflected in how we identify the best of the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. We use 10 performance metrics, starting with sales and earnings growth. We tally both for the most recent 12-month and three-year periods, to reward companies that prosper over time. This year, for the first time, we include long-term earnings prospects. We factor in net profit margins. And finally we account for the market's view, by measuring total shareholder returns for one- and three-year periods.

We weight the results for sales volume, because it's harder for large companies to post impressive revenue- and profit-growth figures. And we factor in the debt-to-capital ratio, to recognize clean balance sheets. That also makes it harder for corporations to qualify with growth that's primarily the result of debt-laden acquisitions.

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