Profitable US public companies
Companies with revenue above $1bn that reported positive net income in their most recent annual filing. Profit here is the figure the company reported, not an adjusted or normalized earnings measure.
Companies with revenue above $1bn that reported positive net income in their most recent annual filing. Profit here is the figure the company reported, not an adjusted or normalized earnings measure.
Profitable companies whose reported cash and equivalents exceed their long-term debt. A company reporting no debt at all is excluded rather than counted as zero, because a missing figure and a reported zero are different facts.
Companies with revenue above $1bn whose gross margin exceeds 50%. Gross margin is gross profit divided by revenue, both as the filer reported them; banks and insurers report no cost of revenue and so do not appear.
Companies whose reported revenue rose in each of the last five annual periods. Each year is compared with the one before it using the same filing basis, so a restatement does not create a false increase.
Companies reporting positive free cash flow -- operating cash flow less capital expenditure -- in each of the last five annual periods. Both inputs come from the same filing, so the calculation never mixes restatement bases.
Each year is compared with the one before it on the same filing basis, so a restatement cannot manufacture an increase. One down year is allowed, which is what separates a durable record from an unbroken one. Nine years is the longest run of changes ten annual periods can show.
Net income as reported was zero or above in every one of the last ten annual periods. A company with fewer than ten years of filings does not qualify, because the question cannot be answered for it rather than because the answer is no.
Operating cash flow exceeded capital expenditure in each of the last ten annual periods. Both come from the same filing each year, so the calculation never mixes restatement bases. Banks and brokers are excluded in practice: free cash flow does not describe them.
Gross margin stayed above 40% in every one of the last five annual periods, rather than averaging above it. Filers who report no cost of revenue, including banks and insurers, cannot appear.
The diluted weighted-average share count fell between the two most recent annual periods while the company reported a profit. A falling count usually means buybacks outweighed issuance, though a reverse split would also produce one.
Reported net income divided by reported total equity, both from the same annual filing. A company that has bought back enough stock to leave little equity can show a high ratio without earning more, so the figure rewards reading alongside the balance sheet.
Capital expenditure below a twentieth of revenue, with free cash flow positive. It identifies businesses that grow without heavy reinvestment in property and equipment; it says nothing about research spending, which is an expense rather than capital.
Reported research and development expense against revenue in the latest annual period. Filers that do not report R&D separately are absent rather than counted as zero.
Long-term debt against total equity. A company reporting no long-term debt at all is unavailable rather than zero, so this shows filers that reported a small amount, not those that reported none.
Operating income against revenue for companies with more than $5bn of revenue, both as the filer reported them and neither adjusted.
Companies reporting more than $50bn of annual revenue. Banks and brokers report a top line net of interest expense, which is not comparable with an operating company’s revenue; those filers are labelled in the table.