| The Top Shareholder-Friendly Companies of 2007 | |
| Listed here by sector and industry are the companies that scored the highest when we asked portfolio managers and sell-side equity analysts to choose the most shareholder-friendly companies in their domains. | |
| BASIC MATERIALS | |
| Chemicals/Commodity | |
| 1 | Monsanto Co. |
| 2 | Dow Chemical Co. |
| 3 | E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. |
| 4 | Rohm & Haas Co. |
| 5 | PPG Industries |
| Chemicals/Specialty | |
| 1 | Praxair |
| 2 | Air Products and Chemicals |
| 3 | Ecolab |
| 4 | Chemtura Corp. |
| Metals & Mining | |
| 1 | Nucor Corp. |
| 2 | Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold |
| 3 | Allegheny Technologies |
| 4 | Phelps Dodge Corp. |
| Paper & Forest Products | |
| 1 | International Paper Co. |
| 2 | Weyerhaeuser Co. |
| 3 | Packaging Corp. of America |
| 4 | Kimberly-Clark Corp. |
| 5 | Temple-Inland |
| CAPITAL GOODS/INDUSTRIALS | |
| Aerospace & Defense Electronics | |
| 1 | United Technologies Corp. |
| 2 | Lockheed Martin Corp. |
| 3 | Boeing Co. |
| 4 | General Dynamics Corp. |
| 5 | Rockwell Collins |
| Airfreight & Surface Transportation | |
| 1 | United Parcel Service |
| 2 | FedEx Corp. |
| 3 | Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. |
| 4 | Norfolk Southern Corp. |
| 5 | Landstar System |
| Business & Professional Services | |
| 1 | Manpower |
| 2 | Robert Half International |
| Electrical Equipment & Multi-Industry | |
| 1 | General Electric Co. |
| 2 | Danaher Corp. |
| 3 | Continental Materials Corp. |
| 4 | Emerson Electric Co. |
| 5 | 3M Co. |
| Environmental Services | |
| 1 | Republic Services |
| 2 | Waste Management |
| 3 | Stericycle |
| Machinery | |
| 1 | Illinois Tool Works |
| 2 | Deere & Co. |
| 3 | Caterpillar |
| 4 | Eaton Corp. |
| 5 | Ingersoll-Rand Co. 1 |
| Packaging | |
| 1 | Ball Corp. |
| 2 | Crown Holdings |
| 3 | Pactiv Corp. |
| 4 | Sonoco Products Co. |
| CONSUMER | |
| Airlines | |
| 1 | Southwest Airlines Co. |
| 2 | AMR Corp. |
| 3 | U.S. Airways Group |
| 4 | AirTran Holdings |
| Apparel, Footwear & Textiles | |
| 1 | Coach |
| 2 | Liz Claiborne |
| 3 | Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. |
| 4 | V.F. Corp. |
| 5 | Carter's |
| Autos & Auto Parts | |
| 1 | Johnson Controls |
| 2 | BorgWarner |
| 3 | Gentex Corp. |
| 4 | Advance Auto Parts |
| 5 | American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings |
| Beverages | |
| 1 | PepsiCo |
| 2 | Coca-Cola Co. |
| 3 | Pepsi Bottling Group |
| 4 | Anheuser-Busch Cos. |
| 5 | Coca-Cola Enterprises |
| Cosmetics, Household & Personal Care Products | |
| 1 | Procter & Gamble Co. |
| 2 | Colgate-Palmolive Co. |
| 3 | Clorox Co. |
| 4 | Alberto-Culver Co. 2 |
| 5 | Masco Corp. |
| Food | |
| 1 | Hershey Co. |
| 2 | Kellogg Co. |
| 3 | Campbell Soup Co. |
| 4 | Dean Foods Co. |
| 5 | General Mills |
| Gaming & Lodging | |
| 1 | Harrah’s Entertainment 3 |
| 2 | Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide |
| 3 | Station Casinos 4 |
| 4 | Marriott International |
| 5 | International Game Technology |
| Homebuilders & Building Products | |
| 1 | D.R. Horton |
| 2 | Toll Brothers |
| 3 | Ryland Group |
| 4 | Pulte Homes |
| 5 | KB Home |
| Leisure | |
| 1 | Carnival Corp. |
| 2 | Harley-Davidson |
| 3 | Royal Caribbean Cruises |
| 4 | Life Time Fitness |
| Restaurants | |
| 1 | Yum! Brands |
| 2 | McDonald’s Corp. |
| 3 | Applebee’s International |
| 4 | P.F. Chang’s China Bistro |
| 5 | Starbucks Corp. |
| Retailing/Broadlines & Department Stores | |
| 1 | J.C. Penney Co. |
| 2 | Federated Department Stores |
| 3 | Target Corp. |
| 4 | Kohl's Corp. |
| 5 | Nordstrom |
| Retailing/Food & Drug Chains | |
| 1 | CVS Corp. 5 |
| 2 | Walgreen Co. |
| 3 | Whole Foods Market |
| 4 | Kroger Co. |
| Retailing/Hardlines | |
| 1 | Staples |
| 2 | Lowe’s Cos. |
| 3 | Best Buy Co. |
| 4 | Home Depot |
| 5 | Williams-Sonoma |
| Retailing/Specialty Stores | |
| 1 | Chico’s FAS |
| 2 | Limited Brands |
| 3 | Urban Outfitters |
| 4 | American Eagle Outfitters |
| 5 | Tiffany & Co. |
| Tobacco | |
| 1 | Altria Group |
| 2 | Reynolds American |
| ENERGY | |
| Electric Utilities | |
| 1 | TXU Corp. |
| 2 | Exelon Corp. |
| 3 | Duke Energy Corp. |
| 4 | Allegheny Energy |
| 5 | Entergy Corp. |
| Integrated Oil | |
| 1 | Exxon Mobil Corp. |
| 2 | Occidental Petroleum Corp. |
| 3 | ConocoPhillips |
| 4 | Marathon Oil Corp. |
| 5 | Hess Corp. |
| Natural Gas | |
| 1 | Questar Corp. |
| 2 | Kinder Morgan 6 |
| 3 | Williams Cos. |
| 4 | Equitable Resources |
| Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | |
| 1 | EOG Resources |
| 2 7 | Apache Corp. |
| 2 7 | XTO Energy |
| 4 | Newfield Exploration Co. |
| 5 | Chesapeake Energy Corp. |
| Oil Services & Equipment | |
| 1 | Schlumberger |
| 2 | Nabors Industries1 |
| 3 | Halliburton Co. |
| 4 | Noble Corp. |
| 5 | Baker Hughes |
| FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS | |
| Banks/Large-Cap | |
| 1 | Wachovia Corp. 8 |
| 2 | Wells Fargo & Co. |
| 3 | Bank of America Corp. |
| 4 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| 5 | U.S. Bancorp |
| Banks/Midcap | |
| 1 | Zions Bancorp. |
| 2 | Commerce Bancorp |
| 3 | M&T Bank Corp. |
| 4 | North Fork Bancorp. 9 |
| 5 | Compass Bancshares |
| Brokers & Asset Managers | |
| 1 | Lehman Brothers Holdings |
| 2 | Goldman Sachs Group |
| 3 | Merrill Lynch & Co. |
| 4 | Franklin Resources |
| 5 | BlackRock |
| Insurance/Life | |
| 1 | Aflac |
| 2 | Hartford Financial Services Group |
| 3 | Prudential Financial |
| 4 | MetLife |
| 5 | Genworth Financial |
| Insurance/Nonlife | |
| 1 | Allstate Corp. |
| 2 | Progressive Corp. |
| 3 | Ace 1 |
| 4 | Chubb Corp. |
| 5 | Arch Capital Group 1 |
| Mortgage Finance | |
| 1 | Countrywide Financial Corp. |
| 2 | Golden West Financial Corp. 8 |
| 3 | IndyMac Bancorp |
| 4 | Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. |
| REITs | |
| 1 | Host Hotels & Resorts |
| 2 | AvalonBay Communities |
| 3 | Simon Property Group |
| 4 | AMB Property Corp. |
| 5 | ProLogis |
| Specialty Finance | |
| 1 | Capital One Financial Corp. 9 |
| 2 | American Express Co. |
| 3 | CIT Group |
| 4 | Moody's Corp. |
| 5 | SLM Corp. (Sallie Mae) |
| HEALTH CARE | |
| Biotechnology | |
| 1 | Gilead Sciences |
| 2 | Genentech |
| 3 | Amgen |
| 4 | Genzyme Corp. |
| 5 | Celgene Corp. |
| Health Care Facilities | |
| 1 | Community Health Systems |
| 2 | HCA 10 |
| 3 | Triad Hospitals |
| 4 | Universal Health Services |
| 5 | Health Management Associates |
| Health Care Technology & Distribution | |
| 1 | Medco Health Solutions |
| 2 | McKesson Corp. |
| 3 | Caremark Rx 5 |
| 4 | Cardinal Health |
| 5 | AmerisourceBergen Corp. |
| Managed Care | |
| 1 | WellPoint |
| 2 | UnitedHealth Group |
| 3 | Humana |
| 4 | Aetna |
| 5 | Coventry Health Care |
| Medical Supplies & Devices | |
| 1 | Johnson & Johnson |
| 2 | Medtronic |
| 3 | Zimmer Holdings |
| 4 | Baxter International |
| 5 | St. Jude Medical |
| Pharmaceuticals/Major | |
| 1 | Eli Lilly and Co. |
| 2 | Wyeth |
| 3 | Merck & Co. |
| 4 | Schering-Plough Corp. |
| 5 | Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. |
| Pharmaceuticals/Specialty | |
| 1 | Barr Pharmaceuticals |
| 2 | Allergan |
| 3 | Forest Laboratories |
| 4 | Sepracor |
| MEDIA | |
| Cable & Satellite | |
| 1 | Comcast Corp. |
| 2 | DirecTV Group |
| 3 | EchoStar Communications Corp. |
| Entertainment | |
| 1 | Walt Disney Co. |
| 2 | Time Warner |
| 3 | CBS Corp. |
| 4 | News Corp. |
| 5 | Viacom |
| Publishing & Advertising Agencies | |
| 1 7 | Gannett Co. |
| 1 7 | E.W. Scripps Co. |
| 3 | Omnicom Group |
| 4 | McGraw-Hill Cos. |
| 5 | Digitas 11 |
| Radio & TV Broadcasting | |
| 1 | Clear Channel Communications 12 |
| 2 | Univision Communications |
| 3 | Entercom Communications Corp. |
| TECHNOLOGY | |
| Computer Services & IT Consulting | |
| 1 | Accenture1 |
| 2 | Paychex |
| 3 | Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. |
| 4 | Electronic Data Systems Corp. |
| 5 | First Data Corp. |
| Electronics Manufacturing Services | |
| 1 | Jabil Circuit |
| Imaging Technology | |
| 1 | Adobe Systems |
| Internet | |
| 1 | Yahoo! |
| 2 | EBay |
| 3 | AQuantive |
| 4 | ValueClick |
| 5 | |
| IT Hardware | |
| 1 | Hewlett-Packard Co. |
| 2 | Apple Computer |
| 3 | IBM Corp. |
| 4 | EMC Corp. |
| 5 | Dell |
| Semiconductor Capital Equipment | |
| 1 | KLA-Tencor Corp. |
| 2 | Lam Research Corp. |
| 3 | Applied Materials |
| 4 | Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates |
| Semiconductors | |
| 1 | Texas Instruments |
| 2 | Microchip Technology |
| 3 | Intel Corp. |
| 4 | Freescale Semiconductor 13 |
| 5 | Marvell Technology Group 1 |
| Software | |
| 1 | Microsoft Corp. |
| 2 | Oracle Corp. |
| 3 7 | Autodesk |
| 3 7 | Intuit |
| 5 | Citrix Systems |
| TELECOMMUNICATIONS | |
| Data Networking & Wireline Equipment | |
| 1 | Cisco Systems |
| 2 | Tellabs |
| Telecom Equipment/Wireless | |
| 1 | Qualcomm |
| 2 | Motorola |
| 3 | Crown Castle International Corp. |
| Telecom Services/Wireless | |
| 1 | Alltel Corp. |
| 2 | Sprint Nextel Corp. |
| Telecom Services/Wireline | |
| 1 | AT&T 14 |
| 2 | Verizon Communications |
| 3 | BellSouth Corp. 14 |
| 4 | Qwest Communications International |
| 5 | Alaska Communications Systems Group |
| 1 Based in Bermuda. | |
| 2 Effective November 16, 2006, upon company's reorganization, company changed name to Alberto-Culver LLC. | |
| 3 Accepted a private equity buyout bid in December 2006. | |
| 4 Management-led buyout bid launched December 2, 2006. | |
| 5 On November 1, 2006, CVS Corp. and Caremark Rx agreed to merge; the deal was expected to be completed in six to 12 months. | |
| 6 Agreed to management-led buyout November 15, 2006; deal expected to be completed early this year. | |
| 7 Tie. | |
| 8 Wachovia Corp. and Golden West Financial Corp. merged effective October 1, 2006. | |
| 9 Capital One Financial Corp. acquired North Fork Bancorp. effective December 1, 2006. | |
| 10 Taken private in management-led buyout completed November 17, 2006. | |
| 11 Acquired by France's Publicis Groupe effective January 31, 2007. | |
| 12 Agreed on November 16, 2006, to be taken private. | |
| 13 Taken private effective December 4, 2006. | |
| 14 AT&T acquired BellSouth Corp. effective December 29, 2006. | |
Picking the Winners
More than 760 analysts and portfolio managers at some 400 money management firms responsible for investing a combined $6.3 trillion in U.S. stocks participated in selecting Institutional Investor’s 2007 list of America’s Most Shareholder-Friendly Companies. These asset management professionals were asked to name the companies they consider the most shareholder-friendly in the industry sector (or sectors) for which they are responsible. In making their choices, voters were instructed to consider the effectiveness of companies’ governance and investor relations as part of their overall efforts to maximize shareholder value. Respondents gave their first, second, third and fourth choices, which we weighted to produce a score for each company. We name the most shareholder-friendly companies in each of the 62 industry sectors surveyed for the 2006 All-America Research Team.
Our America’s Most Shareholder-Friendly Companies ranking was compiled by Associate Editor Michele Bickford under the guidance of Assistant Managing Editors Sathya Rajavelu and Tom Johnson and Senior Editor Jane B. Kenney.