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The World’s 20 Most Profitable Companies

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5 years ago

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Visualizing the World's 20 Most Profitable Companies

The World’s 20 Most Profitable Companies

The biggest chunk of the earnings pie is increasingly split by fewer and fewer companies.

In the U.S. for example, about 50% of all profit generated by public companies goes to just 30 companies — back in 1975, it took 109 companies to accomplish the same feat:

YearNumber of Firms Generating 50% of EarningsTotal Public Companies (U.S.)Portion (%)
19751094,8192.2%
2015303,7660.8%

This power-law dynamic also manifests itself at a global level — and perhaps it’s little surprise that the world’s most profitable companies generate mind-bending returns that would make any accountant blush.

Which Company Makes the Most Per Day?

Today’s infographic comes to us from HowMuch.net, and it uses data from Fortune to illustrate how much profit top global companies actually rake in on a daily basis.

The 20 most profitable companies in the world are listed below in order, and we’ve also broken the same data down per second:

RankCompanyCountryProfit per DayProfit Per Second
#1Saudi Aramco🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$304,039,726$3,519
#2Apple🇺🇸 United States$163,098,630$1,888
#3Industrial & Commercial Bank of China🇨🇳 China$123,293,973$1,427
#4Samsung Electronics🇰🇷 South Korea$109,301,918$1,265
#5China Construction Bank🇨🇳 China$105,475,068$1,221
#6JPMorgan Chase & Co.🇺🇸 United States$88,969,863$1,030
#7Alphabet🇺🇸 United States$84,208,219$975
#8Agricultural Bank of China🇨🇳 China$83,990,411$972
#9Bank of America Corp.🇺🇸 United States$77,115,068$893
#10Bank of China🇨🇳 China$74,589,589$863
#11Royal Dutch Shell🇬🇧 🇳🇱 UK/Netherlands$63,978,082$740
#12Gazprom🇷🇺 Russia$63,559,178$736
#13Wells Fargo🇺🇸 United States$61,350,685$710
#14Facebook🇺🇸 United States$60,580,822$701
#15Intel🇺🇸 United States$57,679,452$668
#16Exxon Mobil🇺🇸 United States$57,095,890$661
#17AT&T🇺🇸 United States$53,068,493$614
#18Citigroup🇺🇸 United States$49,438,356$572
#19Toyota Motor🇯🇵 Japan$46,526,027$538
#20China Development Bank🇨🇳 China$45,874,795$531

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, known to most as Saudi Aramco, is by far the world’s most profitable company, raking in a stunning $304 million of profits every day. When translated to a more micro scale, that works out to $3,519 per second.

You’ve likely seen Saudi Aramco in the news lately, though for other reasons.

The giant state-owned company has been rearing to go public at an aggressive $2 trillion valuation, but it’s since delayed that IPO multiple times, most recently stating the listing will take place in December 2019 or January 2020. Company-owned refineries were also the subject of drone attacks last month, which took offline 5.7 million bpd of oil production temporarily.

Despite these challenges, Saudi Aramco still stands pretty tall — after all, such blows are softened when you churn out the same amount of profit as Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook combined.

Numbers on an Annual Basis

Bringing in over $300 million per day of profit is pretty hard to comprehend, but the numbers are even more unfathomable when they are annualized.

RankCompanyCountryProfit
#1Saudi Aramco🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$110,974,500,000
#2Apple🇺🇸 United States$59,531,000,000
#3Industrial & Commercial Bank of China🇨🇳 China$45,002,300,000
#4Samsung Electronics🇰🇷 South Korea$39,895,200,000
#5China Construction Bank🇨🇳 China$38,498,400,000
#6JPMorgan Chase & Co.🇺🇸 United States$32,474,000,000
#7Alphabet🇺🇸 United States$30,736,000,000
#8Agricultural Bank of China🇨🇳 China$30,656,500,000
#9Bank of America Corp.🇺🇸 United States$28,147,000,000
#10Bank of China🇨🇳 China$27,225,200,000
#11Royal Dutch Shell🇬🇧 🇳🇱 UK/Netherlands$23,352,000,000
#12Gazprom🇷🇺 Russia$23,199,100,000
#13Wells Fargo🇺🇸 United States$22,393,000,000
#14Facebook🇺🇸 United States$22,112,000,000
#15Intel🇺🇸 United States$21,053,000,000
#16Exxon Mobil🇺🇸 United States$20,840,000,000
#17AT&T🇺🇸 United States$19,370,000,000
#18Citigroup🇺🇸 United States$18,045,000,000
#19Toyota Motor🇯🇵 Japan$16,982,000,000
#20China Development Bank🇨🇳 China$16,744,300,000

On an annual basis, Saudi Aramco is raking in $111 billion of profit per year, and that’s with oil prices sitting in the $50-$70 per barrel range.

To put this number in perspective, take a look at Chevron. The American oil giant is one of the 20 biggest companies on the S&P 500, but it generated just $15 billion in profit in 2018 and currently sits at a $221 billion market capitalization.

That puts Chevron’s profits at roughly 10% of Aramco’s — and if Aramco does IPO at a $2 trillion valuation, that would put Chevron at roughly 10% of its market cap, as well.

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The European Stock Market: Attractive Valuations Offer Opportunities

On average, the European stock market has valuations that are nearly 50% lower than U.S. valuations. But how can you access the market?
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April 25, 2024

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Bar chart showing that European stock market indices tend to have lower or comparable valuations to other regions.

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The following content is sponsored by STOXX
An infographic showing that compared to North American and Asian stocks, the European stock market has lower or comparable valuations and low-to-moderate correlation.

European Stock Market: Attractive Valuations Offer Opportunities

Europe is known for some established brands, from L’Oréal to Louis Vuitton. However, the European stock market offers additional opportunities that may be lesser known.

The above infographic, sponsored by STOXX, outlines why investors may want to consider European stocks.

Attractive Valuations

Compared to most North American and Asian markets, European stocks offer lower or comparable valuations.

IndexPrice-to-Earnings RatioPrice-to-Book Ratio
EURO STOXX 5014.92.2
STOXX Europe 60014.42
U.S.25.94.7
Canada16.11.8
Japan15.41.6
Asia Pacific ex. China17.11.8

Data as of February 29, 2024. See graphic for full index names. Ratios based on trailing 12 month financials. The price to earnings ratio excludes companies with negative earnings.

On average, European valuations are nearly 50% lower than U.S. valuations, potentially offering an affordable entry point for investors.

Research also shows that lower price ratios have historically led to higher long-term returns.

Market Movements Not Closely Connected

Over the last decade, the European stock market had low-to-moderate correlation with North American and Asian equities.

The below chart shows correlations from February 2014 to February 2024. A value closer to zero indicates low correlation, while a value of one would indicate that two regions are moving in perfect unison.

EURO
STOXX 50		STOXX
EUROPE 600		U.S.CanadaJapanAsia Pacific
ex. China
EURO STOXX 501.000.970.550.670.240.43
STOXX EUROPE 6001.000.560.710.280.48
U.S.1.000.730.120.25
Canada1.000.220.40
Japan1.000.88
Asia Pacific ex. China1.00

Data is based on daily USD returns.

European equities had relatively independent market movements from North American and Asian markets. One contributing factor could be the differing sector weights in each market. For instance, technology makes up a quarter of the U.S. market, but health care and industrials dominate the broader European market.

Ultimately, European equities can enhance portfolio diversification and have the potential to mitigate risk for investors. 

Tracking the Market

For investors interested in European equities, STOXX offers a variety of flagship indices:

IndexDescriptionMarket Cap 
STOXX Europe 600Pan-regional, broad market€10.5T
STOXX Developed EuropePan-regional, broad-market€9.9T
STOXX Europe 600 ESG-XPan-regional, broad market, sustainability focus€9.7T
STOXX Europe 50Pan-regional, blue-chip€5.1T
EURO STOXX 50Eurozone, blue-chip€3.5T

Data is as of February 29, 2024. Market cap is free float, which represents the shares that are readily available for public trading on stock exchanges.

The EURO STOXX 50 tracks the Eurozone’s biggest and most traded companies. It also underlies one of the world’s largest ranges of ETFs and mutual funds. As of November 2023, there were €27.3 billion in ETFs and €23.5B in mutual fund assets under management tracking the index.

“For the past 25 years, the EURO STOXX 50 has served as an accurate, reliable and tradable representation of the Eurozone equity market.”

— Axel Lomholt, General Manager at STOXX

Partnering with STOXX to Track the European Stock Market

Are you interested in European equities? STOXX can be a valuable partner:

  • Comprehensive, liquid and investable ecosystem
  • European heritage, global reach
  • Highly sophisticated customization capabilities
  • Open architecture approach to using data
  • Close partnerships with clients
  • Part of ISS STOXX and Deutsche Börse Group

With a full suite of indices, STOXX can help you benchmark against the European stock market.

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Learn how STOXX’s European indices offer liquid and effective market access.

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