Company Profiles

Houston, Texas is the home base for more public companies than any other city in the Credit Standards Index (CSI), an annual index of over 2,000 companies ranked by credit standards.  High-tech California is home to four cities in the top ten.

In his landmark book A History of the South published in 1953, Southern historian Francis Butler Simkins described Houston, Texas as a "raw and rollicking place" that was still reaping the benefits of the giant oil boom that hit Texas in the late 1800s.  At the time of Simkins' book, Houston, named for Samuel Houston, one of the

In the past decade, the world has witnessed a revolution in wireless communications driven by the miniaturization and enhanced capabilites of integrated circuits. One of the companies at the forefront of this revolution, and perhaps best positioned for its future, is QUALCOMM, Inc. in San Diego, California.

Before being acquired in July 2010, few companies delivered as much value to its shareholders than Arena Resources, Inc., an oil exploration company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma that sits atop the 2,062-company Credit Standards Index (CSI).

"This transaction recognizes the value Arena has created for its stockholders and provides its stockholders with a meaningful stake in the combined company," said Phil Terry, President and CEO of Arena Resources, in a press release dated April 4, 2010 that announced the sale of his company to SandRidge Energy, Inc., for $1.55 billion.

First Solar, Inc., a semiconductor company that manufactures solar modules, has the highest credit standards among 2,117 publicly-traded companies, according to the latest information from the Credit Standards Index (CSI). 

As the world's energy demands grow, utilities and power companies continue to dabble in so called alternative energy sources that are clean, reliable, resourceful and, renewable, if possible.  Solar Power is one renewable energy source that may be gaining in prominence, as evidenced by the company that sits atop the CSI, First Solar, Inc. 

NRG Energy, Inc., based in Princeton, New Jersey, has the highest credit standards of all publicly-traded utilities with  a CSI score of 2.40 on a scale of 1 to 5.  Constellation Energy Group, Inc, based in Baltimore, Maryland, is last with a CSI score of 4.70. 

Adobe Systems, Inc., based in San Jose, California, has the highest credit standards of the 122 publicly-traded software technology companies in the Credit Standards Index (CSI) with a CSI score of of 1.40.  CDC Corporation, based in Hong Kong, China, is last with a CSI score of 4.30.

Adobe Systems, Inc. leads all software technology companies in credit standards for the second consecutive year further illustrating the close correlation between credit standards and profitability.  Adobe's net profit was 24.4 percent, the tenth highest in the industry.   

The 2009 financial results for ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel manufacturer with operations and customers in 177 countries, illustrate the true depths of the global recession, according to the company's recently released annual filing.   Global GDP declined 2.0 percent. 

The 2009 sales for ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company based in Luxembourg, plummeted to $65.1 billion from $124.9 billion in 2008, a drop of 48 percent, according to the company's financial results released last month in the company's annual report.