Markets

Ranked: The 100 Biggest Public Companies in the World

Published

7 months ago

December 26, 2022

Dorothy Neufeld

Graphics/Design:

Bhabna Banerjee

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The Biggest Companies in the World in 2022

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This year has been shaped by uncomfortable macroeconomic headwinds.

Trillions of dollars were erased in public company market capitalizations, investor confidence waned, and cost pressures squeezed consumer pocketbooks.

Taken together, many of the world’s largest companies experienced sharp declines in market share. Still, a few companies in key sectors had positive growth over the year.

As 2022 comes to a close, the above infographic shows the biggest companies in the world, using data from Companiesmarketcap.com.

The World’s Largest Public Companies in 2022

Today, Apple stands as the world’s most valuable company, towering at a $2.3 trillion valuation.

Despite the tech downturn of 2022—driven by rising interest rates and slower sales—Apple maintained its top spot. This was largely thanks to record revenues and healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drive about half of its total revenue.

Following Apple is Microsoft. Unlike Apple, Microsoft has faced slower earnings over the year due to lower demand for personal computers and the weighing impact of a strong U.S. dollar. Overall, about 50% of the company’s sales take place overseas.

As we show below, there are now only four companies left in the trillion dollar market cap club.

2022 Rank	Company	Market Capitalization	Sector	Location
1	Apple	$2.3T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
2	Microsoft	$1.9T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
3	Saudi Aramco	$1.8T	Energy	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
4	Alphabet	$1.2T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
5	Amazon	$924B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
6	Berkshire Hathaway	$686B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
7	Tesla	$522B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
8	UnitedHealth Group	$510B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
9	Johnson & Johnson	$465B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
10	Visa	$454B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
11	NVIDIA	$437B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
12	Exxon Mobil	$437B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
13	TSMC	$417B	Technology	🇹🇼 Taiwan
14	Walmart	$399B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
15	Tencent	$397B	Technology	🇨🇳 China
16	JPMorgan Chase	$394B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
17	LVMH	$377B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
18	Procter & Gamble	$361B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
19	Eli Lilly	$349B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
20	Mastercard	$344B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
21	Home Depot	$334B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
22	Chevron	$328B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
23	Nestlé	$322B	Consumer Staples	🇨🇭 Switzerland
24	Kweichow Moutai	$313B	Consumer Staples	🇨🇳 China
25	Samsung	$306B	Technology	🇰🇷 South Korea
26	Meta (Facebook)	$304B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
27	Pfizer	$293B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
28	AbbVie	$292B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
29	Novo Nordisk	$292B	Health Care	🇩🇰 Denmark
30	Coca-Cola	$277B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
31	Merck	$276B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
32	Roche	$267B	Health Care	🇨🇭 Switzerland
33	Bank of America	$263B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
34	Pepsico	$253B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
35	ASML	$247B	Technology	🇳🇱 Netherlands
36	Alibaba	$245B	Consumer Discretionary	🇨🇳 China
37	Broadcom	$225B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
38	Thermo Fisher Scientific	$223B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
39	Oracle	$219B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
40	Costco	$216B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
41	Astrazeneca	$215B	Health Care	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
42	Reliance Industries	$214B	Energy	🇮🇳 India
43	ICBC	$208B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
44	McDonald's	$203B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
45	Cisco	$203B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
46	Shell	$201B	Energy	🇳🇱 Netherlands
47	Danaher	$199B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
48	L'Oréal	$197B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
49	Toyota	$197B	Consumer Discretionary	🇯🇵 Japan
50	Novartis	$196B	Health Care	🇨🇭 Switzerland
51	Abbott Laboratories	$109B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
52	Accenture	$184B	Industrials	🇮🇪 Ireland
53	T-Mobile	$177B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
54	Nike	$175B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
55	Walt Disney	$173B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
56	Nextera Energy	$172B	Utilities	🇺🇸 U.S.
57	Hermès	$169B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
58	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$168B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
59	Linde	$166B	Basic Materials	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
60	Wells Fargo	$163B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
61	Texas Instruments	$161B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
62	BHP Group	$160B	Basic Materials	🇦🇺 Australia
63	Verizon	$159B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
64	Philip Morris	$159B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
65	Comcast	$158B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
66	UPS	$158B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
67	Adobe	$157B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
68	Morgan Stanley	$154B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
69	China Construction Bank	$152B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
70	TotalEnergies	$152B	Energy	🇫🇷 France
71	Charles Schwab	$150B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
72	Amgen	$148B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
73	Raytheon Technologies	$146B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
74	Tata Consultancy	$146B	Technology	🇮🇳 India
75	CATL	$145B	Consumer Discretionary	🇨🇳 China
76	China Mobile	$145B	Telecommunications	🇨🇳 China
77	Honeywell	$144B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
78	Agricultural Bank of China	$141B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
79	Netflix	$140B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
80	Meituan	$140B	Technology	🇨🇳 China
81	ConocoPhillips	$139B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
82	AT&T	$138B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
83	CVS Health	$136B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
84	Dior	$136B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
85	Qualcomm	$136B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
86	Prosus	$135B	Technology	🇳🇱 Netherlands
87	RBC	$135B	Financials	🇨🇦 Canada
88	IBM	$134B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
89	Salesforce	$133B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
90	Union Pacific	$133B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
91	Deere & Company	$132B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
92	Unilever	$130B	Consumer Staples	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
93	CM Bank	$130B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
94	HDFC Bank	$129B	Financials	🇮🇳 India
95	Elevance Health	$128B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
96	AIA	$128B	Financials	🇭🇰 Hong Kong
97	Lockheed Martin	$127B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
98	PetroChina	$127B	Energy	🇨🇳 China
99	SAP	$127B	Technology	🇩🇪 Germany
100	Lowe's	$124B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.

*As of Dec 12, 2022.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco is the third largest publicly-traded company globally, at $1.8 trillion. It’s also the only non-U.S. company in the top 10.

In May, the state-run company briefly became the most valuable company on the planet as soaring energy prices boosted earnings. Saudia Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world, and the country’s economy is forecast to grow 7.6% in 2022—one of the fastest globally.

Overall, 62 companies of the 100 largest are headquartered in the U.S., 11 are based in China, and five are located in France.

Top 10 Performance in 2022

For many of the world’s largest companies, 2022 was a brutal year for performance.

Chat showing 10 Biggest Companies in the World 2022 Performance

As the above graphic shows, the vast majority of the world’s titans saw their market values decline. Half of these companies saw double-digit drops.

Tesla has witnessed nearly 70% of its market cap being erased this year. Two main factors are behind this drop: falling demand, especially in China, and CEO Elon Musk’s volatile and risky acquisition of Twitter.

On the other hand, UnitedHealth Group has seen the strongest performance among the top 10.

The company, which rakes in a large share of its earnings from employer-backed insurance plans, said that recessionary impacts had not yet begun materializing in 2022.

Biggest Companies in the World, by Sector

Even with sinking market values across the sector in 2022, tech remains dominant.

Among the world’s biggest companies, 20 are in tech, spanning a combined market value of $9.2 trillion. For perspective, that’s about 31% of the market value of the 100 largest companies.

Rank	Sector	Combined Market Value	Number of Companies	Biggest Company in Sector
1	👩‍💻 Technology	$9.2T	20	Apple
2	🚗 Consumer Discretionary	$4.7T	17	Amazon
3	🩺 Health Care	$4.3T	17	UnitedHealth Group
4	🛢️ Energy	$3.4T	8	Saudi Aramco
5	💵 Financials	$3.0T	14	Berkshire Hathaway
6	🏭 Industrials	$1.8T	9	Visa
7	🥫 Consumer Staples	$1.8T	7	Procter & Gamble
8	📞 Telecommunications	$841B	5	Cisco
9	⛏️ Basic Materials	$326B	2	Linde
10	🔌 Utilities	$127B	1	Nextera Energy

Companies are classified according to the FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark. *As of Dec 12, 2022.

Consumer discretionary and health care sectors fall next in line, with big players such as Amazon and Johnson & Johnson among their ranks.

At the other end of the spectrum is utilities, the smallest sector overall at least pertaining to the largest companies list. NextEra Energy, the sole utilities company among the rankings is one of the world’s largest developers of wind and solar energy. Over the next three years, it plans to invest up to $95 billion in greening its power operations.

Change of Fortune

It comes as no surprise that many of the biggest companies in the world are long-established players in global markets.

Yet within the rankings, some of the notable risers compared to 2021 are UnitedHealth Group, which launched from #19 in 2021 to #8 this year and NVIDIA which has climbed to become the 11th largest company globally, up from #24 last year.

By contrast, some of the biggest losers are Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alibaba. Meta has fallen across the rankings to #26 in 2022 from #6 in 2021. Meanwhile, Alibaba was once the ninth largest globally but has tumbled to #36. Both companies have seen considerable value wiped from their market caps—roughly 66% and 28%, respectively—amid lagging earnings.

With the year coming to a close, it remains to be seen whether the world’s biggest companies stage a comeback in 2023, or face more challenging conditions ahead.

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Stocks

The 50 Best One-Year Returns on the S&P 500 (1980-2022)

The highest one-year return among the top S&P 500 stocks from 1980 to 2022 was a staggering 2,620%. Which stocks top the ranks?

Published

1 week ago

July 11, 2023

Jenna Ross

The Top S&P 500 Stocks by Annual Returns

The average annual return of the S&P 500 was 10% from 1980-2022, excluding dividends. Of course, there are some companies that deliver much higher returns in any given year.

In this graphic using data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, we explore the top S&P 500 stocks with the best single year returns over the last four decades.

Ranking the Top S&P 500 Stocks

In order to find the top gainers, S&P took the top 10 best-performing stocks each year and then narrowed that list down to the top 50 overall. They ranked the top S&P 500 stocks by price returns, meaning that no dividends or stock distributions were included.

The best gains were clustered in a few select years, including the 1999 dot-com boom, the 2003 stock market rally, and the 2009 recovery from the Global Financial Crisis. None of the biggest gains happened in 2021 or 2022.

Rank	Company	Sector	Return	Year
1	Qualcomm	Information Technology	2620%	1999
2	Tesla	Consumer Discretionary	743%	2020
3	DSC Communications	Communication Services	468%	1992
4	Coleco Industries	Consumer Discretionary	435%	1982
5	Avaya	Information Technology	428%	2003
6	Chrysler	Consumer Discretionary	426%	1982
7	XL Capital (Axa XL)	Financials	395%	2009
8	Tenet Healthcare	Healthcare	369%	2009
9	Dynegy	Utilities	361%	2000
10	Advanced Micro Devices	Information Technology	348%	2009
11	Sprint	Communication Services	343%	1999
12	Ford	Consumer Discretionary	337%	2009
13	NEXTEL Communications	Communication Services	336%	1999
14	LSI Logic	Information Technology	319%	1999
15	NVIDIA	Information Technology	308%	2001
16	Nortel Networks	Communication Services	304%	1999
17	Etsy	Consumer Discretionary	302%	2020
18	Genworth Financial	Financials	301%	2009
19	Micron Technology	Information Technology	300%	2009
20	NetFlix	Communication Services	298%	2013
21	Oracle	Information Technology	290%	1999
22	Western Digital	Information Technology	286%	2009
23	Network Appliance (NetApp)	Information Technology	270%	1999
24	Data General	Information Technology	267%	1991
25	Yahoo	Communication Services	265%	1999
26	Williams Companies	Energy	264%	2003
27	Novell	Information Technology	264%	1991
28	Dynegy	Utilities	263%	2003
29	Sun Microsystems	Information Technology	262%	1999
30	PMC-Sierra	Information Technology	262%	2003
31	Advanced Micro Devices	Information Technology	259%	1991
32	Dell	Information Technology	248%	1998
33	Global Marine	Energy	247%	1980
34	Micron Technology	Information Technology	243%	2013
35	Best Buy	Consumer Discretionary	237%	2013
36	Reebok	Consumer Discretionary	234%	2000
37	Freeport-McMoRan	Materials	229%	2009
38	Biomet (Zimmer Biomet)	Healthcare	226%	1991
39	NVIDIA	Information Technology	224%	2016
40	Gap	Consumer Discretionary	223%	1991
41	NetFlix	Communication Services	219%	2010
42	Fleetwood Enterprises (Fleetwood RV)	Consumer Discretionary	217%	1982
43	National Semiconductor	Information Technology	217%	1999
44	Dell	Information Technology	216%	1997
45	Tandy Corp (RadioShack)	Information Technology	216%	1980
46	Novell	Information Technology	215%	2003
47	Corning	Information Technology	215%	2003
48	CB Richard Ellis (CBRE)	Real Estate	214%	2009
49	AES Corp	Utilities	213%	2003
50	Expedia	Consumer Discretionary	212%	2009

Qualcomm was by far the top-performer in any one calendar year window. The company had key patents for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, which enabled fast wireless internet access and became the basis for 3G networks.

Its stock took off in 1999 as it shed less profitable business lines, resolved a patent dispute with competitor Ericsson, and joined the S&P 500 Index. At the time, CNN reported that one lucky investor who heard about Qualcomm from an investment-banker-turned-rabbi earned $17 million—roughly $30 million in today’s dollars.

The most recent stocks to make the rankings were both from 2020: well-known Tesla (#2) and lesser-known online marketplace Etsy (#17), which saw sales from independent creators surge during the early COVID-19 pandemic. The dollar value of items sold on Etsy more than doubled from $5.3 billion in 2019 to $10.3 billion in 2020, with mask sales accounting for 7% of the total.

Biggest Gainers in Each Sector

While information technology stocks made up nearly half of the list, there is representation from nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors. No companies from the Industrials or Consumer Staples sectors made it into the ranks of the top S&P 500 stocks by annual returns.

Below, we show the stock with the best annual return for each sector.

Bubbles sized by annual return show the top S&P 500 stocks by annual gain for each stock market sector. Tesla is the top Consumer Discretionary stock with an annual return of 743% in 2020.

Tesla was the top-performing Consumer Discretionary stock on the list. After meeting the requirement of four consecutive quarters of positive earnings, it joined the S&P 500 Index on December 21, 2020. The company’s performance was boosted by the announcement that it would be included in the S&P 500, along with strong performance in China, and general EV buzz as environmental regulations tightened worldwide.

In the realm of Communication Services, DSC Communications saw a sizable return in 1992. The telecommunications equipment company had contracts with major companies such as Bell and Motorola. Alcatel-Lucent (then Alcatel), a French producer of mobile phones, purchased DSC Communications in 1998.

Serial Success Stories

It’s impressive to make the list of the top S&P 500 stocks by calendar returns once, but there are seven companies that have done it twice.

Some stocks saw their repeated outperformance close together, with Dell making the ranks back-to-back in 1997 and 1998.

Stocks that have appeared on the list of the top S&P 500 annual gains more than once, organized on a timeline with bubbles sized by the return amount. Dell made the list back to back in 1997 and 1998.

On the other hand, a select few have more staying power. Computing giant NVIDIA topped the charts in 2001 and triumphed again 15 years later in 2016. And this year might be another win, as the company has recently reached a $1 trillion market capitalization and has the highest year-to-date return in the S&P 500 as of July 6, 2023.