The Barron’s 500: Apple Tops the List

by Christopher Freeburn | May 6, 2013 9:49 am

[1]Barron’s is out with its annual list of the 500 best performing companies for 2013[2].

This year, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) captured the top spot, rising from second place last year. Barron’s noted that the company produced revenue of $157 billion in fiscal 2012 with free cash flow of $42.7 billion.

Credit card companies also fared well this year. Visa (NYSE:V[4]) slipped from fifth place last year, to eight this year. But rivals MasterCard (NYSE:MA[5]), American Express (NYSE:AXP[6]) and Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS[7]) all placed in the top 30.

Barron’s compiles the list by evaluating thousands of publicly-traded companies in the U.S. and Canada in a partnership with a division of Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS[8]). The companies are ranked based on adjusted three-year return on investment, a median cash-flow metric and sales growth during the most recent fiscal year.

Here are the top 10 performing companies in 2013, according to Barron’s:

1. Apple
2. Wesco International (NYSE:WCC[9])
3. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC[10])
4. DaVita HealthCare Partners (NYSE:DVA[11])
5. C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW[12])
6. Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM[13])
7. Joy Global (NYSE:JOY[14])
8. Visa
9. Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX[15])
10. MRC Global (NYSE:MRC[16])

You can find the entire list and additional detail on the top companies at Barron’s[17].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/05/the-barrons-500-apple-tops-the-list/

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