United Rentals was listed last week byForbes magazine as one of its Platinum 400 members, its annual list of the best big companies. To qualify, a company must have revenues of more than $1 billion and either be based in the United States or have a significant U.S. presence. To make the list, a company must rank in the upper half of one of 23 industry groups in Forbes’ composite scoring for return on capital, sales growth and earnings growth. Forbes looks at latest 12-month and 5-year returns, giving extra weight to the long-term data.
Forbes dropped companies whose stocks have fallen below $5 a share or if security analysts aren’t optimistic about future earnings growth, also eliminating firms with problems that were not reflected in recent financial results or with suspicious accounting.
Although being picked in the Platinum 400 does not guarantee future success, Forbes says, stocks picked on last year’s list had a median loss of only 1 percent over the past 12 months.
Other construction- or rental-related Platinum 400 members include: Briggs & Stratton, Caterpillar, Ingersoll-Rand, Home Depot, the Shaw Group, the Stanley Works, Terex and Toro.
Greenwich, Conn.-based United is North America’s largest rental company, No. 1 on the RER 100.
