Boston Public Companies Take a Tumble

The Boston Globe released their annual list of top public companies yesterday.  The biggest news was not who had made the list but the size of the list.  Named the Globe 100 since it was published back in 1989 the list is no longer 100, at least not for 2010.  Sadly due to the economy many public companies could not make the cut so the list is down to 82.

The economy may be recovering but due to the lagging nature of financials some companies may not even be able to make the list until 2012 since one of the requirements is to have 2 straight years of profits.  I must agree with the Boston Globe though in that they did not change the requirements.  Hopefully this is just a blip for the list and the numbers will get back to or closer to 100.

The number 1 company was TJX Cos. which focuses on bargain retail stores.  They were well positioned to capitalize on the flight to save money caused by the recession.  Of the 82 companies 11 are based physically in Boston the rest are in the Metro/Greater Boston area including TJX which is based in Framingham.

Here is the list of the top Boston based public companies and their 2010 rank:

• Boston Beer Co 7
• Iron Mountain 10
• Boston Properties 13
• Sapient Corp 16
• NStar 21
• Eaton Vance Corp 24
• Sonesta International Hotels Corp 31
• Wainwright Bank and Trust 32
• American Tower Corp 33
• Safety Insurance Group 55
• CRA International 66

Both Boston Properties and Sapient made it to the top of their industry lists in Real Estate and Services respectively.

The changes in the list with many more established and larger companies holding their own shows how hard it is to maintain both growth and profitability.  The top 5 in the list are TJX, Raytheon, Vistaprint, Biogen and Hanover Insurance.  Except for Vistaprint which also was able to capitalize on the flight to cheaper and economical the companies are those that have weathered the test of time.  Another factor that can be investigated is what companies dropped out and why.  Some may have been bought out by companies outside of Massachusetts.

For more information on how the globe comes up with it’s list or for more information on the companies visit the Globe 100 website.