Here’s how to read the following table on Chicago’s Top 100 companies. Some of the columns-such as company name, ranks in 1993 and 1992 (N/R means not ranked in 1992), and 4/30 closing stock price-are self-evident; explanations of the others follow.
– Capitalization: the market value, expressed in millions of dollars, of the company’s common stock on April 30, 1993 (stock price times number of shares outstanding). Amoco Corp.’s stock-market capitalization, for example, was about $27.2 billion. In some cases (see next paragraph), the capitalization reflects the total value of two classes of publicly traded common stock.
– Stock-table abbreviation: an abbreviation of the company’s name as it appears in the Chicago Tribune’s stock tables. An asterisk (+) means that a second class of common stock also trades.
– Primary exchange: N (equals) the stock is listed in the Tribune’s New York Stock Exchange tables; A (equals) American Stock Exchange tables; O (equals) over-the-counter (NASDAQ) market tables.
– Latest fiscal-year revenues: revenues or sales (in millions of dollars)from the most recently reported fiscal year. N/A (not applicable) indicates a banking or finance company.
– Revenue change from previous fiscal year: Expressed as a percentage increase or decrease.
– Avg. 5-year revenue growth: average annual rate of revenue growth, expressed as a percentage increase or decrease.
– Latest fiscal-year net earnings: in millions of dollars.
– Fiscal-year net earnings per share: in dollars per share.
– Earnings per share net change from previous fiscal year: change in net earnings per share, expressed as a percentage increase or decrease. N/M (not meaningful) indicates losses were reported in one or both years. In some cases, the number represents a pro-forma calculation for a new stock.
– Avg. 5-year growth in earnings per share: average annualized rate of growth in earnings per share from continuing operations, expressed as a percentage increase or decrease. N/M indicates losses were reported.
– Current fiscal-year earnings per share estimate: estimated earnings per share from continuing operations for the current fiscal year, from a consensus of securities analysts; compiled by Zacks Investment Research, Chicago.
– Price/earnings ratio: the April 30 closing price of the stock, divided by earnings per share from continuing operations in the last 12 months reported. N/M means losses were reported.
– Average daily trading volume: in thousands of shares over the last 10 trading days of April 1993.
– 365-day high/365-day low: highest and lowest intraday price reached from May 1, 1992, to April 30, 1993.
– Annual dividend: the indicated annual dividend, based on recent payments.
– Yield: dividends paid on the company’s stock, expressed as a percentage of its price.
– Payout ratio: a measure of how much of a company’s earnings are paid as dividends, expressed as a percentage. The latest indicated annual dividend is divided by the most recent 12 months earnings per share. N/M means losses were reported; N/A means not available.
– Institutional ownership: percentage of the company’s outstanding common stock held by mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and other institutional investors.
– Insider holdings: generally, holdings of the company’s common stock by current officers and directors, expressed as a percentage of outstanding common stock.
– Long-term debt/assets ratio: long-term debt divided by total assets.
Sources of data: TMS Stocks, Chicago; PC Quote Inc., Chicago; Bridge Information Systems Inc., St. Louis; MarketBase Inc., Needham, Mass.; company reports; Zacks Investment Research, Chicago.
