Fortune Magazine recently released the Fortune 500 list for 2011. The top five U.S. companies, by 2010 revenues, were Wal-Mart ($421.8 billion), Exxon Mobil ($354.7 billion), Chevron ($196.3 billion), Conoco Phillips ($185.0 billion), and Fannie Mae (153.8 billion). Wal-Mart continues to solidify itself in the top spot on the Fortune 500 list with 2010 revenues up 3.3% over 2009.
Fortune 500 profits surged 81% over 2009 levels, to $709 billion. Likewise, revenues were up nearly 10%. This follows a robust recovery in 2009 where profits jumped 75% over the previous year. Only 49 of these companies took a net loss in 2010, down from the 97 in 2009.
Eleven Missouri-based companies made this year's Fortune 500 list. Express Scripts (55th) was the state's highest-ranking company for the 2011 list with revenues of about $45 billion. Most of the Missouri companies are headquartered in the St. Louis area, with the exception of O'Reilly Automotive in Springfield.
These eleven companies employ nearly 23,000 people in Missouri and pay wages totaling over $2.2 billion (Source: MERIC, QCEW Program).
| Missouri Fortune 500 Companies | ||||||
| Company | Rank | Previous Rank | Revenues ($mil) | Profits ($mil) | Headquarters | Primary Business |
| Express Scripts | 55 | 96 | $44,989.7 | $1,181.2 | St.Louis | Healthcare: Pharmacy & Other Services |
| Emerson Electric | 120 | 117 | $21,866.0 | $2,161.0 | St.Louis | Electronics, Electrical Equipment |
| Monsanto | 234 | 197 | $10,502.0 | $1,109.0 | St.Louis | Agriculture and Biotechnology |
| Reinsurance Group of America | 290 | 321 | $8,261.7 | $574.4 | Chesterfield | Insurance: Life, Health (stock) |
| Ameren | 313 | 320 | $7,638.0 | $139.0 | St.Louis | Utilities: Gas & Electric |
| Charter Communications | 333 | 332 | $7,059.0 | ($237.0) | St.Louis | Telecommunications |
| Peabody Energy | 338 | 346 | $6,944.2 | $774.0 | St.Louis | Mining, Crude-Oil Production |
| Smurfit-Stone Container* | 369 | N/A | $6,286.0 | N/A | St. Louis | Packaging, Containers |
| O'Reilly Automotive | 424 | 429 | $5,397.5 | $419.4 | Springfield | Specialty Retailers |
| Graybar Electric | 480 | 470 | $4,616.4 | $42.0 | St.Louis | Wholesalers: Diversified |
| Centene | 493 | 486 | $4,470.1 | $94.8 | St.Louis | Healthcare: Insurance & Managed Care |
| Total | $128,030.6 | $6,257.8 | ||||
| Source: Fortune Magazine. | ||||||
| *Smurfit-Stone has co-headquarters, listing both St. Louis & Chicago | ||||||
Missouri ranked 16th among the states in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters with 11. Of the surrounding states, only Illinois had more with 31. New York led the U.S. with 57 Fortune 500 headquarters, followed by California (53), Texas (51), and Illinois (31). Twelve states had no Fortune 500 company headquarters. The map below illustrates the number of Forture 500 companies located in each state.
