I found 24 Big Corps based in the State of Georgia. I am defining these Big Corps as ones that had more than $200 mil in Core Pretax Earnings or Losses in either of the most recent two years: 2010 and 2009.
Two of these 24 Big Corps are Utilities.
Coca-Cola is the largest profit generator in Georgia. Its Core Pretax Earnings for 2010 were $9.7 bil, up 9% from 2009. This 9% earnings growth does not seem unusual to me because Coke's Earnings held up very well during the Great Recession. In fact, its Core Pretax Earnings of $9.7 bil in 2010 is significantly above its Pre-Great Recession Pretax Earnings of $6.6 bil in 2006 and $7.9 bil in 2007.
But the main story here is what happened to the 2010 earnings of the 20 Non-Utility Big Corps in Georgia other than Coke and its Bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises.
These 20 Georgia Big Corps generated Total Core Pretax Income of $18.4 bil in 2010, which was a monstrous 181% increase over 2009. Whoa!....now that is what I call Moving the Earnings Needle.
It is pretty clear to me that the Obama Administration was effective in working with Big Corps in all US States, not just the Blue and Purple States which voted for him. These just incredible 2010 earnings of Georgia Big Corps is a good testament to that. And the Big Corps in the other States that I have studied so far, which didn't vote for Obama....Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Missouri....all had just superb 2010 earnings. And I am pretty certain that all of the other larger Red States that I will be studying will also show very strong earnings increases in 2010.
Below here are the individual current earnings for these Georgia 24 largest publicly-held Corps, as was disclosed in either their most recent annual Fiscal Year Ended (FYE) 2010 earnings releases or in their most recent SEC annual report filings.
Georgia 24 Largest Publicly-Held Corps Most Recent Annual Pretax Earnings (PTI)
.............................................................................Increase...
....................................FYE.....PTI(L).....PTI(L)....(Decrease)...
GA Big Corp................2010.....2010......2009.....Amount....%.
.................................................(millions of dollars)....
Giant Beverage Corps
Coca-Cola(1)................Dec….....9,709.....8,946......763.....9%
Coca-Cola Enterprises..Dec…........746.......727.........19.....3%
Total Giant Beverage Corps......10,455.....9,673......782.....8%
All 20 GA Non-Utilities But Coke
United Parcel Service..Dec….....5,523......3,366....2,157....64%
Home Depot..............Jan 11.....5,273......3,982.....1,291....32%
AFLAC........................Dec….....3,585......2,235.....1,350...60%
Delta Air Lines(2)........Dec….....1,181.....(1,498)....2,679..179%
Invesco, Ltd................Dec….......834.........358.......476...133%
Genuine Parts..............Dec….......762.........644.......118.....18%
Intercontlexchange.....Dec….......610.........494........116....23%
Newell Rubbermaid(3).Dec….......519.........428.........91....21%
AGL Resources............Dec….......390.........384..........6......2%
Equifax.......................Dec….......375..........331.........44....13%
AGCO..........................Dec….......325..........193........132...68%
Global Payments.........May….......310.........292.........18.....6%
Rock-Tenn...................Sep….......295.........318........(23)..(7)%
RPC.............................Dec….......238.........(33).......271..821%
Flowers Foods.............Dec….......210.........208...........2......1%
Mohawk Industries......Dec….......193.........(78).......271...347%
SunTrust Banks(4).......Dec….........21......(1,699)...1,720...101%
Beazer Homes(5).........Sep…......(192).......(329)......137....42%
Synovus Financial.......Dec…......(849)....(1,606)......757....47%
First Data(6)................Dec…....(1,171)....(1,434)......263....18%
Total All 20 GA Non-Utility
....Big Corps But Coke...............18,432......6,556..11,876...181%
Utilities
Southern Co(7)...........Dec…......3,066......2,806.....260......9%
Mirant(8)....................Dec…........727.......1,217....(490)..(40)%
Total Utilities............................3,793......4,023....(230)....(6)%
(1) Coca Cola 2010 PTI excludes each of the following items:
…..Gain from Remeasuring CCE to FMV upon acquisition of CCE's North American business
…..Gain from Sale of Norway and Sweden Bottling Operations to CCE
…..Loss on debt extinguishment
…..Loss due to writeoff of Investment in Infrastructure Programs with CCE
…..Charitable Contribution made to Coca-Cola Foundation
…..Remeasurement of Venezuela's Subsidiary's Net Assets due to Hyper-inflationary Status
…..Transaction Costs related to acquisition of CCE NA business and to sale of Norway and Sweden Bottling Operations to CCE
(2) Delta Air Lines PTI(L) exclude Loss on Debt Extinguishment in both years. Its 2010 PTI also excludes Asset Impairment Charge.
(3) Newell Rubbermaid 2010 PTI excludes Loss on Debt Extinguisment.
(4) SunTrust Banks 2009 PTL excludes Intangible Asset Impairment Charge.
(5) Beazer Homes PTL in both years exclude Gain on Debt Extinguishment.
(6) First Data 2009 PTL excludes Asset Impairment Charge.
(7) Southern Company 2009 PTI excludes Litigation Settlement.
(8) Mirant 2010 PTI excludes Impairment Loss, and its 2009 PTI includes large Unrealized Derivative Gains.
As you can see from the above, Georgia Big Corps did just great in 2010. And due in no small part to the first-year 100% tax expensing of equipment being effective for all of 2011, I expect that these Georgia Big Corps will also do very well in 2011. But mathematically, it is not possible to achieve the same nosebleed level of percentage earnings growth as that experienced in 2010.
I do think that the Obama Administration's Business Energy Tax Credit Proposals for Green Commercial Building Retrofit Investments and for Renewable Energy Investments would be very beneficial to all of Georgia, but especially to the Atlanta Metro Area.
The above research, where I found 24 Georgia Big Corps, was performed through the end of March 2011. Since then, in April and May 2011, I extended this research, and I found 1 additional Georgia Big Corp, which is shown here below.
..........................................2010.......2009.........Increase
...........................................Core........Core........(Decrease)
.......State..........................PTI(L)......PTI(L).....Amount.....%
..............................................(millions of dollars)....
Late Big Corp Addition
Primerica.............GA........399...........760..........(361)..(48)%
Late Late Addition
Carters................GA.........233............184.............49.....27%
