I found 32 Big Corps based in New Jersey. I am defining these Big Corps as ones that had more than roughly $200 mil in Core Pretax Earnings or Losses in either of the most recent two years: 2010 and 2009.
Two of these 32 New Jersey Big Corps are Utilities.
One Giant Corp dominates the New Jersey Big Corp Earnings landscape. Health Care Giant JNJ posted Pretax Earnings in 2010 of $16.9 bil, which was precisely 50% of the Total Core Pretax Earnings of the remaining 29 New Jersey Non-Utility Big Corps.
At first thought, JNJ's earnings growth in 2010 of 8% might seen low. But just like New York-based IBM, JNJ's earnings held up very well during the Great Recession, and thus 8% earnings growth in 2010 doesn't surprise me.
In fact, JNJ's Pretax Earnings in 2010 of $16.9 bil, were much higher that its Core Pretax Earnings in the two years immediately preceding the Great Recession of $15.1 bil in 2006 and $14.8 bil in 2007.
The 29 New Jersey Non-Utility Big Corps other than the Giant JNJ registered Total Core Pretax Earnings percentage growth in 2010 of 24%, which was 3 times that of JNJ. I find that this 24% earnings growth is particularly robust since New Jersey has a very heavy dose of Health Care Big Corps, whose earnings tend to hold up very well during recessions.
Below here are the individual current earnings for these New Jersey 32 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.
New Jersey's 32 Largest Publicly-Held Corps Most Recent Annual Pretax Earnings (PTI)
..................................................................................Increase...
........................................FYE......PTI(L)....PTI(L)....(Decrease)...
New Jersey Big Corps......2010.....2010......2009.....Amount....%.
......................................................(millions of dollars)......
NJ Giant That Rules
JNJ..................................Dec…...16,947....15,755.....1,192.....8%
All NJ Big Corps but JNJ and Utilities
Merck(1)..........................Dec….....5,044.....4,597.......447....10%
Prudential Financial.........Dec….....4,422.....1,552.....2,870..185%
Chubb..............................Dec….....2,988......2,962.........26......1%
Honeywell.......................Dec….....2,843......2,049........794....39%
Medco Health Sol.............Dec….....2,334......2,103........231....11%
Automatic Data Proc.......Jun….....1,863......1,900........(37)..(2)%
Becton Dickinson.............Sep….....1,661......1,579.........82......5%
Tyco Intl(2).....................Sep….....1,270........935........335....36%
Campbell Soup.................Jul….....1,242......1,079........163....15%
Quest Diagnostics............Dec….....1,184......1,228........(44)..(4)%
Celgene(3).......................Dec….....1,134......1,011........123....12%
Ingersoll-Rand, plc..........Dec….....1,007.......589........418....71%
Bed Bath & Beyond...........Feb….......985........683........302....44%
Hudson City Bancorp.......Dec….......892........874.........18......2%
Cognizant Tech Solutions.Dec….......879........637........242....38%
CR Bard...........................Dec….......718........672.........46......7%
Everest Re Group, Ltd.....Dec….......591.........939......(348).(37)%
Wyndham Worldwide......Dec….......563........493.........70....14%
Church & Dwight.............Dec….......418.........392.........26......7%
Dun & Bradstreet.............Dec….......388........433........(45).(10)%
Sealed Air(4)...................Dec….......382........330.........52....16%
Foster Wheeler................Dec….......305........455.......(150).(33)%
WABCO Hldgs(5)..............Dec….......223.........13........210..1615%
Rockwood Holdings.........Dec….......205.........10........195..1950%
Cytec Industries..............Dec….......195........(20).......215..1075%
Covance(6).....................Dec…........163........238........(75)..(32)%
Toys R Us(7).................Jan 11........155........293.......(138)..(47)%
PHH................................Dec….......115........280.......(165)..(59)%
Hovnanian Entprs(8).......Oct….....(295)...(1,082).......787....73%
All 29 NJ Non-Utility
.....Big Corps but JNJ................33,874....27,224.....6,650....24%
NJ Utilities
Public Svc Entepr Grp......Dec…...2,616......2,636......(20)....(1)%
NRG Energy.....................Dec….....753......1,669.....(916)..(55)%
Total NJ Utilities.........................3,369.....4,305....(936)...(22)%
(1) Merck 2010 PTI excludes both large Acquired Intangible Asset Charge and large Vioxx Reserve Charge. Its 2009 PTI excludes both a huge Gain on the Merck/Schering-Plough Partnership and a huge Gain on Disposition of its Merial Ltd interest.
(2) Tyco International 2009 PTI excludes a huge Goodwill and other Intangible Asset Impairment Charge.
(3) Celgene PTI in both years exclude Upfront R&D Collaboration Payment Charge.
(4) Sealed Air 2010 PTI excludes Loss on Debt Redemption.
(5) WABCO Holdings 2010 PTI excludes large European Commission Fine.
(6) Covance 2010 PTI excludes Asset Impairment Charge.
(7) Toys R Us 2010 PTI excludes Litigation Settlement Charge. Its 2009 PTI excludes Litigation Settlement Gain.
(8) Hovnanian Enterprises 2009 PTL excludes large Gain on Debt Extinguishment.
It looks to me like New Jersey Big Corps have recently done very well as compared with the overwhelming majority of New Jersey Citizens. New Jersey's 9% State Corporate Income Tax Rate is indeed very high, but it's just a Sticker, Stated Tax Rate, with the actual tax rate paid by New Jersey Big Corps just barely above 2.0%. Thus, I think it is very difficult to argue that the entire New Jersey State Budget shortfall should be put on the backs of New Jersey Citizens.
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 New Jersey. And I also think that New Jersey-based Honeywell could be one of the key players in helping the country get more intensely focused on what should be its critical energy independence path.
The above research, where I found 32 New Jersey Big Corps, was performed through the end of March 2011. Since then, in April and May 2011, I extended this research, and I found 5 additional New Jersey Big Corps, which are shown here below.
..........................................2010.......2009.........Increase
...........................................Core........Core........(Decrease)
.......State..........................PTI(L)......PTI(L).....Amount.....%
..............................................(millions of dollars)....
Late Big Corp Additions
New Jersey (5)
American Water Works(1)....449.............338...........111....33%
Verisk Analytics..................407.............265...........142....54%
Warner Chilcott plc(2).........307.............166...........141....85%
John Wiley & Sons...............200.............164............36.....22%
Avaya(3)............................(853)...........(520).......(333)..(64)%
(1) American Water Works 2009 PTI excludes asset impairment charge.
(2) Warner Chilcott plc is an Ireland Corp, but with a New Jersey external CPA firm. Its 2009 PTI excludes gain on sale of assets.
(3) Avaya 2009 PTI excludes intangible asset impairment charge.
