I found 15 Big Corps based in the State of Tennessee. 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.
These 15 Tennesse Big Corps generated Total Core Pretax Income of $13.0 bil in 2010, which was an exceptional 50% increase over 2009. And all 15 of them had earnings increases in 2010.
It is pretty clear to me that the Obama Administration was very effective in working with Big Corps in all US States, not just the Blue and Purple States which voted for him. These extremely strong 2010 earnings of Tennessee 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....Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Missouri....all had just superb 2010 earnings. And I am pretty certain that the Big Corps in nearly all of the other Red States that I will be studying, and will be later reporting on, will also show very strong earnings increases in 2010.
Below here are the individual current earnings for these Tennessee 15 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.
Tennessee 15 Largest Publicly-Held Corps Most Recent Annual Core Pretax Earnings (PTI)
.....................................FYE.......PTI......PTI(L).....Increase...
TN Big Corp.................2010......2010....2009....Amount....%.
.................................................(millions of dollars)....
HCA(1).........................Dec…....2,354....2,045......309....15%
FedEx(2)......................May(2).2,178....1,229.......949....77%
Unum Group.................Dec…....1,331....1,292........39.......3%
Autozone(3).................Aug(3)..1,206....1,051......155.....15%
International Paper(4)..Dec…....1,201......133....1,068...803%
Dollar General............Jan 11........985......552.......433....78%
Tenn Valley Auth(5)......Dec…......972......726.......246....34%
Eastman Chemical(6).....Dec…......751......433.......318....73%
Community Health Sys..Dec…......508......446.........62....14%
HealthSpring.................Dec…......309......210.........99....47%
Tractor Supply..............Dec…......265......190.........75....39%
Corrections Corp Amer..Dec…......252......231.........21......9%
Lifepoint Hospitals........Dec…......241......222.........19.......9%
Amsurg.........................Dec…......216......214...........2.......1%
Psychiatric Solut(7)......Dec…......202......147.........55....37%
First Horizon National...Dec….......49.....(421)......470...112%
Total All 15 TN Big Corps.......13,020....8,700...4,320....50%
(1) HCA PTI in both years exclude Asset Impairment Charges.
(2) FedEx PTI is for the 12 months ended November. Also, both years' PTI exclude Asset Impairment and Other Charges.
(3) Autozone PTI is for the 12 months ended November.
(4) International Paper 2010 PTI excludes Franklin Mill Shutdown Costs of 315. Its 2009 PTI excludes Mill Shutdown Costs for Albany, Franklin and Pineville, totaling 861. Its 2009 PTI also excludes Loss on Debt Extinguishment of 185. Further, and more importantly, its 2009 PTI excludes Alternative Fuel Mixture Tax Credits totaling a massive 2,063.
(5) Tennessee Valley Authority, a US Government Corporation, is the Nation's largest public power system.
(6) Eastman Chemical 2010 PTI excludes Loss on Debt Extinguishment. Its 2009 PTI excludes Asset Impairment Charges.
(7) Psychiatric Solutions PTI is just for the 9 months ended September in each year.
Six of the above 15 Tennessee Big Corps are Health Care companies. It's pretty clear that the Affordable Health Care Plan very positively impacted the earnings of each of these six Tennessee Health Care companies.
Due to very effective lobbying by the Hospital Industry, Nashville Area For-Profit Hospital Big Corps were particularly endowed financially by the new Health Care Plan. Probably more than anyone, HCA investors just flat-out cleaned up when its stock recently went back onto the public stock market.
While Nashville For-Profit Hospitals did very well in 2010, I think their earnings will do even much better after the new Health Care Plan is fully implemented. Their future robust earnings prospects will be driven by the many new patients, and by the substantial drop in Bad Debts Expense, both caused by wisely designed provisions in the new Health Care Plan.
I do have to question just what went on in 2009 with all of these Massive Alternative Fuel Mixture Tax Credits that I keep seeing when reviewing these income statements. For instance, did the country really get its money worth for the $2,063,000,000 (yeah, that's $2.1 bil) of Alternative Fuel Mixture Tax Credits that Tennessee-based International Paper received just in 2009? This monstrous earnings uptick for these Tax Credits just dwarfs by more than 15 times International Paper's regular Core Pretax Earnings in that same year.
I think it might be wise for the US Government to perform a study, detailing the amount of all of these Alternative Fuel Mixture Tax Credits received, and whether the benefit here was worth this massive cost. We certainly want to be Energy Independent as a country, but can we really afford a program like this Alternative Fuel Mixture Tax Credit? I think there are much better ways to get a better bang for your buck, like wise Business Energy Tax Credits for Commercial Building Green Retrofit Upgrades.....if properly designed, this one will more than pay for itself.
