In this past recent post, I also found that these 27 Largest Iowa Corps filing with the SEC had Audited under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) Total After-tax Net Income of $2.2 bil in the most recent fiscal year 2011, which was a profit improvement of a huge $1.8 bil, or up a very robust 456% as compared with the $0.4 bil of After-tax Net Income generated by these same 27 Iowa companies just three years earlier in 2008, the last year of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
Iowa Corp 2011 Earnings
Since corporate earnings drive stock prices, in this post I turn my attention to just how well the stock market prices of these Iowa Corps have performed since President Obama took office.
Of these 27 Iowa Corps, 19 of them had their common stock trading on both January 16, 2009, which is the last day stocks traded before President Obama took office, and also on yesterday's date, Wednesday, October 10, 2012.
I retrieved all of the below stock market closing price information from the excellent Big Charts.com website.
These 19 Iowa Corps had an average stock market price increase of a very healthy 99% since President Obama took office on January 20, 2009. This is much better than the increase in both the S&P 500 Index, which increased by 69%, and the Dow Industrials Index, which increased by 61%, both during the identical time span.
So what this means in simplistic terms is that if you invested the same amount of money.....say $1,000.....in the common stock of each of these 19 Iowa companies at the closing market price on January 16, 2009, this would have cost you initially $19,000, ignoring any transaction costs, and this stock portfolio would now be worth $37,810.
The many financially astute Iowa citizens already had this all figured out. They probably just didn't previously have the precise average percentage increases tied down.
Iowa citizens have to be extremely happy with the stock market performance of their many superb Iowa companies during the Obama Administration.
And Iowa citizens also must be very pleased with how the Obama Administration worked so hard and very effectively on so many fronts to create a US economic environment that permitted these Iowa companies to flat out flourish. This highly successful effort created a robust US economic environment which was quite a change from what existed in the horrible financial meltdown, near Depression year of 2008.
When I think of the Obama Administration, the thought that comes top of mind is whole-scale competence. But frankly, it's also pretty clear to me that the Obama Administration is just not very good at selling its many accomplishments, particularly on the economic front.
About the only thing I hear from the Obama Administration on the economic front is the positive effect on the US economy of the Auto Rescue. Granted, this did positively and substantially impact Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and some other states. But the Auto Rescue had nothing to do with Iowa Corps 99% average stock price increase, nor Nevada Corps 178% average stock price increase, nor Colorado Corps 179% average stock price increase, nor with Florida Corps 137% average stock price increase....all occurring during the Obama Administration. There is something else very positive going on in the US economy since President Obama has taken over, and the Obama Administration has very modestly taken no credit for it. But when you think of the overall US economy in 2008 and now, there is clearly a substantial turnaround that has occurred, and the Obama Administration played a key role here in this massive economic revival from the depths of a near Depression.
Below here are the common stock market closing prices of each of these 19 Iowa companies at both the most recent date, and also at the date just before President Obama took office, as well as the percentage stock market price changes for this period of time.
| Market | Market | Percentage | ||
| Iowa | Price | Price | Increase | |
| HQs | 10-10-12 | 1-16-09 | (Decrease) | |
| S&P 500 Index | 1,432.56 | 850.12 | 69% | |
| Dow Industrials Index | 13,344.97 | 8,281.22 | 61% | |
| Companies Headquartered in Iowa | ||||
| Sauer Danfoss | Ames | $39.68 | $8.27 | 380% |
| Lee Enterprises | Davenport | $1.47 | $0.36 | 308% |
| Flexsteel Industries | Dubuque | $19.15 | $7.33 | 161% |
| FBL Financial Group | West Des Moines | $34.09 | $13.28 | 157% |
| MidWest One Financial | Iowa City | $21.95 | $9.00 | 144% |
| Caseys General Stores | Ankeny | $52.52 | $22.43 | 134% |
| Meta Financial Group | Storm Lake | $22.50 | $10.60 | 112% |
| Winnebago Industries | Forest City | $12.20 | $6.31 | 93% |
| Meredith | Des Moines | $34.69 | $18.82 | 84% |
| HNI Corp | Muscatine | $26.10 | $14.37 | 82% |
| Principal Financial Group | Des Moines | $27.09 | $16.19 | 67% |
| American Equity Investment Life | West Des Moines | $11.63 | $6.96 | 67% |
| Heartland Financial | Dubuque | $27.92 | $17.04 | 64% |
| Rockwell Collins | Cedar Rapids | $52.59 | $37.26 | 41% |
| West Bancorporation | West Des Moines | $12.00 | $11.14 | 8% |
| Heartland Express | North Liberty | $13.43 | $13.69 | -2% |
| EMC Insurance | Des Moines | $21.12 | $21.60 | -2% |
| United Fire Group | Cedar Rapids | $25.51 | $26.10 | -2% |
| Ames National | Ames | $20.54 | $27.21 | -25% |
| Average Increase: all 19 Iowa Corps | 99% | |||
| S&P 500 Index | 1,432.56 | 850.12 | 69% | |
| Dow Industrials Index | 13,344.97 | 8,281.22 | 61% |
OK, so that now is seven of the US Battleground States down, and just several more yet to go. So let's see.....here's the average stock market price increases during the Obama Administration for these seven states.....Ohio Corps up 161%, Florida Corps up 137%, Virginia Corps up 97%, Colorado Corps up 179%, Michigan Corps blowing them all away by being up 344%, Nevada Corps up 178%, and now Iowa Corps up 99%. And all seven states had average stock market price increases that were substantially higher than the overall stock market increases for the same time frame. Next up.....North Carolina.
