Thus it only makes sense to research how the 25 Washington State Companies with Market Capitalizations now of at least $1 bil each and with annual audited financial statements filed with the SEC covering all years from 2007 to 2013 have done on the earnings front before, during and after the 2008 US financial meltdown.
The Total Audited Net Income from Continuing Operations of the 24 largest Washington State Companies excluding the giant Microsoft for the 2 Most Recent Years 2012 and 2013 totaled $23.4 bil, an increase of a spectacular 206% over the $7.6 bil comparable total earnings for the 2 Years 2008 and 2009. And this tripling of earnings occurred despite the exceptional Starbucks having its 2013 earnings burdened by a non-recurring $2.8 bil litigation charge.
The giant very well run Microsoft generated earnings of $22.1 bil in 2013 which were nearly double that of the total earnings of all of the next 24 largest Washington Companies combined. Microsoft's 2013 earnings were up 52% over what it earned in 2008.
This incredibly off-the-charts earnings recovery for these Washington State Companies from 2008-2009 to the most recent 2013 occurred when Washington State was blessed to have two outstanding US Women Senators.....Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray..... and when these three other fine Women US Senators now running for reelection were US Senators in their respective US States..... Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire...... and also when Democrats had a majority in the US Senate.
Below here are the Audited Net Income (Losses) of each of these 25 largest Washington State Companies for each of the following six years: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008 and 2007:
| 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | |||
| Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | |||
| Most | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | ||
| Recent | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | ||
| FYE | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | ||
| Washington State Company | HQs | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | |
| Boeing | Chicago | Dec 13 | 4,586 | 3,903 | 4,011 | 1,335 | 2,654 | 4,058 |
| Costco | Issaquah | Aug 13 | 2,061 | 1,767 | 1,542 | 1,086 | 1,283 | 1,083 |
| PACCAR | Bellevue | Dec 13 | 1,171 | 1,112 | 1,042 | 112 | 1,018 | 1,227 |
| Nordstrom | Seattle | Jan 14 | 734 | 735 | 683 | 441 | 401 | 715 |
| Weyerhauser | Federal Way | Dec 13 | 563 | 384 | 319 | (568) | (1,909) | (299) |
| Alaska Air Group | Seattle | Dec 13 | 508 | 316 | 245 | 122 | (136) | 124 |
| Expeditors Intl Washington | Seattle | Dec 13 | 350 | 333 | 386 | 240 | 303 | 270 |
| F5 Networks | Seattle | Sep 13 | 277 | 275 | 241 | 92 | 74 | 77 |
| Amazon | Seattle | Dec 13 | 274 | (39) | 631 | 902 | 645 | 476 |
| Symetra Financial | Bellevue | Dec 13 | 221 | 205 | 196 | 128 | 22 | 167 |
| Expedia | Bellevue | Dec 13 | 216 | 303 | 326 | 304 | (2,521) | 294 |
| Plum Creek Timber | Seattle | Dec 13 | 214 | 203 | 193 | 236 | 233 | 282 |
| Outerwall Inc | Bellevue | Dec 13 | 208 | 160 | 123 | 57 | 29 | (22) |
| Esterline Technologies | Bellevue | Oct 13 | 168 | 114 | 134 | 108 | 114 | 88 |
| Washington Federal | Seattle | Sep 13 | 152 | 138 | 111 | 48 | 62 | 135 |
| Clearwater Paper | Spokane | Dec 13 | 107 | 64 | 40 | 182 | 10 | 25 |
| Columbia Banking System | Tacoma | Dec 13 | 60 | 46 | 48 | (4) | 6 | 32 |
| TrueBlue | Tacoma | Dec 13 | 45 | 34 | 31 | 9 | (4) | 66 |
| Cray Inc | Seattle | Dec 13 | 32 | 161 | 14 | (1) | (41) | (11) |
| Starbucks | Seattle | Sep 13 | 9 | 1,385 | 1,248 | 391 | 316 | 673 |
| Zillow | Seattle | Dec 13 | (12) | 6 | 1 | (13) | (21) | (20) |
| Concur Technologies | Bellevue | Sep 13 | (25) | (8) | (11) | 26 | 17 | 8 |
| Seattle Genetics | Bothell | Dec 13 | (63) | (54) | (152) | (82) | (86) | (49) |
| Itron | Liberty Lake | Dec 13 | (145) | 110 | (506) | (2) | 20 | (23) |
| Total all 24 except Microsoft | 11,711 | 11,653 | 10,896 | 5,149 | 2,489 | 9,376 | ||
| 2 Year Earnings 2013 and 2012 | 23,364 | |||||||
| 2 Year Earnings 2009 and 2008 | 7,638 | |||||||
| …..% Increase | 206% | |||||||
| Microsoft | Redmond | Jun 14 | 22,074 | 21,863 | 16,978 | 18,760 | 14,569 | 17,681 |
I think it would also be helpful to research how the Washington State Headquartered Companies have done on the stock market price front since March 6, 2009, which was the very bottom point of the US Stock Market due to the spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 financial meltdown.
During this five years and seven months period of time from March 6, 2009 through October 3, 2014, both Washington State US Senators were Democrats.
I found 39 Companies Headquartered in Washington in Google or Yahoo's superb Finance websites with current Total Stock Market Capitalizations of at least $100 mil and which also had their common stocks trading on each of the following three dates:
- On December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second term.....before the 2008 financial meltdown
- On March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the lowest point for the US stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the 2008 financial meltdown, and
- also on the most recent date October 3, 2014
I also included one Company whose common stock first started trading in 2008. That makes the total of 40 Companies shown below.
The historical stock prices of these companies were obtained from the following two excellent internet resources.... Google Finance and MarketWatch Big Charts.
These 40 Washington Companies had their equally-company-weighted average stock market prices decline by a massive 59% from December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second Presidential term, to March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the very lowest point for the overall stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown.
But in the five years and seven months since March 6, 2009 through October 3, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 40 Washington Companies have increased by a spectacular 424%.
And in the six years and nine months from December 31, 2007 before the 2008 financial meltdown to the most recent date October 3, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 40 Washington Companies have increased by a very impressive 86%...... yeah, these Washington Companies have not just recouped what they lost with the 2008 financial meltdown, but also added another 86%.
Below here are the stock market prices of each of these 40 Washington Companies on October 3, 2014, on March 6, 2009, and on December 31, 2007, along with the related Stock Market Price Percentage Changes:
| Market | Market | Market | |||||
| Price | Price | Price | |||||
| % | % | % | |||||
| Change | Change | Change | |||||
| Market | Market | Market | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 12-31-07 | ||
| Price | Price | Price | to | to | to | ||
| Washington State Company | HQs | 10-3-14 | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 10-3-14 | 3-6-09 | 10-3-14 |
| $s | $s | $s | |||||
| Nautilis Inc | Vancouver | 12.34 | 0.50 | 4.85 | 2368% | -90% | 154% |
| Clearwater Paper | Spokane | 63.89 | 3.25 | 11.25 | 1866% | -71% | 468% |
| Expedia | Bellevue | 85.47 | 6.08 | 29.74 | 1305% | -80% | 187% |
| Key Tronic | Spokane Valley | 10.58 | 0.90 | 4.18 | 1076% | -78% | 153% |
| Alaska Air Group | Seattle | 44.15 | 3.77 | 6.25 | 1071% | -40% | 606% |
| Cray Inc | Seattle | 27.19 | 2.43 | 5.99 | 1019% | -59% | 354% |
| Starbucks | Seattle | 75.89 | 8.36 | 20.47 | 808% | -59% | 271% |
| Concur Technologies | Bellevue | 127.09 | 18.52 | 36.21 | 586% | -49% | 251% |
| F5 Networks | Seattle | 122.65 | 18.75 | 28.52 | 554% | -34% | 330% |
| Nordstrom | Seattle | 70.29 | 12.16 | 36.73 | 478% | -67% | 91% |
| Esterline Technologies | Bellevue | 109.87 | 20.89 | 51.75 | 426% | -60% | 112% |
| Amazon | Seattle | 322.74 | 61.69 | 92.64 | 423% | -33% | 248% |
| Barrett Business Services | Vancouver | 41.44 | 8.14 | 18.01 | 409% | -55% | 130% |
| Seattle Genetics | Bothell | 35.77 | 7.23 | 11.40 | 395% | -37% | 214% |
| Weyerhauser | Federal Way | 32.42 | 6.99 | 26.62 | 364% | -74% | 22% |
| Columbia Banking System | Tacoma | 25.36 | 5.55 | 29.73 | 357% | -81% | -15% |
| Zumiez | Lynnwood | 28.69 | 6.43 | 24.36 | 346% | -74% | 18% |
| Boeing | Chicago | 126.36 | 30.10 | 87.46 | 320% | -66% | 44% |
| TrueBlue | Tacoma | 25.40 | 6.17 | 14.48 | 312% | -57% | 75% |
| Pope Resources | Poulsbo | 66.15 | 16.45 | 42.75 | 302% | -62% | 55% |
| Pendrell | Kirkland | 1.34 | 0.39 | 3.18 | 244% | -88% | -58% |
| RealNetworks | Seattle | 6.84 | 2.02 | 6.09 | 239% | -67% | 12% |
| Costco | Issaquah | 127.09 | 38.98 | 69.76 | 226% | -44% | 82% |
| Microsoft | Redmond | 46.09 | 15.28 | 35.60 | 202% | -57% | 29% |
| Blucora | Bellevue | 15.26 | 5.28 | 18.80 | 189% | -72% | -19% |
| Banner Corp | Walla Walla | 38.90 | 13.86 | 201.11 | 181% | -93% | -81% |
| PACCAR | Bellevue | 57.91 | 21.07 | 54.48 | 175% | -61% | 6% |
| Oncothyreon | Seattle | 2.28 | 0.90 | 2.23 | 153% | -60% | 2% |
| Outerwall Inc | Bellevue | 57.63 | 25.39 | 28.15 | 127% | -10% | 105% |
| Washington Federal | Seattle | 19.99 | 10.04 | 21.11 | 99% | -52% | -5% |
| Heritage Financial | Olympia | 16.30 | 9.59 | 19.90 | 70% | -52% | -18% |
| Expeditors Intl Washington | Seattle | 40.39 | 24.60 | 44.68 | 64% | -45% | -10% |
| Plum Creek Timber | Seattle | 39.22 | 24.02 | 46.04 | 63% | -48% | -15% |
| First Financial Northwest | Renton | 10.22 | 7.11 | 9.84 | 44% | -28% | 4% |
| CTI Biopharma | Seattle | 2.42 | 1.70 | 564.00 | 43% | -100% | -100% |
| Northwest Pipe | Vancouver | 33.82 | 24.21 | 39.14 | 40% | -38% | -14% |
| Blue Nile | Seattle | 29.73 | 21.54 | 68.06 | 38% | -68% | -56% |
| Marchex Inc | Seattle | 3.98 | 3.15 | 17.30 | 26% | -82% | -77% |
| Itron | Liberty Lake | 39.80 | 41.91 | 51.84 | -5% | -19% | -23% |
| Dendreon | Seattle | 1.36 | 2.61 | 6.22 | -48% | -58% | -78% |
| Average % Change all 40 Washington Companies | 424% | -59% | 86% | ||||
In addition to the above 40 Washington State Companies, there were another 4 filing Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) since 2009 which have now experienced stock market price growth over their Initial Offering Prices of at least 95%..... Zillow up 464%, zuilily up 157%, Tableau Software up 127% and Symetra Financial up 95%.
On the employment front, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington's State unemployment rate more than doubled, going from 4.6% in December 2007 to 9.9% in October 2009, which was the very lowest point for the US Labor Market due to the lagging spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown. But in the four years and ten months since then, the Washington State unemployment rate has declined sharply from 9.9% in October 2009 to 5.6% in the most recently reported August 2014.
It's pretty clear to me that the US stock market in the next two years has a much better chance of being much higher under a US Senate controlled by the Democrats than one controlled by the Republicans. Profits of US Businesses and a rising US Stock Market have resulted from and will continue to result from a very effective Trifecta of President Obama, a Democratic Majority US Senate and Janet Yellen heading the US Fed.....you need all three of these or else the three-legged stool drops precipitously. The many smart, politically savvy people in the State of Washington are already keenly aware of this.
More details to come.
