From a very thorough review of SEC filings and the Google Finance Website, I found 6 Publicly-held Companies headquartered in South Dakota with current common stock market capitalizations of at least $100 mil and which had Audited Financial Statements available for all Fiscal Years from 2008 through the most recent Fiscal Year End (FYE).
Also, from a very thorough review of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 4 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations headquartered in South Dakota with current Total Net Assets of at least $100 mil and which had Audited Financial Statements available for all Fiscal Years from 2008 through the most recent Fiscal Year End (FYE).
When I combine these 6 South Dakota For-Profit Publicly-held Companies with these 4 South Dakota Non-Profit Hospital Organizations, South Dakota Total Audited Earnings in the most recent fiscal year were $668 mil up an off-the-charts 7,755% over the $8 mil earned by these same 10 South Dakota Organizations in their 2008/9 fiscal year ends which included the 2008 US financial meltdown.
So if the question to answer is how much better off are these 10 largest South Dakota Companies and Hospitals now than they were during their financial meltdown fiscal years, the answer is more than 77 times better or $659 mil better as audited earnings under US generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) are measured by the very prestigious US accounting profession.
There has been something upwardly explosive happening with the South Dakota Companies and Hospital Audited Earnings and among others, President Obama, US Fed Chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen, former South Dakota US Senator Tim Johnson, current South Dakota US Senator John Thune as well as the Affordable Care Act have all undoubtedly helped here.
Below here are the Audited Earnings (Losses) of the 10 largest South Dakota For-Profit Publicly-held Companies and Non-Profit Hospital Organizations for their most recent fiscal years as well as for their 2008/9 fiscal years which included the 2008 US financial meltdown:
| 2008/9 | ||||||||
| Including | Most | |||||||
| Most | US | Recent | ||||||
| Recent | FYE | Financial | FYE | |||||
| FYE | 2008/9 | Meltdown | Earnings | |||||
| Audited | Including | Audited | Better | |||||
| Most | Net | US | Net | (Worse) | ||||
| Recent | Income | Financial | Income | Than | ||||
| FYE | (Loss) | Meltdown | (Loss) | 2008/9 | ||||
| South Dakota Organization | HQs | $000s | $000s | $000s | ||||
| Publicly-held Companies | ||||||||
| Black Hills Corp | Rapid City | Dec 14 | 128,781 | Dec 08 | (75,148) | 203,929 | ||
| Northwestern Corp | Sioux Falls | Dec 14 | 120,686 | Dec 08 | 67,601 | 53,085 | ||
| Raven Industries | Sioux Falls | Jan 15 | 31,796 | Jan 09 | 28,574 | 3,222 | ||
| Daktronics | Brookings | Apr 14 | 22,206 | Apr 09 | 26,428 | (4,222) | ||
| Meta Financial Group | Sioux Falls | Sep 14 | 15,713 | Sep 09 | (1,463) | 17,176 | ||
| HF Financial | Sioux Falls | Jun 14 | 6,602 | Jun 09 | 7,816 | (1,214) | ||
| Non-Profit Hospital Organizations | ||||||||
| Avera Health | Sioux Falls | Jun 14 | 127,072 | Jun 09 | (12,891) | 139,963 | ||
| Sanford Health | Sioux Falls | Jun 14 | 117,986 | Jun 09 | (30,419) | 148,405 | ||
| Regional Health | Rapid City | Jun 14 | 72,001 | Jun 09 | (7,352) | 79,353 | ||
| Prairie Lakes Health Care System | Watertown | May 14 | 24,705 | May 09 | 5,352 | 19,353 | ||
| Total all 10 | 667,548 | 8,498 | 659,050 | |||||
| % Earnings Increase | 7,755% |
On the employment front, South Dakota's most recently reported March 2015 Unemployment Rate of 3.5% is the 4th lowest of all US States.
