It’s no surprise that an oil company leads the list of 2007’s top profit-makers.
1. Exxon Mobil
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Fortune 500 rank: 2
2007 profit: $40.61 billion
Exxon Mobil, the world’s biggest oil company, posted a 2007 profit that was almost twice as much as that of the next company on this list, General Electric.
It is the highest-ever annual profit from a U.S. company, a record Exxon also set in 2006 and 2005.
Earnings rose 2.8% from 2006 on a sales increase of 7.4%.
2. General Electric
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Fortune 500 rank: 6
2007 profit: $22.21 billion
More than half of GE’s 2007 profit came from overseas, the first time that has happened for the company, as foreign growth outpaced domestic growth.
Sales for the conglomerate, which has its hand in everything from jet engines to mortgages, increased 5% to $177 billion from 2006.
The company reported a record profit at its NBC Universal division.
3. Chevron
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Fortune 500 rank: 3
2007 profit: $18.69 billion
Earnings rose 9% in 2007 at the second-biggest U.S. oil company, as sales increased 5%.
Chevron cashed in on record crude prices, which jumped nearly 60% during the year. That helped the company move up four places from last year on Fortune’s most-profitable list.
4. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
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Fortune 500 rank: 12
2007 profit: $15.37 billion
A sharp drop in its investment banking business slowed J.P. Morgan’s year-over-year profit growth to 6% in 2007 from 70% in 2006.
Although mortgage-related securities losses cut into its bottom line, the Wall Street stalwart was able to dodge the worst of the credit crisis.
5. Bank of America Corp.
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Fortune 500 rank: 9
2007 profit: $14.98 billion
The subprime mortgage fallout and ensuing credit crunch cut into Bank of America’s earnings, which fell 29% in 2007 from the year before.
The nation’s second-biggest bank – behind Citigroup – also pumped $2 billion into ailing Countrywide Financial (which it said in 2008 it would buy for $4 billion) and bought LaSalle Bank for $21 billion.
6. Microsoft
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Fortune 500 rank: 44
2007 profit: $14.07 billion
Microsoft had the highest gross margin of any company on this list, with 28%.
Despite a poor reception for the Vista operating system, both yearly profit and sales increased by double-digit percentages.
Last year, Microsoft also completed its biggest acquisition ever: buying aQuantive, an online-advertising company, for $6 billion.
7. Berkshire Hathaway
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Fortune 500 rank: 11
2007 profit: $13.21 billion
With a $200 billion market value, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is still making the right picks.
2007 profits rose 20% on sales of $118 billion. That’s off slightly from the previous year, when earnings grew by 29%. Still, the investment management company managed to skate past the market downturn that roiled Wall Street.
8. Wal-Mart Stores
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Fortune 500 rank: 1
2007 profit: $12.73 billion
The world’s biggest retailer tops the Fortune 500 yet again, for the sixth time in the past seven years.
2007 earnings increased 13% as sales rose 8%. Strong international sales in China, Brazil and Central America helped drive results.
9. AT&T
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Fortune 500 rank: 10
2007 profit: $11.95 billion
AT&T’s 2007 profit swelled 63% on sales that nearly doubled.
The communications company added 9 million more wireless users in 2007, due in part to its exclusive launch of Apple’s iPhone.
It also dissolved the Cingular Wireless brand following its $86 billion BellSouth acquisition.
9. AT&T
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Fortune 500 rank: 10
2007 profit: $11.95 billion
AT&T’s 2007 profit swelled 63% on sales that nearly doubled.
The communications company added 9 million more wireless users in 2007, due in part to its exclusive launch of Apple’s iPhone.
It also dissolved the Cingular Wireless brand following its $86 billion BellSouth acquisition.
11. Goldman Sachs Group
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Fortune 500 rank: 20
2007 profit: $11.6 billion
The perennial Wall Street titan remarkably increased profit 22% during the year by avoiding mortgage-related losses – something some of its closest competitors failed to do.
Goldman, an investment bank and the world’s biggest securities firm, said it shorted the subprime market for much of the year.
12. Johnson & Johnson
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Fortune 500 rank: 35
2007 profit: $10.58 billion
The health care giant, which makes products from Band-Aids to pharmaceuticals, saw its 2007 profit drop 4%.
Safety concerns over two key products – the artery device Cypher and anemia drug Procrit – contributed to the earnings decline.
Sales rose 15%, largely from its 2006 acquisition of Pfizer’s consumer health business.
13. International Business Machines
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Fortune 500 rank: 15
2007 profit: $10.42 billion
Profit at the technology-services giant climbed 10% during 2007, driven by software sales.
A series of software company acquisitions made since 2003 added to IBM’s revenue.
Growth in Asia and emerging markets also drove 2007 results.
14. Procter & Gamble
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Fortune 500 rank: 23
2007 profit: $10.34 billion
Procter & Gamble, the biggest U.S. consumer products maker, increased earnings by 19% in 2007 despite weaker domestic consumer spending.
Overseas sales, where the giant whose brands include Charmin and Gillette gets more than half its revenue, made up for weakness at home.
15. Altria Group
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Fortune 500 rank: 61
2007 profit: $9.79 billion
Sales at the tobacco holding company dropped 46% during the year after its 2006 spinoff of Kraft Foods. Profits followed suit, declining 19% on slumping U.S. cigarette sales. But Altria still managed to rake in almost $10 billion in 2007.
In August, the company said it would spin off its Philip Morris International unit, which currently brings in two-thirds of its income, to avoid U.S. lawsuits and allow it to expand in countries such as China, India and Thailand.
16. Pfizer
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Fortune 500 rank: 47
2007 profit: $8.14 billion
If 2007 is any indication, Pfizer has a tough road ahead. Profit fell a thumping 58% on sales that were down 8%, dropping the drugmaker 10 spots from last year’s most-profitable list.
Pfizer lost several important patents during the year, including one for Norvasc, a blood pressure drug with nearly $5 billion in 2006 sales.
And it doesn’t get easier. Around 2010, the drugmaker loses its patent on Lipitor, the successful anti-cholesterol drug.
17. Wells Fargo
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Fortune 500 rank: 41
2007 profit: $8.06 billion
The country’s second-biggest mortgage lender weathered a tough market, with profits off only 5% since last year on big losses in home-equity and consumer loans.
Sales rose 12% for the year. In November the company said it would set aside $1.4 billion to cover mortgage losses.
18. Cisco Systems
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Fortune 500 rank: 71
2007 profit: $7.33 billion
Cisco had the right stuff in 2007. Profit shot up 31% on a 23% sales increase.
The networking equipment giant benefited in large part from Internet service providers who upgraded their systems to meet new bandwidth demand from videos and other applications.
Cisco saw the most growth in emerging markets like Africa and Eastern Europe as U.S. companies slowed their network building.
19. Hewlett-Packard
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Fortune 500 rank: 14
2007 profit: $7.26 billion
Hewlett-Packard’s profit grew 17% last year, as the personal computer-maker extended its lead over Dell to clinch the top PC sales spot.
Its popular laptops drove a 14% revenue gain.
20. Intel
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Fortune 500 rank: 60
2007 profit: $6.98 billion
Intel posted a 38% earnings increase in 2007. The world’s top chipmaker rode strong worldwide PC sales during the year to boost profit and margins.
The company also recovered from a rocky 2006 price war with Advanced Micro Devices.
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