Shifting fortunes in a down economy and a newcomer boosted Orange County’s contingent on the 2010 Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest public companies to seven, up from four a year ago.
Just about all of the local companies moved higher in rank from a year ago as they saw declines in revenue that were less severe than others on the list.
The list ranks public companies from across the country based on 2009 revenue.
Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the county’s largest company by sales, is the highest ranking local on this year’s Fortune 500 at No. 80.
Ingram, a distributor of technology products, slipped from No. 67 a year earlier with a 14% decline to $29.5 billion in 2009 revenue.
Earlier this month, Ingram topped the Business Journal’s annual list of the largest public companies here, as it has for years.
A big gainer: Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp., which moved from No. 319 a year ago to No. 304 on this year’s Fortune 500.
Western Digital saw a 7% decline to $8 billion in revenue last year. But its revenue drop wasn’t as severe as others on the list, allowing it to move up.
Santa Ana-based First American Corp., a provider of title insurance and real estate-related data, moved to No. 361 last year from No. 398 with a 4% drop to $5.9 billion in 2009 revenue.
By June, the company is set to spin off its title business, which stands to impact its ranking next year.
Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. saw a big jump from No. 551 last year to No. 401.
The jump appears to be based on how Fortune accounts for Pacific Life’s revenue.
The magazine subtracts investment losses from Pacific Life’s revenue. In 2008, the company had about $1.8 billion in investment losses, versus a much smaller $148 million for 2009.
That led to a 29% jump in Pacific Life’s 2009 revenue to $5.2 billion.
On a constant basis excluding investment losses, Pacific Life’s revenue was up 2% in 2009 from 2008.
Pacific Life and its parent are OC’s largest privately held company. Fortune includes the company on its list because it reports revenue for the benefit of policyholders and rating agencies.
Irvine-based drug maker Allergan Inc. broke into the Fortune 500 with 2009 revenue of $4.5 billion, up 2.3% from a year earlier.
Allergan ranked No. 517 in the magazine’s larger Fortune 1000 list last year.
Allergan, the county’s most valuable with a recent market value of $19 billion, just nudged out the second most valuable company here, Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp.
Broadcom, which had a recent market value of $18 billion, ranked No. 460 with 2009 revenue of $4.49 billion, down 3.6% from a year earlier.
Even with lower revenue, Broadcom rose from No. 495 a year ago.
A newcomer rounded out the locals: No. 480 Irvine-based Spectrum Group International Inc., a gold trading and auction company that moved from Connecticut in 2009.
Spectrum, which wasn’t ranked on the Fortune 500 a year ago, had 2009 revenue of $4.3 billion, up 50% from a year earlier.
The company distributes gold from government mints, generating a lot of revenue.
Spectrum also holds auctions of stamps, coins, antique firearms, wine and military collectibles.
The company is moving past a stock collapse in 2006 after it was implicated in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving stamps in Spain, where majority owner Afinsa Bienes Tangibles SA is based.
Spectrum, whose shares trade on the low-profile over the counter exchange, had a recent market value of $55 million.
