Orange County’s top publicly traded companies in 2011 are a resilient bunch.
A decade ago, they were mired in the technology meltdown and larger recession ushered in by the 2001 terrorist attacks.
They managed to get through that and into the next bubble.
The late-2000s bust brought even greater challenges for the largest public companies here. They’re getting through all of that, too.
The 10 largest public companies here by annual sales posted about $76 billion in combined 2010 revenue, a 14% rise from a year before, according to our list that starts on page 14.
The companies run the gamut from computer products to apparel, from nursing homes for the elderly to vocational education for youngsters.
• No. 1 Ingram Micro Inc. – Still reigns as county’s largest company by sales
• No. 2 Bergen Brunswick Corp. – Acquired in 2001 by Pennsylvania’s AmeriSource Health Corp., now AmeriSourceBergen Corp.
• No. 3 PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. – Acquired by Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group Inc. in 2005
• No. 4 Fluor Corp. – Moved headquarters to Texas in 2005
• No. 5 First American Corp. – Split into title insurer First American Financial Corp., data services company CoreLogic Inc. in 2010
• No. 6 Fidelity National Financial Inc. – Moved headquarters to Florida in 2003
• No. 7 Conexant Systems Inc. – $282 million sale to Golden Gate Private Equity Inc. set to close in current quarter
• No. 8 Western Digital Corp – Now county’s second largest public company by sales
• No. 9 Beckman Coulter Inc. – $6.8 billion acquisition by Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp. set to close by July
• No. 10 CKE Restaurants Inc. – Moved headquarters to Carpinteria in 2002, weighing possible move to Texas
They’re old-line operators and information-age specialists, big consumer names and others who’ve won renown within their industries.
Together they’re emblematic of a well-spread economy that has helped the county run ahead of the state in getting beyond the recent recession.
They’re also expansive.
Ten years ago, Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. was the second-biggest chipmaker in the county with about $1.1 billion in yearly sales—barely half the total of Conexant Systems Inc. in Newport Beach, then the biggest chipmaker here by sales.
Broadcom since has won the distance race with $6.8 billion in sales last year, versus some $200 million for Conexant after a series of spinoffs and other business sales.
The top public companies here also are comprehensive.
Take Broadcom, Ingram Micro Inc. in Santa Ana and Irvine-based Western Digital Corp., the top three public companies here.
The three accentuate technology’s presence here. They also point to the county’s diversity within tech.
In a modern industry, Ingram fills a traditional business role: distribution.
Western Digital makes disk and solid state drives that store much of the data the information age produces.
Broadcom designs chips that make a lot of computers, consumer electronics and telecommunications gear go.
Ingram, with sales of $34.6 billion last year, earns endurance marks in the ever-changing world of tech. Its operation of supplying gear to consultants and retailers has kept it atop the field of public companies for the past 10 years.
2001: Half Gone
The rest of the top 10 hasn’t been as static.
Half of the top 10 on the Business Journal’s list a decade ago no longer are local public companies. Three were acquired by companies elsewhere, while two moved out of the county.
Some left big holes to fill: Total revenue for this year’s top 10 public companies is 15%—or roughly $13 billion—lower than at the companies that filled the top ranks a decade ago.
Yet the gaps are in the process of being filled. Broadcom and Allergan are good examples. They weren’t even in the top 10 in 2001.
Others have created new public companies.
Last year, Santa Ana’s First American Corp. split into two public companies—title insurer First American Financial Corp. and CoreLogic Inc., a real estate data provider.
Both are based in Santa Ana and have a combined $6 billion in yearly sales.
Beyond the top 10, others are growing to fill holes left by some in the class of 2001.
Take Huntington Beach-based BJ’s Restaurants Inc., No. 28 on the 2011 list, with $513 million in 2010 sales.
That’s less than a third of the sales at CKE Restaurants Inc.—parent company of Carl’s Jr.—when it left the county in 2002.
But BJ’s growth is impressive with sales up 20% in 2010, in what still was a tough year for restaurants.
