This post has been updated to include additional data, as well as updating our original preliminary estimate of Microsoft’s capital expenditures to reflect their since-released 10-K report.
Given the ongoing pandemic, capital investment is more important than ever before. Hundreds of billions of dollars of investment by broadband providers enabled the U.S. Internet to respond magnificently to soaring demand when the pandemic hit. On the other hand, some of the sectors that have struggled the most—such as medical equipment and supplies and food production and processing—have suffered from a shortfall of investment.
To emphasize the importance of capital spending for wages and growth, each year the Progressive Policy Institute publishes our list of U.S. “Investment Heroes:” the companies who are investing the most in America. Currently, accounting rules do not require companies to report their U.S. capital spending separately. To fill this gap in the data, we created a methodology using publicly-available financial statements from non-financial Fortune 150 companies to identify the top companies that were investing in the United States.
Table 1 below provides the top 25 non-financial companies, ranked by U.S. capital expenditure in the latest fiscal year through June 30, 2020. Table 2 below provides the top 25 nonfinancial non-energy companies, ranked by U.S. capital expenditure in the latest fiscal year through June 30, 2020 (Our methodology is described in last year’s report. In particular, page 15 of that report describes adjustments made for particular companies).
We note that 10 out of the top 11 companies in Table 2 are either broadband providers or tech/ecommerce companies. Out of those ten, the broadband providers invested $52 billion in the United States in their most recent fiscal year, while the tech/ecommerce companies invested $84 billion.
Table 1. U.S. Investment Heroes: Top 25 Nonfinancial Companies by Estimated U.S. Capital Expenditure | ||||
Rank | Company | ESTIMATED 2019 U.S. CAPITAL EXPENDITURES (Millions USD)* | ||
1 | Amazon.com | $19,306 | ||
2 | AT&T | $18,520 | ||
3 | Alphabet | $18,037 | ||
4 | Exxon Mobil | $16,580 | ||
5 | Verizon Communications | $16,058 | ||
6 | Intel | $13,416 | ||
7 | $12,457 | |||
8 | Duke Energy | $11,122 | ||
9 | Microsoft | $11,073** | ||
10 | Comcast | $10,467 | ||
11 | Chevron | $10,062 | ||
12 | Apple | $9,772 | ||
13 | Walmart | $7,904 | ||
14 | Southern | $7,880 | ||
15 | Exelon | $7,248 | ||
16 | Charter Communications | $7,195 | ||
17 | Ford Motor | $6,414 | ||
18 | Energy Transfer | $5,960 | ||
19 | Marathon Petroleum | $5,374 | ||
20 | Delta Air Lines | $4,936 | ||
21 | ConocoPhillips | $4,907 | ||
22 | General Motors | $4,899 | ||
23 | United Parcel Service | $4,793 | ||
24 | FedEx | $4,647 | ||
25 | Enterprise Products Partners | $4,532 | ||
Top 25 Total | $243,560 | |||
Data: Company financial reports, PPI estimates |
Table 2. Non-energy U.S. Investment Heroes: Top 25 Nonfinancial Companies by Estimated U.S. Capital Expenditure | ||||
Rank | COMPANY | ESTIMATED 2019 U.S. CAPITAL EXPENDITURES (Millions USD)* | ||
1 | Amazon.com | $19,306 | ||
2 | AT&T | $18,520 | ||
3 | Alphabet | $18,037 | ||
4 | Verizon Communications | $16,058 | ||
5 | Intel | $13,416 | ||
6 | $12,457 | |||
7 | Microsoft | $11,073** | ||
8 | Comcast | $10,467 | ||
9 | Apple | $9,772 | ||
10 | Walmart | $7,904 | ||
11 | Charter Communications | $7,195 | ||
12 | Ford Motor | $6,414 | ||
13 | Delta Air Lines | $4,936 | ||
14 | General Motors | $4,899 | ||
15 | United Parcel Service | $4,793 | ||
16 | FedEx | $4,647 | ||
17 | United Continental Holdings | $4,528 | ||
18 | American Airlines Group | $4,268 | ||
19 | Walt Disney | $4,024 | ||
20 | CenturyLink | $3,628 | ||
21 | HCA Healthcare | $3,537 | ||
22 | Union Pacific | $3,453 | ||
23 | Kroger | $3,128 | ||
24 | Target | $3,027 | ||
25 | CVS Health | $2,457 | ||
Top 25 Total | $201,945** | |||
Data: Company financial reports, PPI estimates |
(Analysis by Elliott Long and Michael Mandel).