PPI Releases Fourth Annual Report Ranking U.S. Companies Investing in America's Future

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a new report, "U.S. Investment Heroes of 2015: Why Innovation Drives Investment," ranking the top 25 nonfinancial American companies by their capital spending in the United States in 2014. For the fourth consecutive year, AT&T was at the top of the Investment Heroes list with $21.2 billion in domestic capital spending last year, followed by Verizon, Exxon Mobil, Google, and Chevron. In total, the top 25 American companies invested an estimated $172 billion here at home in 2014.

Authored by PPI Chief Economic Strategist Michael Mandel, the report focuses on identifying U.S. corporations with the highest levels of domestic capital expenditures—as defined by spending on plants, property, and equipment—based on a PPI methodology created using published data from nonfinancial Fortune 150 companies. The report also features a three-year cumulative capital expenditure list, or "Three-Year Heroes." The top company, AT&T, invested more than $60 billion in the United States over the past three years. The top ten companies combined invested more than $300 billion in the United States from 2012 to 2014.

PPI believes this report can help inform good public policy for encouraging continued and renewed domestic investment. The report warns that one vitally important policy challenge is to get regulation out of the way of investment and innovation. That is especially true in highly-regulated areas such as healthcare, where layers of rules may discourage investment, and telecom, where the FCC's imposition of Title II regulations on broadband service has potentially undercut the incentives for innovation and investment. Indeed, so far in the first half of 2015, the telecom companies on our list are spending at a 11 percent slower pace than a year earlier.

"Unfortunately, the United States is still suffering from an investment drought," writes Dr. Mandel. "The weakness in domestic investment is making it hard for businesses to boost productivity.

"There is a direct link from weak business investment to slow productivity growth to weak real wage gains. If we want to assure a future of high American living standards, one of the most important things we can do is adopt policies that increase business investment.

"The purpose of this report is two-fold. First, we identify those companies that are bucking the prevailing trend by continuing to invest domestically in buildings, equipment, and software. We call these companies 'Investment Heroes' because their capital spending is helping to raise productivity and wages across the economy. Second, we use our 'Investment Heroes' analysis to help understand the potential causes of the investment drought, and discuss some policy options for reversing it."

As was the case last year, the top "Investment Hero" category was telecom and cable providers, followed by energy production companies, and technology and Internet companies. These three categories comprised 15 out of the 25 companies on the list, and accounted for 71 percent of the total investment.

Top 25 Nonfinancial Companies by Estimated U.S. Capital Expenditure in 2014
1. AT&T — $21.2 billion
2. Verizon — $16 billion
3. Exxon Mobil — $12.4 billion
4. Google — $10.7 billion
5. Chevron — $10 billion
6. Walmart — $8.2 billion
7. ConocoPhillips — $7.6 billion
8. Comcast — $7.4 billion
9. Intel — $6.5 billion
10. Exelon — $6.1 billion
11. Occidental Petroleum — $5.7 billion
12. Energy Transfer Equity — $5.4 billion
13. Duke Energy — $5.3 billion
14. American Airlines Group — $5.3 billion
15. General Motors — $4.9 billion
16. Amazon.com — $4.8 billion
17. Union Pacific — $4.3 billion
18. Freeport McRoRan — $4.3 billion
19. Time Warner Cable — $4.1 billion
20. Apple — $4.1 billion
21. FedEx — $3.9 billion
22. Ford Motor — $3.8 billion
23. Hess — $3.6 billion
24. General Electric — $3.1 billion
25. Microsoft — $3.1 billion

Total Estimated Economic Investment in U.S. in 2014: $171.9 billion

Download "U.S. Investment Heroes of 2015: Why Innovation Drives Investment."

On Wednesday, join PPI and Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, for a lunch event exploring the nexus between business investment, productivity and wage growth. The event will also feature a roundtable discussion on trends in private investment and what policymakers can do to spur more of it. Participating will be PPI's Michael Mandel, who will discuss his new report, "U.S. Investment Heroes of 2015: Why Innovation Drives Investment"; Beth Ann Bovino, Chief U.S. Economist, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services; Bob Quinn of AT&T; and Jennifer Weber of Duke Energy. Moderating the discussion will be Jim Tankersley, Economic Policy Correspondent, The Washington Post.

The Progressive Policy Institute is an independent, innovative and high-impact D.C.-based think tank founded in 1989. Through research, policy analysis and dialogue, PPI develops break-the-mold ideas aimed at economic growth, national security and modern, performance-based government. Today, PPI's unique mix of political realism and policy innovation continues to make it a leading source of pragmatic and creative ideas. PPI is a non-profit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization.

SOURCE Progressive Policy Institute