Inc. Magazine Announces The Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies

The companies must be privately held and are judged on the increase of their revenues for four years. Whether the company is profitable, has increased profits, or has had  a decline in income isn’t taken into consideration.  While the companies are announced in 2009, the performance is 2005 through 2008. The company must be based in the U.S. and not a subsidiary of another company.

The number one fastest growing company is Northern Capital Insurance based in Miami Florida with revenues of $95 million, a growth rate of 19,812.2% over the four year period. The insurance industry overall had only 2 companies in the top 100.  And that’s where the results start to get interesting.

Looking at the industries which had the most fastest growing companies might be a precursor to where the public market is going in 2009 by industry.  Since many companies, especially those funded with investor dollars, whether private or venture capital, have the ultimate goal of going public, it stands to reason that the industries that show the most growth might make the best investment.

The industries that showed the least growth with 2 or less companies were Computer (0); Construction (2) no surprise there given the housing market; Education (1); Engineering (0);  Environmental (1) which may be a surprise given all the emphasis on green living; Human Resources (2) Insurance (3); Manufacturing (2); Real Estate (1) no surprise; Media (2); Security (2); and Travel (1) .

Even though the industry may show 0 it’s still included because the Inc. list goes to 500 companies.

Industries that had from 3 to 5 companies included Energy (4); Logistics & Transportation (4); Financial Services (5) which is interesting considering the lack of consumer confidence in the financial arena; Food & Beverage (3); IT Services (5); Retail; (3); Software (5); and Telecommunications (4).

The winning industries, those which included the most companies were Consumer Products (7); Health (8); Advertising & Marketing (10) tied with Business Products & Services (10) and the grand winner Government Services (15).

It would seem that business to business or business to government are the sectors that overwhelmingly showed the most growth.  Nearly half of the top 100 are in these three industries.

Completely lacking are companies in the drug industry, although there are companies in the health industry.  Given the long time period required for FDA drug approval, that most drug research is expensive and funded by the major pharmaceutical firms, such as Acadia Pharmaceuticals ACAD this makes sense.

When investing consider a number of factors not just the industry, but it is an interesting place to start your research.