CHESAPEAKE ENERGY LEADS A STILL-HOT AREA
ENERGY JUST KEEPS STEAMING ALONG. Crude
petroleum firms dominate the top of this year’s
Baseline 500, taking nine of the top 25 spots. Drillers
and refinery companies are also well represented.
Benefiting from sky-high oil prices, the sector has
the top median IP score: 55%. That’s
twice the level of financial firms, which
have the second-highest IP median.
Chesapeake Energy, which topped
the Baseline 500 for the past two years,
finishes third overall this year, with an
information productivity score of 857%.
That’s up considerably from last year but ENERGY
still not high enough to grab the top position.
Behemoths like Chevron and Exxon-Mobil make
the top 100 overall, but are bested in their sector
by smaller players, including the tiny Torch Energy
Royalty Trust (average three-year sales: $7 million)
and the even tinier CKS Lands, which owns land in
Southwest Louisiana and had average sales of just $3
million in the past three years.
While oil prices remain high, market dynamics could
cause trouble for energy companies. For instance, a
move to alternative fuel sources—part of the U.S.’s
growing obsession with all things green—could eventually hurt the profits of oil giants. —Brian P. Watson
RANK COMPANY
1 CHESAPEAKE ENERGY
2 UNIT
3 CIMAREX ENERGY
4 FRONTIER OIL
5 PATTERSON-UTI ENERGY
6 ARENA RESOURCES
7 PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT
8 DEVON ENERGY
9 GREY WOLF
10 TORCH ENERGY ROYALT Y TRUS T
11 XTO ENERGY INC
12 GULFPORT ENERGY
13 CONSOL ENERGY
14 ENERGY TRANSFER PARTNERS
15 ENSCO INTERNATIONAL
16 BUCKEYE PARTNERS
17 KINDER MORGAN ENERGY
18 ENTERPRISE PRODS PRTNER
19 DIAMOND OFFSHRE DRILLING
20 OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP
21 CKX LANDS
22 HOLLY
23 NEWFIELD EXPLORATION
24 CONOCOPHILLIPS
25 BERRY PETROLEUM
INDUSTRY
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
DRILLING OIL & GAS WELLS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
PE TROLEUM REFINING
DRILLING OIL & GAS WELLS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
DRILLING OIL & GAS WELLS
OIL ROYALT Y TRADERS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
BI TUMINOUS COAL, LIGNI TE MNG
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
DRILLING OIL & GAS WELLS
PIPE LINES, EX NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
DRILLING OIL & GAS WELLS
DEEP SEA FRN TRANS-FREIGH T
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
PETROLEUM REFINING
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
PETROLEUM REFINING
CRUDE PE TROLEUM & NATURAL GS
INFORMATION
PRODUCTIVITY
857%
845%
620%
563%
539%
483%
481%
475%
464%
456%
431%
418%
390%
381%
373%
343%
333%
318%
294%
291%
287%
260%
255%
248%
233%
THE CRUNCH LOOMS—BUT FOR NOW, ALL’S WELL
THE CURRENT MORTGAGE and credit crunches may hurt
financial firms in next year’s Baseline 500, but in 2006,
these companies were flying high. Long regarded as one
of the most innovative users of IT, the financial sector
racks up the second-highest median score for information productivity— 27.6%, second only to energy.
Here, size matters—at least at the top. Chubb, the
Warren, N.J. insurer, which more than triples its closest
competitor’s IP score and finishes No. 2 overall—has
the highest revenue of the top 25 financial firms by almost $12 billion. The move
to a federated IT model and a renewed
emphasis on cost management helped
Chubb to its best-ever financial results in
the past four years, says CIO June Drewry
(for a profile, see page 20).
FINANCIAL But size isn’t everything: Smaller com-
SERVICES mercial and federally chartered consumer
banks, which make up the bulk of this top
25, have cut costs through electronic transactions and
consolidation of IT management in branches.
One real estate investment trust—Entertainment
Properties Trust, of Kansas City—make the cut. The
true test for REI Ts may come in next year’s rankings, as
they try to weather the ongoing real estate storm.
—Brian P. Watson
RANK COMPANY INDUSTRY
1 CHUBB FIRE, MARINE, CASUALTY INS
2 ENTERTAINMENT PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST
3 LEUCADIA NATIONAL CONGLOMERATE
4 CORUS BANKSHARES COMMERCIAL BANKS
5 MOODY’S CREDI T REPOR TING AGENCIES
6 PERPE TUAL FEDERAL SAVINGS BK SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
7 INTERVEST BANCSHARES COMMERCIAL BANKS
8 WASHINGTON FED SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
9 TRUSTCO BANK/NY SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
10 BEVERLY HILLS BANCORP SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
11 CIT Y HOLDING COMMERCIAL BANKS
12 WEST WOOD HOLDINGS GROUP INVESTMENT ADVICE
13 ROYAL BANCSHARES/PA COMMERCIAL BANKS
14 FIRSTFED FINANCIAL/CA SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
15 EAST WEST BANCORP COMMERCIAL BANKS
16 SEVERN BANCORP SAVINGS INS TN, FED CHARTERED
17 W HOLDING COMMERCIAL BANKS
18 WESTAMERICA BANCORPORATION COMMERCIAL BANKS
19 WEST BANCORPORATION COMMERCIAL BANKS
20 POTLATCH PAPERBOARD MILLS
21 S & T BANCORP COMMERCIAL BANKS
22 FRONTIER FINANCIAL/WA COMMERCIAL BANKS
23 FIRST SOUTH BANCORP/VA COMMERCIAL BANKS
24 PREFERRED BANK LOS ANGELES COMMERCIAL BANKS
25 FIRST CASH FINANCIAL SVCS MISCELLANEOUS RETAIL
INFORMATION
PRODUCTIVITY
1064%
332%
220%
205%
190%
174%
146%
141%
127%
120%
115%
114%
109%
108%
107%
106%
105%
103%
97%
96%
87%
86%
86%
85%
84%
