25 Most Profitable Companies in the US

Ramish Cheema
9 min read

In This Article:

In this piece, we will take a look at the 25 most profitable companies in the US. If you want to skip our overview of the US economy and the current business climate, you can jump ahead to the 5 Most Profitable Companies in the US.

With the second quarter of 2024 with us, Wall Street is focused on determining whether companies that are investing in AI are actually bringing in money or whether they are investing costly capital to set themselves up for future growth. Firms that belong to the former sector, i.e. those that are making money from AI, have been rewarded as has been the case with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Just like NVIDIA is Wall Street's favorite AI stock when it comes to semiconductors needed to power up large data processing software, Microsoft is the king of the jungle when it comes to AI software. In the latter segment, the best example is Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) whose shares have dropped after the latest earnings report revealed that 2024 will require an additional $40 billion in capital to fund AI growth.

This sharp eye on AI comes when investors are grappling with an economy that might be starting to slow down just as the Federal Reserve finds it difficult to tamp down on inflation. While the AI gold rush of 2023 put inflation and other macroeconomic indicators on the backdrop, after the inflation data for March 2024, they are back in the spotlight. This environment, which has left investors eager to flee away from stocks once again comes as profitability becomes key, particularly as profits are important to enable firms to position themselves for growth (such as is the case with AI stocks) or keep investors happy by paying out dividends.

US companies are also some of the biggest in the world when it comes to profits. America's corporate sector, particularly the technology industry, is the most developed in the world. Firms such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are able to compete with the world's largest state owned enterprises when it comes to revenue. In fact, Apple is the first company in the world that has proven that technology and personal computing is a more lucrative industry than oil - a commodity that is responsible for powering daily lives. To understand how, consider that Apple's trailing twelve month revenue as of December 2023 sits at a whopping $385 billion.

Now, compare this with the net sales of the Saudi state owned oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Company (TADAWUL:2222.SR), which has raked in SAR2 trillion during the same time period. Using an exchange rate of 3.75 SAR to a dollar leads to approximately $530 billion in revenue for the Saudi oil giant. While naturally, Aramco's revenue is higher since it does not have any comparable competitors on a global level, the fact that a consumer technology firm that is dependent not only on the need to stay abreast with innovation but also with what its rivals are doing is able to earn more than half of the revenue is something in itself to say the least.

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