Real Estate investment trusts, royalty trusts, limited partnerships, and closed-end funds were excluded. Compustat collectes its data from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, commercial news services and corporate and government reports. Net income, or prifit, equals net income from continuing operations, before extraordinary or non-recuring items, as filed on the company's income statement. Net income reflects income available to common shareholders. If a company includeds special charges, such as merger costs, in its pretax figures, the numbers will not be considered extraordinary and will be included in net income.
Profit margin is determined by dividing net income by revenue.
The one-year charge is profit margin is calculated by computing percentage change in profit margin between 1998 and 1999. Return on shareholders' equity is determined by dividing 1999 net income by average of 1998 and 1999 common shareholders' equity. All stock prices have been adjusted for splits. To be ranked in any of The Globe 100 charts a company must have its headquarters in Massachusetts. To be considered for The Growth 50, a company must have been public in both 1998 and 1999.