The Greatest Companies to Invest Your Money In

Have you ever wondered what are the greatest companies in the modern world to invest money in?

My fourth passive income stream will include receiving Dividends from investments in Stocks. This 4^th passive income source of mine includes buying mainly dividend stocks, ETFs and REITs. 

In order to prepare myself properly, I have devised a list of companies to buy on the stock exchange. To come up with the following list of the greatest companies to invest in, I have tried to use the strictest criteria possible.

I am planning to invest on the US stock market only. Why? It trades the best companies in the world, it has the best liquidity, it is the most transparent and highly regulated. 

Criteria to choose the greatest companies in the world

I have started devising my list of fantastic companies by conducting MARKET ANALYSIS. My market analysis includes an overview of the most important markets in the world. The three main indexes tracking the U.S. equities include Dow Jones 30, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.

In addition, I was also looking outside the U.S. at Developed Markets (ex-U.S.) including Europe, the Middle East, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the Pacific region as well as Developing Markets including Russia, Mexico, China, Egypt, India, and Brazil

First, I concluded that the public limited companies which trade marketable securities must be a blue-chip stock:

1. Dow Jones 30. Belong to Dow Jones 30 – being one of 30 ‘blue-chip’ stocks in the U.S, a stock of high investment quality that represents a well-established company that enjoys public confidence in its worth and stability. 

Because I am interested in investing in the long-term in stable dividend-paying companies, the companies must also be both:

2. Wealth Creator. Be a Wealth Creator – growing and creating wealth for investors and the economy over generations.

3. Dividend Aristocrat. Be a Dividend Aristocrat – consecutively increasing dividend payments for at least 25 years, being a member of the S&P 500 and meeting certain size and liquidity requirements.

4. Dividend King. Be a Dividend King – consecutively increasing dividend payments for at least 50 years.

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The list of the greatest companies in the world

So, here are the results:

Dow Jones 30 + Wealth Creator + Dividend Aristocrat + Dividend King

Only three companies in the whole world met all the four criteria. These companies include:

1. Coca Cola (KO)

2. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

3. Procter & Gamble (PG)

Dow Jones 30 + Wealth Creator + Dividend Aristocrat

When excluding the last criterion of being a Dividend King, there are only five additional companies that meet the first three criteria. These companies include:

4. Pepsi (PEP)

5. Walmart (WMT)

6. McDonald’s (MCD)

7. Chevron (CVX)

8. International Business Machines (IBM)

Wealth Creator + Dividend Aristocrat

The companies which are both Wealth Creators and Dividend Aristocrats, but neither belong to Dow Jones 30 nor are Dividend Kings include:

9. Abbot Laboratories (ABT)

10. AT&T (T)

11. Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Dow Jones 30 + Dividend Aristocrat

The companies which belong to Dow Jones 30 and are Dividend Aristocrats, but neither are Wealth Creators nor Dividend Kings include:

12. Caterpillar (CAT)

Dow Jones 30 + Wealth Creator

The companies which belong to Dow Jones 30 and are Wealth Creators, but neither are Dividend Aristocrats nor Dividend Kings include:

13. Home Depot (HD)

14. Microsoft (MSFT)

15. Apple (AAPL)

16. Amazon (AMZN)

17. Disney (DIS)

18. Google (GOOGL)

19. Intel (INTC)

20. Merck (MRK)

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The greatest companies in the world by sectors of the economy

I also conducted SECTOR ANALYSIS in order to group these amazing companies in relation to sectors of the economy. However, let’s start by looking at how the 11 sectors of the economy are classified themselves:

DEFENSIVE: Consumer Staples/Defensive, Healthcare, Utilities

CYCLICAL: Basic Materials, Consumer Discretionary/Cyclical, Financial Services, Real Estate

SENSITIVE: Communication Services, Energy, Industrials, Technology

Now, let’s take a look at how the greatest companies to invest in are classified into 11 major sectors of the economy: 

In summary, I have observed that what differentiates the greatest companies on the market is the ability of creation. While the best companies are discovering and making what nobody else does, average companies just repeat making what the best already do.

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