What surprised me when I first saw this year's compendium was the bottom half.
From MIT's Technology Review, June 21, 2016, starting with the introduction:
50 Smartest Companies 2016
Our editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.
Each year we identify 50 companies that are “smart” in the way they create new opportunities. Some of this year’s stars are large companies, like Amazon and Alphabet, that are using digital technologies to redefine industries. Others are wrestling with technological changes: companies like Microsoft, Bosch, Toyota, and Intel. Also on the list are ambitious startups like 23andMe, a pioneer in consumer-accessible DNA testing; 24M, a reinventor of battery technology; and Didi Chuxing, a four-year-old ride-hailing app that’s beating Uber in the Chinese market. Still, despite the excitement of recent advances in such fields as artificial intelligence and genomic medicine, technology has failed to energize the overall economy. In our opening essay, we explore why that is so and what needs to change....And the list:
1 Amazon2 Baidu3 Illumina
6 Mobileye7 23andMe
Before using this as your equities shopping list, a cautionary note: Both SunEdison and SolarCity were in the top ten last year.
Today SUNE is in bankruptcy and SCTY would have joined it if it hadn't been rescued with the Tesla merger. Tesla itself was #1 on last year's list and will have to come up with ~$6 billion in additional financing to pull off Mr. Musk's master plan for world domination.
On the other hand #10 Netflix was the best performing stock in the Nasdaq 100, up 134.4% in 2015, and a name our readers will recognize, NVIDIA, was #28 on Technology Review's 2015 list and was the 5th best performer in the NDX last year, up 67.1%.
It's doing pretty well this year as well, Friday's 5% whack notwithstanding:
