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ARM Holdings <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ARMHY)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ARMHY)") end if %>
United Kingdom-based ARM Holdings is a leading provider of intellectual property in the semiconductor industry. The company was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between Apple, Acorn, and VLSI. ARM Holdings licenses low-cost, power-efficient RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processors to leading semiconductor and software companies worldwide. Some of the company's partners include Intel, Lucent Technologies, Qualcomm, and Sony. ARM's RISC architecture is used in digital cameras, game machines, mobile phones, handheld PCs, and a host of other applications.
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AT&T <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") end if %>
Under the leadership of Michael Armstrong, AT&T is on the move. Once a slow-moving dinosaur unable to stop the erosion of its long distance customer base, AT&T is on its way to becoming the largest cable operator in the country and a leading Internet service provider. It's already the country's largest wireless operator and biggest telecom company, and it's racing to compete with the baby bells on their own turf. While it remains to be seen what kind of value Armstrong creates for shareholders, the telecommunications world shakes when AT&T rattles its saber. Investors and consumers have to be up to speed on the company's moves to follow the industry or even understand their monthly phone bills.
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AOL Time Warner <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") end if %> "You've got media!" The product of a merger between interactive services powerhouse America Online and media giant Time Warner, AOL Time Warner (AOLTW) owns a staggering number of media properties and can deliver those properties through some of the biggest channels around. The AOLTW empire is divided into six core business units. The Interactive Services and Properties group includes AOL's 26 million online service subscribers, as well as the Compuserve and Netscape brands. The Networks group includes familiar TV faces like HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, TBS, CNN News Group. The Publishing unit includes over 30 Time, Inc. magazine brands like People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, collectively serving 120 million readers. The Filmed Entertainment group boasts over 7,000 feature films and the Warner Music Group has a roster of over 1,000 artists. The Cable Systems group delivers entertainment to over 12 million homes through both traditional cable TV and the Road Runner broadband data service.

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American Express <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AXP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AXP)") end if %>
American Express is the largest charge card company and the largest travel agency in the world. It also offers financial planning, brokerage services, mutual funds, accounting and tax preparation services, credit cards, and travelers cheques that are the industry standard. Perhaps more than any other financial services company, American Express is poised to dominate as the planet moves from a cash-based society to a credit-based world. It has the brand name, global reach, and Internet focus to serve both consumers and businesses.
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American International Group <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AIG)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AIG)") end if %>
With a global focus born some 80 years ago in the form of Asian insurance operations, financial services power American International Group has the game to go with the name. The leading U.S.-based international insurance company has business in nations across the globe and derives as much of its revenues from the "I" in "AIG" as from the "A." The company offers business and personal insurance products on top of a suite of other services, including asset management, hedged trading, real estate investment management, and jet aircraft leasing. American International has kept pace in the financial services consolidation craze, making a handful of acquisitions that include last year's buy of SunAmerica, which boosted its annuity and investment services.
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Amgen <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMGN)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMGN)") end if %>
If biotechnology is going to be the medical world's main meal ticket in the coming decades, as many believe, Amgen is very likely to be standing at the head of the line, petri dish at the ready. Far and away the leader in terms of sales and earnings, the company's position is bolstered by its two blockbuster blood-cell-boosting drugs: Epogen (for the red), an anemia fighter, and Neupogen (for the white), which bolsters the immune system. Will hepatitis treatment Infergen follow suit, hauling in nine-digit revenues? Maybe not, but Amgen will keep looking for the next one that will as the company invests heavily in research and development. It's that spending that The Motley Fool's Rule Breaker Portfolio managers believe will lead to more and better things from Amgen.
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Applied Materials <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMAT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMAT)") end if %>
Founded in 1967, Applied Materials led a revolution in the semiconductor industry when it introduced chip-making systems that helped standardize the manufacturing process. The company, which holds a commanding lead in the semiconductor equipment market, is the bedrock upon which the semiconductor industry is based. Its machines forge at least a portion of virtually every semiconductor product manufactured today. Needless to say, it has global reach. Over 50% of its revenue comes from Asia and about 65% comes from outside the U.S.
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Automatic Data Processing <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ADP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ADP)") end if %>
Through 1999, Automatic Data Processing has increased its level of earnings an unparalleled 153 quarters in a row (and counting) -- a time frame of some 38 years. ADP is the world's largest payroll service provider, serving as a human resources and payroll tax management outsource for many of the largest companies in the U.S. and overseas. Payroll management is highly profitable, as ADP collects from the employer and then pays out to the employee minus taxes, meaning the company gets to manage a float much like insurance companies do, but without the uncertainty of claims. ADP's return on capital is consistently outstanding.
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Berkshire Hathaway <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A)") end if %>
The inclusion of Berkshire Hathaway in our index has some people scratching their heads, but that's only because they're thinking of the company as merely an investor in the likes of Coca-Cola, Gillette, American Express, the Washington Post, and many other firms. Berkshire is more than that, though. Some two-thirds of its earnings come from insurance, as it wholly owns auto insurance giant GEICO, as well as property-casualty mammoth General Re. One of its most compelling assets is Chairman Warren Buffett, who masterfully puts to work the capital at Berkshire's disposal, producing winning results for shareholders for decades.
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Biogen <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BGEN)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BGEN)") end if %>
Biogen is largely credited with pioneering the use of molecular biology research to develop pharmaceuticals, giving the world new medical treatment options and paving the way for today's biotechnology industry. The company's vaccine for hepatitis B, which is still sold by Merck, SmithKline Beecham, and several other drug firms, was the first treatment to be created by using recombinant DNA. Today, Biogen not only independently develops new drugs but sells them on its own as well. Its current pharmaceutical cash cow is Avonex, the world's most popular multiple sclerosis treatment.
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Cable & Wireless <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CWP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CWP)") end if %>
Cable & Wireless was an international telecommunications conglomerate long before such an entity was supposed to exist. Formed by merger in 1929, Cable & Wireless is the second-largest carrier in the United Kingdom and offers voice and data telecommunications, Internet backbone, and carrier services in 70 countries. Cable & Wireless has its own or subsidiary operations in the U.K., Hong Kong, Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, Continental Europe, and the Caribbean. The company currently carries about 28% of global Internet traffic. Cable & Wireless is a central player in international fiber optics, with its facilities in the UK, Hong Kong, Japan and New York covering the most crucial transit points for international data and voice.
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Charles Schwab Corporation <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: SCH)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: SCH)") end if %>
Discount brokerage pioneer Charles Schwab Corporation was Foolish before Foolishness was cool. Back in 1975, when changes in SEC regulations eliminated fixed commissions, most other brokers raised their commissions. Schwab dropped theirs. The company has been a leading technological innovator; it began experimenting with online trading software as far back as 1984. After deciding in 1997 to more fully integrate its online and offline businesses -- a decision that initially cost the company money due to lower online commissions -- Schwab continued its rapid growth and currently boasts approximately 3 million online accounts (and over 6 million total). The company transacts $11.5 billion in securities online each week, and handles approximately one-third of all online trades. Its huge market share in online trading makes it one of the leading e-commerce companies in the world.
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Cisco Systems, Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSCO)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSCO)") end if %>
Cisco Systems, Inc. is a leading worldwide provider of networking hardware and software. Cisco is best known for its routers, switches, and other hardware, but its software expertise and Internetwork Operating System (IOS) provides the company and its products with a critical edge. It also provides award-winning customer service over its website, and uses its internal networks to precisely manage its supply chain and its relationships with its contractors. Cisco will continue to play a big role in building the voice, video, and data networks of the future.
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Citigroup <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: C)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: C)") end if %>
In much the same way a 19th-century Briton might have noted that the sun never sets on their empire, Citigroup can boast about how "The Citi Never Sleeps." Citigroup presides over a massive financial services operation -- among the world's largest -- encompassing banking, credit cards, life and property casualty insurance, consumer finance, corporate and investment banking, brokerage services, and more. Its brands span the globe, with such venerable names as Citicorp, Travelers, and Salomon Smith Barney. With more than $76 billion in 1998 sales, the company is huge, and its space-age ATMs are the envy of banking customers everywhere.
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Coca-Cola <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") end if %>
Coca-Cola estimates that it sold one billion servings per day in 1998. Of course, that includes sales for all of Coca-Cola's brands -- including the world's largest juice brand Minute Maid -- but just imagine spilling one billion Cokes. How much of the globe would that cover? Probably not a lot, but it would certainly wipe out a couple of small countries. Coca-Cola is the most recognized product in the world. While the past couple of years have been difficult for the company, no other company can reach as many people as Coca-Cola, and no other brand is bigger than the big red Coke.
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Costco Wholesale Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: COST)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: COST)") end if %>
Costco Wholesale Corp. is a warehouse retailer that sells everything from office supplies to electronics to groceries to clothes. Costco offers value, which means quality products at good prices, not just cheap stuff for cheap prices. And despite the size of its stores, it is picky about what it sells, with a narrower range of merchandise within each product category than most other supercenters. This "pre-selection" enables the company to focus on popular items and buy them at bulk discounts. Costco is tremendously efficient, with low gross margins and fast asset turnover. Like many other successful companies in the 1990s, such as FOOL 50 components Dell and Wal-Mart, Costco is reducing its intermediary role and passing on the savings to its customers and shareholders.
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FOOL 50 Index Companies

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