5% OF CORPORATE AMERICA RUNS THE SHOW ACCORDING TO STANDARD & POOR'S 500

People might get upset with the idea that much of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small group of individuals. But the situation is also prevalent in Corporate America.

Just 5% of non-financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 control 34% of the cash held by this group of the world’s biggest companies, says Standard & Poor’s. These 23 companies are in such good shape, they also hold a smaller portion of debt: just 23%.

All these cash-flush companies are awarded with S&P’s top credit ratings of AAA or AA. Technology is the top industry for the companies controlling a third of corporate cash. Some investors are surprised to see there are only three U.S. companies left with perfect AAA ratings.

Below are the 23 companies that are the biggest holders of Corporate America’s cash:

Company	Symbol	Credit rating
Exxon Mobil	XOM	AAA
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	AAA
Microsoft	MSFT	AAA
Apple	AAPL	AA+
General Electric	GE	AA+
W.W. Grainger	GWW	AA+
Automatic Data Processing	ADP	AA
Berkshire Hathaway	BRK	AA
Chevron	CVX	AA
Google	GOOG	AA
Merck	MRK	AA
Pfizer	PFE	AA
Coca-Cola	KO	AA
Wal-Mart	WMT	AA
3M	MMM	AA-
Amazon.com	AMZN	AA-
Cisco Systems	CSCO	AA-
CME Group	CME	AA-
Colgate-Palmolive	CL	AA-
Eli Lilly	LLY	AA-
Franklin Resources	BEN	AA-
International Bus. Machines	IBM	AA-
Medtronic	MDT	AA-
Nike	NKE	AA-
Schlumberger	SLB	AA-
Procter & Gamble	PG	AA-

Source: Standard & Poor’s