Sterling On Wall Street - The Forbes Platinum 400, an exclusive list of the best big companies in America

Forbes Announces;

The Forbes Platinum 400, an exclusive list of the best big companies in America, is a good place to look for potential stock market stars.

In six of the past seven years, our annual list--also known as America's Best Big Companies --outperformed the stock market over the following 12 months. The Platinum 400 had its best 12-month run in 2003, when it gained an average 26% versus 13% from the S&P 500 and 10% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

he only time the Platinum 400 disappointed, was in its inaugural year, 1999, in which the median 400 stock lost 2% and the average stock was up 11%. During that stretch, the S&P 500 gained 19% and the Dow 20%.

Platinum 400 Performance Scorecard

Year	Price Performance Relative To Issue Date*	Actual	S&P 500**	Dow Jones**
1999	Average	11.1%	94	93
	Median	-1.9	82	81
2000	Average	6.5	111	110
	Median	3.8	108	107
2001	Average	3.8	123	113
	Median	0.9	119	110
2002	Average	-2.5	118	106
	Median	-1.4	119	108
2003	Average	25.9	111	114
	Median	19.7	106	109
2004	Average	16.0	105	109
	Median	13.6	102	107
2005	Average	14.9	107	110
	Median	8.7	101	104

* The price performance for each year is measured over 12 months beginning from the respective issue's pricing date. ** Relative to S&P and Dow figures are the ending value of $100 invested in the stock, divided by the ending value of $1 invested in the respective index.
Source: FT Interactive Data via FactSet Research Systems