SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2016 001 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP E9

SV150 TOP 10 LISTS

SALES
Sales growth for the SV150 slipped to 6.8% in 2015 from 10.5%
the year before. The number of companies reporting sales gains
fell to 106, down from 124 in 2014. Two of the top 10 sales gains
were IPOs: Pure Storage, a supplier of cloud computing
technology, and Fitbit, the maker of wearable wireless fitness
monitoring devices.
WORKFORCE
The SV150 boosted total employment in 2015 to a record 1.43
million jobs, up 4.5% from the year before. It was the biggest
increase in three years, with 7 out of every 10 SV150 companies
adding workers. For the third year in a row, the clean tech sector
had the biggest percentage increase in employees, boosting its
workforce by 13,565, or 50%.
SALES PER EMPLOYEE
Sales per employee among the SV150 grew for a sixth year,
rising 2.2% to a record $582,634. Productivity rose at 77
companies, 50 of which managed increases in both sales and
workforce. Five Prime Therapeutics had the biggest increase
thanks to a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb that came with an
upfront payment of $350 million in the 2015 fourth quarter.

Biggest gains Biggest increases Biggest gains

SV150 2015 sales 1-year SV150 2015 1-year SV150 Sales per 1-year
Rank rank Company (millions) change Rank rank Company employees change Rank rank Company employee in 2015 change
1 103 Five Prime Therapeutics $380 1,875% 1 46 Fitbit* 1,101 135% 1 103 Five Prime Therapeutics $2,466,240 1477%
2 92 Silver Spring Networks 490 156% 2 120 Sunrun* 3,380 99% 2 92 Silver Spring Networks 750,857 126%
3 96 Pure Storage* 440 152% 3 49 Cypress Semiconductor 6,279 87% 3 13 eBay 740,690 58%
4 46 Fitbit* 1,858 149% 4 100 SolarCity 15,273 69% 4 96 Pure Storage* 338,718 55%
5 49 Cypress Semiconductor 1,608 122% 5 66 LendingClub 1,382 64% 5 133 Inphi 522,492 49%
6 66 LendingClub 980 99% 6 96 Pure Storage* 1,300 63% 6 40 Twitter 569,018 48%
7 142 Zendesk 209 64% 7 14 Netflix 3,500 60% 7 114 WageWorks 225,889 41%
8 150 TubeMogul 181 58% 8 48 GoPro 1,539 59% 8 148 Penumbra* 169,177 35%
9 40 Twitter 2,218 58% 9 142 Zendesk 1,268 57% 9 95 Rocket Fuel 483,895 33%
10 133 Inphi 247 58% 10 60 Pandora Media 2,219 57% 10 56 Square* 874,478 32%

Biggest drops Biggest cuts Biggest drops

SV150 2015 sales 1-year SV150 2015 1-year SV150 Sales per 1-year
Rank rank Company (millions) change Rank rank Company employees change Rank rank Company employee in 2015 change
1 50 SunPower $1,577 -48% 1 29 Agilent Technologies 11,800 -45% 1 50 SunPower $421,155 -55%
2 138 LeapFrog Enterprises 223 -38% 2 13 eBay 11,600 -38% 2 112 Depomed 1,204,821 -42%
3 29 Agilent Technologies 4,040 -36% 3 54 Viavi Solutions 3,200 -37% 3 138 LeapFrog Enterprises 625,399 -32%
4 30 Advanced Micro Devices 3,991 -28% 4 118 Aviat Networks 740 -23% 4 82 Ubiquiti Networks 1,947,314 -28%
5 54 Viavi Solutions 1,300 -25% 5 52 Fairchild Semiconductor 6,379 -23% 5 10 Synnex 237,543 -28%
6 21 Symantec 5,424 -18% 6 24 Yahoo 10,400 -17% 6 48 GoPro 1,437,325 -27%
7 59 Atmel 1,173 -17% 7 77 Zynga 1,669 -15% 7 128 Tessera Technologies 1,373,433 -25%
8 20 SanDisk 5,565 -16% 8 86 Extreme Networks 1,351 -14% 8 14 Netflix 2,514,690 -23%
9 104 Harmonic 377 -13% 9 114 WageWorks 1,480 -12% 9 120 Sunrun* 116,798 -23%
10 112 Depomed 343 -12% 10 59 Atmel 4,700 -10% 10 30 Advanced Micro Devices 567,629 -23%

BIGGEST PROFIT GAINS BEST PROFIT MARGINS

Net profit for the SV150 rose 4.1 percent in 2015 to a record Profit margin is net profit divided by sales. The SV150's profit
BEST NET LOSSES
Four out of every 10 companies in the SV150 recorded net
$133 billion. That followed a 23% jump in profits the year before margin dropped to 16% from a record 16.4% the year before, but losses in 2015. The biggest came from Yahoo, which reported a
that was the fastest growth since 2010. The number of was still the third best margin on record. Net profit can be net loss of $4.36 billion due primarily from wrtiting down $4.46
companies that were profitable slipped to 86, down from 87 the dramatically affected by accounting events. Rambus, for billion in the value of its goodwill, but Yahoo also used up $2.4
year before. Gilead Sciences had a $6 billion jump in profits that example, recorded a $151.2 million tax benefit from the release billion of its cash to run operations in 2015 and is currently
was 50% higher than the year before on a 31% increase in sales. of the valuation allowance on deferred taxes. contemplating selling some or all of itself.
2015
SV150 2015 net profit 1-year SV150 2015 net profit profit SV150 2015 net profit 1-year
Rank rank Company (millions) change Rank rank Company (millions) margin Rank rank Company (millions) change
1 1 Apple $53,731 $9,269 1 123 Rambus $211 71% 1 24 Yahoo ($4,359) -$11,881
2 8 Gilead Sciences 18,108 6,007 2 103 Five Prime Therapeutics 250 66% 2 28 Tesla Motors (889) -595
3 6 Cisco Systems 10,333 1,680 3 8 Gilead Sciences 18,108 56% 3 30 Advanced Micro Devices (660) -257
4 13 eBay 1,725 1,679 4 128 Tessera Technologies 117 43% 4 81 FireEye (539) -95
5 2 Alphabet 15,897 1,453 5 51 Linear Technology 502 35% 5 40 Twitter (521) 57
6 12 PayPal Holdings 1,228 809 6 68 Medivation 245 26% 6 49 Cypress Semiconductor (384) -402
7 9 Facebook 3,670 745 7 35 Intuitive Surgical 589 25% 7 61 Workday (290) -42
8 22 Adobe Systems 799 508 8 82 Ubiquiti Networks 149 25% 8 79 Splunk (279) -62
9 4 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 2,181 428 9 41 Xilinx 541 25% 9 96 Pure Storage* (214) -31
10 123 Rambus 211 185 10 7 Oracle 8,844 24% 10 56 Square* (212) -58

BIGGEST CHANGES MARKET VALUE- BALANCE

IN MARKET VALUES
The combined market value of companies in the SV150 rose a
scant 0.8% over the last year to $2.94 trillion, after rising more
than 20% the year before. The largest company among the top
10 gainers was Netflix, which saw its value rise 75% over the last
year to $43.8 billion. Among those that lost the most value was
the social networking and microblogging company Twitter, which
lost nearly two-thirds of its value despite a 58% gain in sales.
TO-SALES RATIO
One way to see how investors value a company is by looking at
what they are willing to pay for it relative to its sales. Investors
valued the SV150 as a group at 3.5 times sales as of March 31,
down from 3.7 times sales the year before. Facebook once again
was the most highly valued company at 18 times its current annual
sales. Compare that with Apple, the SV150's No. 1 company, which
trades at a relative bargain of 2.6 times annual sales.
SHEETS
The SV150 generated a combined $216 billion in cash from their
operations in 2015, up from the year before by 5.5%. That was
about a third of the 16.2% gain produced in 2014. The cash
helped the SV150 fund $122.5 billion in stock buybacks and
dividends, down 9 percent from the year before, and $10 billion in
acquisitions, down 65% from 2014. The SV150 also increased
total debt by more than 30% for the second year in a row to
$285 billion.

Biggest gains Most valued Biggest pile of cash, investments

SV150 Market value 1-year SV150 Market value Value-to- SV150 Cash, investments 1-year
Rank rank Company (millions) change Rank rank Company (millions) sales ratio Rank rank Company (millions) change
1 110 Oclaro $600 178% 1 9 Facebook $324,761 18.1 1 1 Apple $205,666 16%
2 113 NeoPhotonics 577 161% 2 61 Workday 14,984 12.9 2 2 Alphabet 78,249 16%
3 133 Inphi 1,330 97% 3 62 Palo Alto Networks 14,417 12.5 3 6 Cisco Systems 64,274 14%
4 103 Five Prime Therapeutics 1,132 94% 4 102 Guidewire Software 3,926 9.9 4 7 Oracle 54,368 24%
5 14 Netflix 43,763 74% 5 65 ServiceNow 9,875 9.8 5 24 Yahoo 38,005 -24%
6 34 Equinix 22,827 74% 6 79 Splunk 6,477 9.7 6 3 Intel 31,574 36%
7 92 Silver Spring Networks 751 70% 7 35 Intuitive Surgical 22,646 9.5 7 8 Gilead Sciences 26,208 124%
8 23 Nvidia 19,312 68% 8 22 Adobe Systems 46,920 9.3 8 9 Facebook 18,434 65%
9 76 Coherent 2,585 61% 9 142 Zendesk 1,894 9.1 9 13 eBay 9,522 -39%
10 139 Gigamon 1,069 52% 10 98 Cavium 3,504 8.5 10 4 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 8,505 NA**

Biggest declines Least valued Biggest debt levels

SV150 Market value 1-year SV150 Market value Value-to- SV150 Total debt 1-year
Rank rank Company (millions) change Rank rank Company (millions) sales ratio Rank rank Company (millions) change
1 48 GoPro $1,637 -71% 1 118 Aviat Networks $45 0.1 1 1 Apple $64,462 77%
2 95 Rocket Fuel 137 -65% 2 10 Synnex 3,674 0.3 2 7 Oracle 41,958 30%
3 40 Twitter 11,547 -64% 3 17 Sanmina-SCI 1,805 0.3 3 6 Cisco Systems 25,354 24%
4 104 Harmonic 253 -62% 4 95 Rocket Fuel 137 0.3 4 3 Intel 22,670 65%
5 90 Quantum 161 -61% 5 138 Leapfrog Enterprises 71 0.3 5 8 Gilead Sciences 22,180 79%
6 116 Nimble Storage 659 -60% 6 90 Quantum 161 0.3 6 4 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 15,229 NA**
7 119 Barracuda Networks 818 -60% 7 94 Ultra Clean 174 0.4 7 13 eBay 6,779 -11%
8 83 Yelp 1,512 -57% 8 5 HP 21,272 0.4 8 5 HP 6,683 -65%
9 66 LendingClub 3,166 -57% 9 84 Silicon Graphics 254 0.5 9 34 Equinix 6,521 39%
10 146 Natera* 484 -56% 10 126 QuinStreet 155 0.5 10 2 Alphabet 5,220 0%
* Company held its initial public offering in 2015
** Figure not available. Company spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 2015.