Forbes Picks Compaq as Company of the Year

Forbes magazine named Compaq Computer Corp. as the company of the year, saying the computer maker “stands out as a company that has come from nowhere to occupy a powerful position in today’s key industry.” Citing Houston-based Compaq’s Wintel unit, Forbes said that “no other company--not Dell Computer Corp., not Hewlett-Packard, not IBM--even comes close in the clone business.” Wintel had $25 billion in sales for 1997. Forbes picked Compaq out of 1,286 public companies that it examined for its 50th Annual Report on American Industry, based on profitability, growth, stock market performance and consistency. Forbes in its latest issue also said that financial services was the best performing sector in 1997, followed by entertainment and insurance.