The Three Largest Public Companies In North Dakota

We've all heard of the big companies like Wal-Mart, Coca Cola and General Electric. Do you know of the three largest public companies in North Dakota?

MSN.com compiled the list and the methodology used was that they captured the market capitalization for all public companies traded on the major U.S. exchanges as of the end of the trading day on Nov. 3, using data provided by FactSet. Companies were sorted by the state where they have their headquarters. For each of the states, we highlight the top three in terms of market cap.

These types of companies provide a huge economic boost to the states tax base and provide countless job locally.

It's easy to figure some of the biggies in various states. Wal-Mart is based in Arkansas so it makes sense that it is the largest in that state.  Some of the names you'll be familiar with. In California it would be Google, Apple and Wells Fargo. Neighboring Minnesota has 3M as its largest public company.

Here in the Peace Garden State, the top three public companies are

1. MDU Resources Group, Inc. (MDU)

Market Cap: $5.3 billion

Headquarters: Bismarck, North Dakota

2. Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET)

Market Cap: $858.6 million

Headquarters: Minot, North Dakota

3. Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN)

Market Cap: $286.8 billion

Headquarters: West Fargo, North Dakota

You can see the list compiled by MSN.com for the top three public companies for each state made public today here.

(source-MSN.com)