S&P names 4 US materials companies likely to grow

The 2008 version of the annual list includes companies from 33 countries, with more companies--76--coming from China than anywhere else, and the U.S. second. A total of 14 companies are listed from Hong Kong. Germany and Switzerland round out the top five, with 13 companies each.

Just squeaking onto the list were Ireland, Indonesia, Spain and the Czech Republic, each with one company named.

Regionally, 39 percent of the 300 are from Asia/Pacific nations, 30 percent from Europe, just over 29 percent from the Americas and less than 2 percent from the Middle East and Africa. That's a slight decline for Asia/Pacific countries from last year, when they led the list with a 41.7 percent share.

The companies, which are broken down into nine sectors, are examined by S&P using the company's public listing in its home country. To be considered, each company must have a market value between $1 billion and $5 billion, and must have shown share price gains, earnings per share growth, sales growth and employee growth in the last three years.

The list, published since 2006, is reconstituted once a year in April using data ending March 31.

Industrials made up the largest sector overall, with materials second.

In the materials sector, the U.S. companies on the list include: Titanium Metals Corp., Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Greif Inc., Albemarle Corp.