Google Inc. leads the pack of a dozen companies that the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. named to the Nasdaq 100 Index, effective with the market open on Monday, December 19.
The index comprises Nasdaq’s 100 largest nonfinancial stocks.
“The re-ranking process is objective, rules-based and transparent — one that ensures the Nasdaq 100 Index will continue to be an important benchmark by which you can invest in a diverse array of Nasdaq-listed companies,” said executive vice president John L. Jacobs, in a statement.
The newcomers include several companies that survived the Internet boom and bust and have continued to thrive. In addition to Google, they include RedHat Inc., Monster Worldwide Inc., Expedia Inc., and CheckFree Corp.
Rounding out the dozen new companies are NII Holdings Inc., Patterson-UTI Energy Inc., NVIDIA Corp., Urban Outfitters Inc., Cadence Design Systems Inc., Activision Inc., and Discovery Holding Co.
The dozen companies that fell from the list are Career Education Corp., Dollar Tree Stores Inc., Intersil Corp., Invitrogen Corp., Level 3 Communications Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Molex Inc., Novellus Systems Inc., QLogic Corp., Sanmina-SCI Corp., Synopsys Inc., and Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
The top-100 list is not just about prestige and bragging rights. Shares of each company are also included in the Nasdaq 100 Index Tracking Stock — the closely followed “QQQ” — and the Nasdaq 100 European Tracker Fund. In addition, 22 domestic mutual funds and 9 international funds are linked to the index.