Who's Tampa Bay's 'biggest' public company? Tech Data versus Raymond James

Tech Data Corp. or Raymond James Financial?

That's today's choice when trying to answer the question: What is the "biggest" publicly traded corporation headquartered in the Tampa Bay metro area?

Tech Data, the Clearwater technology distributor, over the years has ruled the No. 1 spot whenever the Tampa Bay Times ranks the 10 largest bay area public companies. Tech Data produces annual revenues of nearly $28 billion. That's nearly as much as Jabil and WellCare Health Plans — ranked No. 2 and 3 in revenues — generate together.

Wait just a minute.

Let me suggest that Raymond James Financial, the fast-growing regional investment firm based in the Carillon area of St. Petersburg, may deserve to be called the No. 1 public corporation by size in this market. Based on its stock market value that now tops $7 billion (a figure equal to the number of company shares outstanding multiplied by its current stock price), Raymond James is perceived as far more valuable than any other public company based here.

No disrespect to Tech Data. But when looking for the answer to "What public company here does the stock market most value?" Raymond James wins. Easily.

Companies with major market value have the financial muscle to do things, whether it's to buy other companies or expand on their own. They are more likely to control their own destiny.

Of course, there is no one answer to who is No. 1. The historic Fortune 500 list ranks U.S. public companies by annual revenues, and for years the Times has ranked area companies by revenues using the same method. That's why Tech Data has long had a lock at the top of the local Times list. No other public company here sells nearly as much of its products or services as Tech Data does.

Raymond James, in contrast, has annual revenues that are only a fifth the size of Tech Data's. Yet Raymond James' market value, based on the company's stock this past week, is three times that of Tech Data.

Ranking high by revenues or market value is impressive. Both Tech Data, headed by CEO Bob Dutkowsky, and Raymond James, led by CEO Paul Reilly, are well-run organizations with sharp leadership. But by ranking Tampa Bay's more prominent public companies in two distinct ways, we gain a broader grasp of the strength — and weakness — of the area's corporate base.

That becomes more important now that one of the bay area's cornerstone companies, Tampa's TECO Energy — parent of Tampa Electric, Peoples Gas and New Mexico Gas — is in the process of being acquired by Canadian power company Emera Inc. That means TECO's stock will disappear and Tampa Bay will lose a local public company that's long ranked in the top 10 based on revenues or market value.

(After Emera said it will buy TECO, the Tampa company's share price responded by soaring more than 30 percent, raising TECO's market value to $6.2 billion. TECO formally will become part of Emera in 2016.)

With TECO soon out of the local headquarters picture, a new spot opens for another publicly traded business to crack the Tampa Bay area's top 10 list.

Ranked by revenues, the new company that fills the No. 10 spot is Tampa-based call center operator Sykes Enterprises. In its last fiscal year, it reported $1.3 billion in revenues.

Ranked by market value, the newcomer to the top 10 list is Kforce, the Tampa-based provider of temporary staffing.

The wild card in the two different rankings is Tampa's Walter Investment Management.

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The mortgage investment firm still makes the top 10 list based on revenues. But its stock price has dropped — due in part to bad publicity from regulators cracking down on mortgage customer complaints. That, in turn, has pushed the market value of Walter Investment below that of Kforce and out of the top 10, at least for now.

What happens should any other of these top 10 companies get picked off by buyers? Several publicly traded corporations here are waiting to step up and join the rankings, ranging from Heritage Insurance Holdings and insurer HCI Group to boat retailer MarineMax.

To be honest, the bay area's cupboard of up-and-coming public companies is looking a little thin. Our bench strength is looking puny.

Anybody around here want to go public soon?

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com. Follow @venturetampabay.