Top Corporate Spenders---Where does your stock rank?

AT&T spent $20.6 billion on new plant and equipment in this country in 2013, leading all non-financial corporations in U.S. capital spending for the third straight year, according to a report out Wednesday.
Rival telecom giant Verizon was second, with $15.4 billion in U.S. capital outlays, says the Progressive Policy Institute study. Exxon Mobil shelled out $11 billion, followed by Chevron, at $10.6 billion, and Walmart, $8.7 billion.
All told, the 25 biggest-spending companies stepped up their U.S. purchases last year, but only by 1.8% to $152.5 billion. Across the economy, non-residential investment grew by 3% in 2013, down from 7.7% in 2011 and 7.2% in 2012.
PPI economist Diana Carew says the government should promote faster capital spending growth and contributions from more industries through policies that encourage investment.
Last year, three sectors — telecommunications and cable, Internet and technology, and energy — accounted for 83% of the top 25 firms' total investment.
"Policies need to make investment an explicit focus," Carew says.
Also, much current investment is intended to increase productivity and do more with fewer workers, rather than expand factories or product lines, strategies that would create more jobs, says senior analyst Howard Silverblatt of Standard & Poor's.
Still, with many Fortune 500 companies using their vast cash reserves to buy back stock, boost dividends or invest overseas, Carew says the leading U.S. capital spenders "are making investments in America and actually making a bet on American workers."
Although publicly traded firms report their capital outlays, they generally don't break out the U.S. portion, which creates jobs, generates tax revenue and fuels economic growth in this country. In those cases, PPI draws on other data disclosed in corporate reports to compile its estimates.
Last year, telecom and cable led all industries, with $46 billion in U.S. investment, followed by oil and natural gas production and refining, at $40 billion. Internet and technology ranked third at $23 billion.
Among the top companies, AT&T is expanding its U-verse fiber-optic network to households while Verizon is building out its 4G wireless network.
Google, which just missed a spot on last year's list of top 2012 spenders, re-entered at 12th, with investments in production equipment, data centers and property purchases to manage increased Internet traffic, advertising and new products and services.
Amazon, No. 25, is beefing up its network of distribution centers and technology for its online sales platform.
And the energy giants are spending more on oil and natural gas exploration and production off the Gulf of Mexico and in states like Texas and North Dakota.
Carew says investment, including research and development, by sectors such as health care and manufacturing declined from 2007 to 2012.
The report says the federal government should do more to foster capital spending by making more spectrum available to wireless carriers, reforming corporate taxes and better training U.S. workers for science and technology jobs, among other measures