July 23, 2025 – (Investorideas.com Newswire ) Following an
unprecedented AI chip demand, NVIDIA recently became the first
company to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion dollars. The
shares of the chip maker surged once again last week following the
green light signal for restoring trade with China, which ultimately
fueled a Nasdaq 100 rally, peaking this Monday to a historic high.
In light of this, I am reaching out with a piece of research that
examines the efficiency of publicly traded companies, including the
constituents of the Nasdaq 100 index.
To identify the industries and companies with the highest average
operating margin as of 2025,
the research team at BestBrokers
collected operating margin data on 1,189 companies with a market cap
exceeding $10 billion. The analysis revealed significant differences
in operating margins not only between industries but also among
companies within the same sector. This dual-level comparison
highlights both cross-industry trends and intra-industry performance
gaps. The full research is available below, the graphics can be
viewed
here, and the complete dataset can be accessed on Google Drive via this
link.
Data shows that among the largest and most influential companies on
the Nasdaq, Nvidia stands out with an exceptional operating margin
of 59.86%, outperforming technology giants Meta Platforms (44.42%)
and Microsoft (43.79%). At the other end of the scale, software firm
turned corporate Bitcoin holder MicroStrategy posts the lowest
margin at -1668.47%.
The most efficient Nasdaq 100 companies based on operating
margin:
- Nvidia – 59.86%
- Meta Platforms – 44.42%
- Microsoft – 43.79%
- Verisk – 42.64%
- Paychex – 42.02%
- Diamondback Energy – 40.83%
- Copart – 40.46%
- Applovin Corp – 37.51%
- Alphabet – 37.11%
- KLA Corporation – 36.88%
The Nasdaq 100 features the largest and most
influential companies by market value across various sectors,
including healthcare, technology, industrials, and energy.
Technology firms make up the biggest portion, with over 35
companies, almost half the index. Many tech companies, especially
startups and those in growth phases, invest heavily in costly
infrastructure and R&D, which weighs on their operating margins.
This oversaturation helps explain the sector’s low average operating
margin of -5.76% in 2025. Yet, some of the market’s
most efficient and profitable firms, like
Nvidia, Meta, and Alphabet, boast margins of upwards of 40%.
With average operating margins of
13.41% in healthcare and
15.81% in pharmaceuticals, companies in these
sectors are well represented on the Nasdaq 100, including
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (35.4%), Intuitive Surgical (32%), and
AstraZeneca (16.07%). Vertex Pharmaceuticals
is the only pharmaceutical company on the Nasdaq index that falls
below the industry average, with a TTM operating margin of 2.25%. In
Q1 2025, the company reported a non-GAAP operating margin of 31.35%,
down from 42.4% in the same quarter the previous year. This decline
is due to increased investment in research and development, as well
as costs associated with the global launch of new therapies. For
instance, in January 2025, the US FDA approved Journavx, a novel
non-opioid treatment for moderate to severe acute pain developed by
Vertex, the first new pain medicine of its kind approved in 25
years.
Below you can find the full report provided by the research team
of
BestBrokers.com
The Most Efficient Companies of 2025: A Cross-Industry Operating
Margin Analysis
Today, the world’s most resilient companies aren’t necessarily those
with the fastest growth or biggest headcount, they are often the
ones running with tight, strategically engineered operations in a
volatile landscape. Whether it’s Babcock International riding a
defence spending boom to lift its operating margin to 8%, or Meta
generating a 201% profit surge after cutting 21,000 jobs and
doubling down on AI infrastructure, one message is clear:
operational efficiency has become the defining corporate metric in
today’s margin-driven economy.
Sector differences in operating margin often reflect strategic
trade-offs: growth vs. profitability, automation vs. labour, or
scale vs. localisation. To illustrate this, the research team at
BestBrokers conducted a cross-industry comparison of large-cap
companies based on the latest data from CompaniesMarketCap,
analysing their operating margins to identify which sectors are
achieving the most efficiency.
We discovered that the industries that portray the highest
operational efficiency are Port Operations (38.5%), Finances &
Investments (32.4%), Tobacco (31.2%), and Railway Operations
(30.1%), showing how certain traditional sectors maintain strong
average operating margins, despite economic headwinds.
Key Takeaways
-
With an estimated operating margin of 99.57%, the Sweden-based
holding company Industrivarden ranks first among
all companies on our list in terms of operational efficiency. -
The most efficient industries are Port operations
(38.5%), followed by Finances & Investments (33.6%) and Railway
Operations (30.1%). -
The most efficient automakers are Ferrari (28.7%)
and Toyota (15.4%), both far exceeding the
industry average of 4.8%. -
The broader tech sector reports an average
operating margin of -5.76%, though several standout firms like PT
DCI Indonesia Tbk (54.6%), Trimble (54.4%), and Keyence (52.2%)
perform well above that. -
Companies in Kuwait score the highest in terms of
operating margin across countries (61.8%), followed by
Greece
(60.2%), and the UAE (54.7%).
Industries With the Highest Operating Margins
Railway & Port Operations companies typically invest huge amounts of
money into infrastructure and have minimal marginal costs per
shipment after the initial investment. There is also very limited
competition in these particular industries. These are just a couple
of reasons why their average operating margin is among the highest,
38.47% for Port Operations and
30.13% for Railway Operations. The most efficient
companies in these industries are
International Container Terminal Services (53.4%) and Adani Ports
& SEZ (51.9%), and Canadian National Railway (39.8%) and Union
Pacific Corporation (36.2%), respectively.
Financial companies (investors, banks, and financing firms) also
record a substantial average operating margin of
33.64%. By borrowing money at significantly lower
interest rates, banks are able to turn a major profit. For example,
the Dubai Islamic Bank is among the banking
companies with the highest operating margin
(74.38%) due to the fact that the company’s strong
fee-based income comes with very low marginal cost. Pure investment
companies such as Industrivarden typically have
very high operating margins as their main revenue comes from
dividends and capital gains from their portfolio companies. The
Swedish investment company is a great example, with its operating
margin of 99.57%, a clear indicator of very low
operating costs relative to its revenue.
Margins in Big Tech Lower Than Expected
The technology sector has the second-lowest average operating margin
across all industries at -5.76%, largely due to aggressive spending.
Early-stage companies in AI, SaaS, and biotech often operate at a
loss for years while scaling, pulling down the industry average. In
stark contrast, PT DCI Indonesia tops the list with a 54.6% margin,
benefiting from low operating costs, benefits from large-scale
operations, and steady income from data centre contracts in a
fast-growing Southeast Asian market.
Keyence, one of Japan’s most profitable companies,
maintains a remarkable 52.2% operating margin by holding zero
inventory and outsourcing all production, a model that has proven
highly resilient amid ongoing global supply chain disruptions.
Meanwhile, AppLovin leverages automation and AI to
power its large mobile advertising platform, using algorithms to
optimise ad placements and monetise its own game inventory. This
approach delivers a solid 37.5% margin, even as
global digital ad spending grows more cautiously.
Similarly, tech giants like Microsoft and
Meta
achieve operating margins above 40%. Microsoft’s main source of
revenue comes from software and cloud services, both of which are
high-margin businesses with low incremental costs. Meta earns a big
portion of its revenue via advertising, which also scales profitably
once the infrastructure is in place.
At the other side of the spectrum, Nebius Group, a
Dutch AI and cloud infrastructure company which recently split from
Russian technology giant Yandex has an operating margin of -335.31%.
As cloud services demand grows worldwide, Nebius is investing
heavily in expanding infrastructure, typical for early-stage tech
firms navigating capital-intensive growth phases, especially amid
rising interest rates and tighter investment conditions in 2025.
MicroStrategy, a provider of business intelligence, mobile software,
and cloud-based services, reports an operating margin of -1,668.47%.
This extreme figure largely stems from its multi-billion-dollar
Bitcoin acquisitions. MicroStrategy’s capital tied to digital assets
adds significant financial risk beyond its core software business.
High margins for luxury automakers, deep losses for EV
startups
Luxury carmaker Ferrari‘s operating margin is
28.7%, nearly double that of Toyota, which holds
second place at 15.4%. Unlike traditional automakers, Ferrari
produces a significantly lower volume, delivering just 13,752
vehicles in 2024. Its business model, centred on limited production
and premium pricing, enables Ferrari to sustain operating margins
well above the industry average of 4.8%.
In stark contrast to luxury brands like Porsche and Ferrari,
Toyota
leads the global market in production efficiency and supply chain
management, enabling it to achieve strong margins at scale. The
company generates significant profits across a wide range of
vehicles, including trucks, sedans, and increasingly, hybrids and
plug-in hybrids. This broad lineup helps the Japanese automaker
maintain resilience amid tightening regulations and supply chain
volatility, securing its second place in efficiency with a
15.4%
operating margin.
The lowest operating margins in the auto industry are mostly found
among early-stage EV startups heavily investing in R&D,
manufacturing, and delivery infrastructure. Rivian,
a US electric vehicle startup, is a prime example, with an operating
margin of -70.3%. Beyond significant upfront costs,
the company also faces ongoing production challenges and supply
chain disruptions that further pressure profitability.
As China intensifies its push to lead the EV race,
XPeng, one of the country’s most promising EV
makers, is facing fierce competition from major players like NIO,
BYD, and Tesla. This has forced the company to invest heavily in
marketing technology advancement, resulting in a relatively low
operating margin of -10.26%.
Company Efficiency Trends by Region
Looking at average operating margins by country, Kuwait (61.8%),
Greece (60.2%), and the UAE (54.7%) stand out as top performers.
However, each of those has a relatively small number of large cap
companies, with between 1 and 8 valued over $10 billion. In the
Asia-Pacific, strong averages come from South Korea (30.6%),
Australia (28.31%), and Japan (17.7%).
In Europe, standout performers include Belgium (22.4%), Austria
(29.8%), and Denmark (25.3%), while larger economies like Germany
(7.9%) and France (16.4%) report more moderate averages, likely due
to the challenges if balancing legacy industries with the costs if
green transition policies and rising labour expenses in 2025.
The United States (0.2%) and the Netherlands (3.00%) have fairly low
average operating margins, despite the large number of companies
with market caps above $10 billion, over 431 companies in the US and
20 in the Netherlands. This suggests a higher concentration of
capital-intensive, high-growth tech startups, and growth-stage
companies in these markets, which significantly drags down the
averages. Many of these firms are still investing heavily in
expansion, driving losses that weigh down the overall averages as
investor appetite cools and capital becomes harder to access for
high-growth firms.
Methodology
To analyse the disparities in operational efficiency across
industries, the team at BestBrokers gathered the latest financial
data on 1,189 companies, each with a market capitalisation exceeding
$10 billion, across 39 major industries. Operating margin and market
cap figures were sourced from
CompaniesMarketCap,
Yahoo Finance , and
Jika.io, enabling
the calculation of average operating margins for each sector. We
looked at the quarterly data for operational margins and included
figures for the last twelve months (Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2024, and Q1
of 2025).
To calculate regional averages, all companies with a market
capitalisation over $10 billion were grouped by country. As a
result, some countries have relatively low company counts. In cases
like Colombia, Greece, Hungary, and Romania, where only a single
qualifying company is present, the reported operating margin may not
accurately reflect the broader financial health of companies in
those markets. The same methodology is used when evaluating
different industries, thus the companies for each industry that are
included in the report differ in number.
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