CEO Of The Year Nominees: 3) Steve Jobs Of Apple (AAPL)

24/7 Wall St. will name its annual CEO of the Year next week. The executive will be picked from a field of ten which we will profile this week

The CEOs are chosen on the basis of their company’s stock market and financial performances compared with their own industry groups and all large companies traded on US markets. Only firms with market caps of more than $5 billion were considered. 24/7 reviewed revenue growth, operating margins, balance sheets, return on assets, and return on equity

Steve Jobs of Apple (AAPL) has to be on any "best CEO", "best executive", or "best anything" list. He deserves it. Apple may be the most perfectly run large company in the world. Its product development really has no equal in the world of public firms. The iPod was followed by a new generation of Macs, which was followed by the remarkably successful iPhone.

In a normal universe, Apple is too small to compete in the PC or smartphone business. The dominance of Microsoft (MSFT) powered computers is too great. Firms from Nokia (NOK) to Samsung to RIM (RIMM) have a lock on the high-end cell phone business. In other words, there is no room for Apple products in these market.

Apple has created is own markets by building better, more attractive, more user-friendly consumer electronics. It has also been remarkably efficient in it operations, something for which the company gets very little credit. Take a look at the company’s gross and operating margins and be impressed.

Earlier nominees:

James Dimon of JPMorgan Chase

Robert Iger of Disney

Douglas A. McIntyre