-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, VikS6+Rtm8l/Gdi46S0oebugtF7Y5iHGsjZhufvjFdJkKB2B0+tMlDua3cgtAO76 kMNBn+6JF+njrsmLmWBMWA== 0000017283-05-000537.txt : 20051129 0000017283-05-000537.hdr.sgml : 20051129 20051129135130 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0000017283-05-000537 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: N-Q PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 2 CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 20050930 FILED AS OF DATE: 20051129 DATE AS OF CHANGE: 20051129 EFFECTIVENESS DATE: 20051129 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: INVESTMENT CO OF AMERICA CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000051931 IRS NUMBER: 951426645 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 1231 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: N-Q SEC ACT: 1940 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 811-00116 FILM NUMBER: 051231207 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 333 S HOPE ST - 55TH FL CITY: LOS ANGELES STATE: CA ZIP: 90071 BUSINESS PHONE: 213-486-9200 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 333 S HOPE ST - 55TH FL CITY: LOS ANGELES STATE: CA ZIP: 90071 N-Q 1 ica_nq.htm


UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549



FORM N-Q
Quarterly Schedule of Portfolio Holdings of
Registered Management Investment Company

Investment Company Act File Number: 811-116



The Investment Company of America
(Exact Name of Registrant as specified in charter)

333 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
(Address of principal executive offices)




Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (213) 486-9200

Date of fiscal year end: December 31

Date of reporting period: September 30, 2005





Vincent P. Corti
Capital Research and Management Company
333 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
(name and address of agent for service)


Copies to:
Eric A.S. Richards, Esq.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
400 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
(Counsel for the Registrant)


ITEM 1 - Schedule of Investments
 

 
[logo - American Funds ®]



The Investment Company of America®
Investment portfolio

September 30, 2005
unaudited

   
Market value
Common stocks — 83.67%
Shares
(000)
     
ENERGY — 11.69%
    
Baker Hughes Inc.
10,875,000
$ 649,020
Burlington Resources Inc.
16,440,400
1,336,933
Chevron Corp.
19,581,010
1,267,479
ConocoPhillips
2,400,000
167,784
ENI SpA
26,380,000
783,589
Exxon Mobil Corp.
7,581,500
481,729
Halliburton Co.
5,500,000
376,860
Marathon Oil Corp.
11,050,000
761,676
Murphy Oil Corp.
4,100,000
204,467
Occidental Petroleum Corp.
1,000,000
85,430
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Class A (ADR)
17,470,000
1,146,731
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Class B (ADR)
3,870,498
266,561
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Class B
833,265
28,767
Schlumberger Ltd.
10,850,000
915,523
TOTAL SA
2,505,000
683,857
   
9,156,406
     
MATERIALS — 5.89%
    
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
200,000
11,028
Alcan Inc.
2,241,600
71,126
Alcoa Inc.
20,326,400
496,371
Alumina Ltd.
10,000,000
46,601
Barrick Gold Corp.
13,660,900
396,849
BHP Billiton Ltd.
9,412,655
159,733
Dow Chemical Co.
22,366,050
931,993
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
3,585,600
140,448
Georgia-Pacific Corp., Georgia-Pacific Group
6,874,298
234,139
International Paper Co.
8,997,235
268,118
MeadWestvaco Corp.
4,085,000
112,828
Newmont Mining Corp.
9,500,000
448,115
Placer Dome Inc. (Canada)
1,500,000
25,698
Placer Dome Inc.
12,500,000
214,375
Rio Tinto PLC
10,044,473
410,527
Rohm and Haas Co.
6,500,000
267,345
Weyerhaeuser Co.
5,475,000
376,406
   
4,611,700
     
INDUSTRIALS — 11.00%
    
3M Co.
3,500,000
$ 256,760
Boeing Co.
13,000,000
883,350
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
7,200,000
430,560
Caterpillar Inc.
16,600,000
975,250
Cooper Industries, Ltd., Class A
2,500,000
172,850
Cummins Inc.
1,700,000
149,583
Deere & Co.
6,200,000
379,440
FedEx Corp.
1,500,000
130,695
General Dynamics Corp.
3,372,900
403,230
General Electric Co.
34,000,000
1,144,780
Illinois Tool Works Inc.
3,700,000
304,621
Lockheed Martin Corp.
1,060,000
64,702
Mitsubishi Corp.
4,035,000
79,577
Northrop Grumman Corp.
2,680,000
145,658
Parker Hannifin Corp.
2,500,000
160,775
Raytheon Co.
9,216,000
350,392
Siemens AG
1,875,000
144,477
Southwest Airlines Co.
9,000,000
133,650
Tyco International Ltd.
40,380,100
1,124,586
Union Pacific Corp.
3,500,000
250,950
United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B
3,918,700
270,900
United Technologies Corp.
10,750,000
557,280
Waste Management, Inc.
3,500,000
100,135
   
8,614,201
     
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY — 9.77%
    
Best Buy Co., Inc.
16,682,700
726,198
Carnival Corp., units
7,600,000
379,848
Clear Channel Communications, Inc.
7,519,700
247,323
Comcast Corp., Class A1
9,357,900
274,935
Delphi Corp.
23,969,200
66,155
Dow Jones & Co., Inc.
1,887,000
72,065
Federated Department Stores, Inc.
1,246,000
83,320
Ford Motor Co.
12,109,700
119,402
Gap, Inc.
3,100,000
54,033
General Motors Corp.
12,950,000
396,399
Harley-Davidson Motor Co.
1,000,000
48,440
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
912,500
51,578
Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc.1
4,100,000
47,724
Knight-Ridder, Inc.
550,500
32,303
Kohl’s Corp.1
1,600,000
80,288
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
2,250,000
59,801
Liberty Media Corp., Class A1
16,280,000
131,054
Limited Brands, Inc.2
20,749,400
423,910
Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
20,568,300
1,324,599
McDonald’s Corp.
1,600,000
53,584
Newell Rubbermaid Inc.
2,000,000
45,300
Target Corp.
20,850,000
1,082,740
Time Warner Inc.
44,750,000
810,422
TJX Companies, Inc.
5,750,000
117,760
Toyota Motor Corp.
12,750,000
583,730
Viacom Inc., Class B, nonvoting
6,500,000
214,565
Walt Disney Co.
5,000,000
120,650
   
7,648,126
     
CONSUMER STAPLES — 9.61%
    
Altria Group, Inc.
55,000,000
$4,054,050
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
3,500,000
150,640
Avon Products, Inc.
9,520,000
257,040
Coca-Cola Co.
5,320,000
229,771
General Mills, Inc.
4,535,000
218,587
H.J. Heinz Co.
7,950,000
290,493
Kimberly-Clark Corp.
500,000
29,765
Kraft Foods Inc., Class A
2,100,000
64,239
PepsiCo, Inc.
11,200,000
635,152
Procter & Gamble Co.
2,400,000
142,704
Reynolds American Inc.
4,461,666
370,408
Sara Lee Corp.
8,816,100
167,065
Unilever NV (New York registered)
5,650,000
403,693
UST Inc.
2,000,000
83,720
Walgreen Co.
9,595,000
416,903
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
229,000
10,035
   
7,524,265
     
HEALTH CARE — 6.29%
    
Abbott Laboratories
8,100,000
343,440
Aetna Inc.
4,510,300
388,517
Applera Corp. - Applied Biosystems Group
1,223,800
28,441
AstraZeneca PLC (ADR)
4,534,500
213,575
AstraZeneca PLC (Sweden)
4,609,500
214,553
AstraZeneca PLC (United Kingdom)
5,393,900
250,602
Becton, Dickinson and Co.
1,500,000
78,645
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
21,680,300
521,628
Eli Lilly and Co.
7,610,000
407,287
Glaxo Wellcome PLC (ADR)
924,000
47,383
GlaxoSmithKline PLC
4,250,000
108,058
Guidant Corp.
1,500,000
103,335
HCA Inc.
3,743,900
179,408
Johnson & Johnson
3,500,000
221,480
McKesson Corp.
2,600,000
123,370
Medco Health Solutions, Inc.1
971,000
53,240
Merck & Co., Inc.
12,800,000
348,288
Novartis AG (ADR)
256,556
13,084
Pfizer Inc
3,000,000
74,910
Roche Holding AG
1,880,000
261,204
Sanofi-Aventis
830,000
68,595
Schering-Plough Corp.
16,111,300
339,143
WellPoint, Inc.1
5,800,000
439,756
Wyeth
2,000,000
92,540
   
4,920,482
     
FINANCIALS — 9.84%
    
Allstate Corp.
2,600,000
143,754
American International Group, Inc.
10,463,900
648,343
Aon Corp.
2,183,800
70,056
Bank of America Corp.
6,000,000
252,600
Capital One Financial Corp.
3,330,943
264,877
Chubb Corp.
5,100,000
456,705
Citigroup Inc.
14,225,000
647,522
Fannie Mae
22,415,600
1,004,667
Freddie Mac
3,150,000
177,849
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
2,250,000
173,633
HSBC Holdings PLC (ADR)
1,079,588
$ 87,695
HSBC Holdings PLC (United Kingdom)
26,697,111
431,653
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
18,836,200
639,112
Lincoln National Corp.
800,000
41,616
Lloyds TSB Group PLC
76,500,000
629,912
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
4,900,000
148,911
MBNA Corp.
4,800,000
118,272
SAFECO Corp.
850,000
45,373
U.S. Bancorp
11,250,000
315,900
Washington Mutual, Inc.
21,500,000
843,230
Wells Fargo & Co.
7,330,000
429,318
XL Capital Ltd., Class A
2,000,000
136,060
   
7,707,058
     
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY — 9.61%
    
Agilent Technologies, Inc.1
5,000,000
163,750
Altera Corp.1
5,000,000
95,550
Analog Devices, Inc.
4,250,000
157,845
Applied Materials, Inc.
15,550,000
263,728
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
5,875,000
252,860
Cisco Systems, Inc.1 
28,800,000
516,384
Electronic Data Systems Corp.
4,000,000
89,760
First Data Corp.
2,600,000
104,000
Hewlett-Packard Co.
30,700,000
896,440
Hitachi, Ltd.
17,000,000
107,616
Intel Corp.
3,640,000
89,726
International Business Machines Corp.
7,595,000
609,271
KLA-Tencor Corp.
2,275,000
110,929
Linear Technology Corp.
5,560,000
209,000
Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
6,300,000
268,695
Micron Technology, Inc.1 
10,000,000
133,000
Microsoft Corp.
45,030,000
1,158,622
Motorola, Inc.
10,501,475
231,978
Sabre Holdings Corp., Class A
6,009,680
121,876
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
200,000
112,708
Sanmina-SCI Corp.1
7,000,000
30,030
Solectron Corp.1
13,000,000
50,830
Sun Microsystems, Inc.1
70,510,000
276,399
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
165,776,838
266,583
Texas Instruments Inc.
29,570,200
1,002,430
Xilinx, Inc.
7,400,000
206,090
   
7,526,100
     
TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES — 6.81%
    
ALLTEL Corp.
2,942,750
191,602
AT&T Corp.
11,297,500
223,691
BellSouth Corp.
33,800,000
888,940
Deutsche Telekom AG
7,000,000
127,399
SBC Communications Inc.
61,950,000
1,484,942
Sprint Nextel Corp.
17,885,000
425,305
Telefónica, SA
29,753,631
487,144
Verizon Communications Inc.
19,483,200
636,906
Vodafone Group PLC (ADR)
21,911,600
569,044
Vodafone Group PLC
113,500,000
295,182
   
5,330,155
     
UTILITIES — 2.35%
    
American Electric Power Co., Inc.
3,750,000
$ 148,875
Cinergy Corp.
1,693,200
75,195
Dominion Resources, Inc.
7,131,912
614,343
Duke Energy Corp.
5,000,000
145,850
Exelon Corp.
5,275,500
281,923
FirstEnergy Corp.
1,138,500
59,339
FPL Group, Inc.
4,000,000
190,400
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.
5,000,000
321,800
   
1,837,725
     
MISCELLANEOUS — 0.81%
    
Other common stocks in initial period of acquisition
  
637,931
     
     
Total common stocks (cost: $45,815,271,000)
  
65,514,149
     
     
     
     
     
 
Shares or
  
Convertible securities — 0.17%
principal amount
  
     
FINANCIALS — 0.17%
    
Chubb Corp. 7.00% convertible preferred 2005
1,400,000 units
45,766
Fannie Mae 5.375% convertible preferred 2049
970
88,998
   
134,764
     
Total convertible securities (cost: $125,646,000)
  
134,764
     
     
     
     
     
 
Principal amount
  
Bonds & notes — 1.15%
(000)
  
     
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY — 0.32%
    
General Motors Acceptance Corp. 6.875% 2011
$123,840
112,779
General Motors Acceptance Corp. 7.25% 2011
62,052
57,764
General Motors Acceptance Corp. 6.875% 2012
9,995
8,957
General Motors Acceptance Corp. 7.00% 2012
21,910
19,811
General Motors Corp. 7.20% 2011
28,708
25,694
General Motors Corp. 7.125% 2013
25,630
21,978
   
246,983
     
TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES — 0.30%
    
SBC Communications Inc. 4.125% 2009
120,000
117,080
SBC Communications Inc. 5.10% 2014
120,000
119,121
   
236,201
     
MORTGAGE-BACKED OBLIGATIONS3— 0.53%
    
Fannie Mae 6.00% 2017
$ 128,022
$ 131,737
Fannie Mae 6.00% 2017
159,691
164,325
Fannie Mae 6.50% 2017
114,106
118,242
   
414,304
     
Total bonds & notes (cost: $887,761,000)
  
897,488
     
     
     
     
     
     
Short-term securities — 14.92%
    
     
     
3M Co. 3.52%-3.65% due 10/14-10/21/2005
109,283
109,076
Abbott Laboratories Inc. 3.73% due 10/25/20054
70,000
69,819
AIG Funding Inc. 3.59%-3.75% due 10/17-11/22/2005
104,300
104,031
American Express Credit Corp. 3.57%-3.65% due 10/17-11/15/2005
125,000
124,692
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. 3.63%-3.71% due 11/3-12/15/20054
89,800
89,266
Bank of America Corp. 3.61%-3.83% due 10/24-12/13/2005
303,500
301,945
BellSouth Corp. 3.50%-3.70% due 10/3-11/3/20054 
95,000
94,858
CAFCO, LLC 3.55%-3.89% due 10/17-12/13/20054 
285,000
283,519
Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. 3.65%-3.72% due 10/17-10/31/2005
70,000
69,813
ChevronTexaco Funding Corp. 3.70%-3.74% due 11/15-11/17/2005
125,000
124,395
Ciesco LLC 3.58%-3.72% due 10/20-11/21/20054
90,000
89,686
Clipper Receivables Co., LLC 3.69%-3.83% due 10/28-12/2/20054
250,000
248,737
Coca-Cola Co. 3.53%-3.64% due 10/3-12/2/2005
196,200
195,563
DuPont (E.I.) de Nemours & Co. 3.53%-3.74% due 10/20-11/18/2005
302,200
301,100
Edison Asset Securitization LLC 3.50%-3.78% due 10/11-11/22/20054
205,128
204,587
Estée Lauder Companies Inc. 3.68% due 10/17/20054 
10,000
9,983
Exxon Project Investment Corp. 3.55% due 10/11/20054
50,000
49,946
Fannie Mae 3.51%-3.60% due 10/26-11/9/2005
103,600
103,236
FCAR Owner Trust I 3.65% due 10/17/2005
50,000
49,914
Federal Farm Credit Banks 3.15%-3.76% due 10/7-12/28/2005
247,000
245,334
Federal Home Loan Bank 3.42%-3.785% due 10/11-12/21/2005
1,503,982
1,498,008
Freddie Mac 3.37%-3.785% due 10/4-12/20/2005
1,199,205
1,194,060
Gannett Co. 3.55%-3.74% due 10/12-11/22/20054 
282,000
281,264
General Electric Capital Corp. 3.73%-3.84% due 11/15-12/5/2005
75,000
74,596
General Electric Capital Services, Inc. 3.70% due 11/2/2005
74,700
74,446
Harley-Davidson Funding Corp. 3.68% due 11/9/20054
10,400
10,357
Harvard University 3.73% due 11/22/2005
20,000
19,890
Hershey Co. 3.56%-3.60% due 10/18-11/9/20054
80,000
79,770
HSBC Finance Corp. 3.59%-3.74% due 10/18-11/22/2005
186,400
185,759
IBM Capital Inc. 3.47%-3.70% due 10/6-10/25/20054
65,000
64,933
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 3.41%-3.66% due 10/3-12/20/2005
558,300
555,537
International Lease Finance Corp. 3.59%-3.69% due 10/12-11/17/2005
130,000
129,621
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 3.69%-3.77% due 10/21-11/22/2005
125,000
124,528
Kimberly-Clark Worldwide 3.57%-3.73% due 10/11-10/27/20054
75,000
74,875
Medtronic Inc. 3.56% due 10/13/20054
24,900
24,868
NetJets Inc. 3.80%-3.81% due 12/9-12/12/20054
60,000
59,559
New Center Asset Trust Plus 3.57% due 10/14/2005
35,000
34,953
Park Avenue Receivables Co., LLC 3.55%-3.78% due 10/5-11/16/20054
170,596
170,261
PepsiCo Inc. 3.55%-3.71% due 10/11-11/4/20054 
157,500
157,205
Pfizer Inc 3.70%-3.71% due 11/18-11/21/20054
128,000
127,352
Preferred Receivables Funding Corp. 3.61%-3.75% due 10/3-11/4/20054
80,000
79,809
Private Export Funding Corp. 3.50%-3.68% due 10/13-11/16/20054 
$ 70,000
$ 69,808
Procter & Gamble Co. 3.49%-3.81% due 10/19-12/16/20054
352,200
349,737
Ranger Funding Co. LLC 3.74% due 11/1/20054 
25,000
24,917
SBC Communications Inc. 3.43%-3.62% due 10/19-10/27/20054
91,700
91,490
State Street Corp. 3.57% due 10/3/2005
50,000
49,985
Sun Trust Banks Inc. 3.78%-4.02% due 11/28/2005-1/30/2006
109,700
109,688
Tennessee Valley Authority 3.48%-3.68% due 10/13-12/15/2005
308,715
307,522
Triple-A One Funding Corp. 3.72%-3.78% due 10/28-12/5/20054
121,049
120,497
U.S. Treasury Bills 3.135%-3.461% due 10/13-12/29/2005
1,524,816
1,518,313
United Parcel Service Inc. 3.50%-3.70% due 10/3-12/2/2005
75,000
74,805
Variable Funding Capital Corp. 3.58%-3.82% due 10/3-12/13/20054
332,000
330,831
Verizon Global Funding Corp. 3.60% due 10/4/20054
25,000
24,990
Verizon Network Funding Corp. 3.64% due 10/24/2005
20,000
19,951
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 3.55%-3.78% due 10/18-12/6/20054
352,775
351,391
Wells Fargo & Co. 3.59%-3.74% due 10/12-11/1/2005
350,000
349,997
     
     
Total short-term securities (cost: $11,684,553,000)
  
11,685,073
     
Total investment securities (cost: $58,513,231,000)
  
78,231,474
Other assets less liabilities
  
71,416
     
Net assets
  
$78,302,890

“Miscellaneous” securities include holdings in their initial period of acquisition that have not previously been publicly disclosed.

1Security did not produce income during the last 12 months. 
2The fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting shares of this company. See table below for additional information.
3Pass-through securities backed by a pool of mortgages or other loans on which principal payments are periodically made. Therefore, the
effective maturities are shorter than the stated maturities.
4Purchased in a private placement transaction; resale may be limited to qualified institutional buyers; resale to the public may require
 registration. The total value of all such restricted securities was $3,634,315,000, which represented 4.64% of the net assets of the fund. 

ADR = American Depositary Receipts


 
Investments in affiliates
A company is considered to be an affiliate of the fund under the Investment Company Act of 1940 if the fund’s holdings in that company represent 5% or more of the outstanding voting shares of that company. Further details on these holdings and related transactions during the nine months ended September 30, 2005, appear below.

           
Market value
           
of affiliate
         
Dividend income
at 9/30/05
Company
Beginning shares
Purchases
Sales
Ending shares
(000)
(000)
Limited Brands
20,749,400
—
—
20,749,400
$9,337
$423,910
 
 

Federal income tax information
  
(dollars in thousands)
  
   
   
   
Gross unrealized appreciation on investment securities
$21,000,926
Gross unrealized depreciation on investment securities
(1,281,942)
Net unrealized appreciation on investment securities
19,718,984
Cost of investment securities for federal income tax purposes
58,512,490
 
 

ITEM 2 - Controls and Procedures

The Registrant’s Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer have concluded, based on their evaluation of the Registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rule 30a-3 under the Investment Company Act of 1940), that such controls and procedures are adequate and reasonably designed to achieve the purposes described in paragraph (c) of such rule.

There were no changes in the Registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) that occurred during the Registrant’s last fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.


ITEM 3 - Exhibits

The certifications required by Rule 30a-2 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are attached as exhibits hereto.
 
 
 
 
SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

THE INVESTMENT COMPANY OF AMERICA

By /s/ R. Michael Shanahan             
R. Michael Shanahan, Vice Chairman and CEO

Date: November 28, 2005  
 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.



By /s/ R. Michael Shanahan             
R. Michael Shanahan, Vice Chairman and CEO

Date: November 28, 2005  



By /s/ Thomas M. Rowland            
Thomas M. Rowland, Treasurer and PFO

Date: November 28, 2005

 EX-99.CERT 2 ica_cert302.htm
[logo - American Funds(r)]

The Investment Company of America
333 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
Phone (213) 486-9200


CERTIFICATION
 
I, R. Michael Shanahan, certify that:
 
1.
I have reviewed this report on Form N-Q of The Investment Company of America;
 
2.
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
 
3.
Based on my knowledge, the schedules of investments included in this report fairly present in all material respects the investments of the registrant as of the end of the fiscal quarter for which this report is filed;
 
4.
The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) for the registrant and have:
 
a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
 
b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
 
c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date of this report based on such evaluation; and
 
d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
 
5.
The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's Board of Directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
 
a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and
 
b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
 
 
Date: November 28, 2005
 
/s/ R. Michael Shanahan            
R. Michael Shanahan, Vice Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer
The Investment Company of America
 
 
 
 
 
 
[logo - American Funds(r)]

The Investment Company of America
333 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
Phone (213) 486-9200


CERTIFICATION

I, Thomas M. Rowland, certify that:
 
1.
I have reviewed this report on Form N-Q of The Investment Company of America;

2.
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
 
3.
Based on my knowledge, the schedules of investments included in this report fairly present in all material respects the investments of the registrant as of the end of the fiscal quarter for which this report is filed;
 
4.
The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) for the registrant and have:
 
a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
 
b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
 
c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date of this report based on such evaluation; and
 
d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
 
5.
The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's Board of Directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
 
a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and
 
b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
 
 
Date: November 28, 2005   
   
/s/ Thomas M. Rowland        
Thomas M. Rowland, Treasurer and
Principal Financial Officer
The Investment Company of America


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