A magazine called Corporate Responsibility Officer puts out a list of the top corporate citizens. Investors should hope that some of the companies would stop being so nice and spend more time trying to make money for shareholders.
How does a company get on the list? According to MarketWatch: "distinguish themselves from their peers at other large public companies by embracing higher standards — combining strong financial performance with responsible practices on environmental and social issues,"
Among the top ten companies on the list: Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR), Advanced Micro (AMD), Nike (NKE), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), Motorola (MOT), Aligent (A), Timberland (TBL), Starbucks (SBUX), and General Mills (GIS).
AMD can’t be doing worse, down from $42.70 to $14.55 in the last year. As Jim Cramer pointed out recently, IBM’s stock is actually down over the last five years. Motorola’s shares are down about 13% over the last year. The Dow is up 15%. Aligent is also down over the last year.
Maybe companies on the list are good for shorting, but, in most cases, not much else.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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