24/7 Wall St.'s Corporate Power Rankings

The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the thirty-two most important companies in America are determined be earnings, analyst rankings, important corporate news, trends in each firm’s industry, product introductions, management strength and changes, and credible rumors.

The Corporate Power Rankings will be released at midnight on each Sunday based on performance during the previous week.

Apple remains by any reasonable measure the top big company in America– product, pipeline, and profit. Ford, comeback company of the year in 2009, opens the new year in the second spot and looks to keep its momentum.

Boeing, the Detroit Lion’s of the corporate world, is not likely to move out of the bottom spot in the near future.

Check of the complete rankings after the jump.

	Company	Rank	Symbol	Comment
	Apple	1	AAPL	Apple had another monster week. Shares reached all time high above $215. Speculation about shipment of new tablet computer whips Jobs’ faithful into frenzy.
	Ford	2	F	Ford hammers competition with 30% plus improvement in December sales as GM and Chrysler continue death march. Stock at 52-week high. CEO Mulally now America’s corporate Caesar.
	Google	3	GOOG	Google steals CES thunder –launches Nexus One. Android OS eating Apple and RIM’s lunch.
	Wal-Mart	4	WMT	Walmart said its Sam’s Club division will offer private-label vodka– should be huge during recession. Good December numbers for rivals Target and Costco bode well for world’s No. 1 retailer.
	JP Morgan	5	JPM	JP Morgan expected to dazzle with upcoming earnings extending CEO Jamie Dimon’s reign as King of Wall St. Credit Suisse names JPM top big bank stock pick.
	Berkshire Hathaway	6	BRK	Berkshire Hathaway burdened by what analysts claim was CEO Buffett’s worst stock picks in years. Oracle shows he still has juice- trashes Kraft deal to seize Cadbury. Smart.
	Abbott Labs	7	ABT	Abbott Labs gets approval to market stents in Japan. Gets better grades on stent products compared to near-dead Boston Scientific. Settles legal issues with states for $22.5 million. Chump change.
	FedEx	8	FDX	FedEx prospects improved on news that rival UPS claims that its business is up. Stock makes recovery at the end of last week. Founder and CEO Fred Smith looks good to stay another five years. Remake of “Cast Away” might help.
	Cisco	9	CSCO	Cisco gets good ink from Wedbush Securities in Barron’s. Company announced at CES that it will sell high quality video conferencing at low prices for home use. No one will ever be alone again.
	Oracle	10	ORCL	Oracle crushing competitors using M&A as weapon of choice. Buys Silver Creek Systems, data quality solutions company. Deal to close Sun Micro purchase still on track.
	GE	11	GE	GE gets pop on good analyst call from JP Morgan. Leno situation gets conglomerate exposure but too small to mean anything to earnings. DOJ gets job of reviewing NBCU deal with Comcast.
	American Express	12	AXP	American Express gets upgrade from Macquarie. Appears unlikely to lose lawsuits with Courtney Love over $352,059.67 unpaid charges by former rocker. How did she get Amex card anyway?
	McDonald’s	13	MCD	McDonald’s is pushing out number two, Ralph Alvarez. Smart move by CEO Skinner to consolidate power. New marketing deal with LeBron James is a slam dunk.
	Dow Chemical	14	DOW	Dow Chemical benefits as several analysts say that 2010 will be the company’s “Big Year”. Monsanto’s positive comments about seed use likely to help JV with Dow AgroSciences.
	Exxon-Mobil	15	XOM	ExxonMobile. Death watch for baby seals and polar bears. Exxon to drill in Arctic. Inks deal with Qatar Petroleum to build petrochemical complex. Crude price too low. Share price stagnant.
	Disney	16	DIS	Disney will say goodbye to big box office talent Hannah Montana. Mouse company will release 3D Blu-ray movies that no one will watch. Will open store in NYC Times Square as recession buster. Not.
	Bank of America	17	BAC	BofA hit with bad PR over bonus payments. Stock upgraded by Credit Suisse. New CEO Moynihan says challenges remain… as if that were new news. Not as bright as Ken Lewis?
	Verizon	18	VZ	Verizon dodges faltering telco wireless network problems. Benefits from iPhone potential in 2010. Hurt by guiding below Q4 consensus.”Can you hear me yet?”
	Home Depot	19	HD	Home Depot plugged by Cramer early in the week. Bad numbers for pending home sales a drag. Same-store sales results from retailers show consumers more like to buy appliances—HD strength.
	Proctor & Gamble	20	PG	Procter & Gamble has nothing this week. Big news is that it will sponsor ten athletes at the Vancouver Olympics. Where? These include top players in non-events like curling and pairs skating.
	Intel	21	INTC	Intel releases new chips at CES, but Qualcomm competition heats up. No “Intel Inside” Apple tablet?
	Hewlett-Packard	22	HPQ	Hewlett-Packard has product envy at CES. Shows carbon copy Android phone. MSFT’s Ballmer HP touch screen demo serves as sleep aid at CES.
	Microsoft	23	MSFT	Microsoft Windows 7 is still doing well. Bing momentum has slowed. Android launch makes it clear that Redmond’s multi-year effort to be a player in mobile operating systems has failed. Stock is at 52-week high.
	Philip Morris	24	PM	Philip Morris benefits from crackdowns on illegal cigarette sales and smuggling. But, increasing electronic cigarette sales could hurt the old style Marlboro man way of life.
	Caterpillar	25	CAT	Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens said “I’m still concerned about deflationary trends on the global scale. There’s a lot of manufacturing capacity on a world-wide basis.” Shareholders must love that comment.
	IBM	26	IBM	IBM moves to increase financing to customers in China which should help it market products there. Announces it will join companies offering video conferencing for the home. Wall St. expects big Q4.
	Johnson & Johnson	27	JNJ	Johnson & Johnson hemorrhaging; FDA investigating Procrit. TheStreet.com names J&J one of its top consumer goods companies for 2010. “Impressive win”, too bad it was tops of only six.
	Goldman Sachs	28	GS	Goldman Sachs cannot shake taxpayer, government, and investor revolt about pay packages. Central Laborers’ Pension Fund sues over “breakdown” in corporate oversight. Rich banker problems won’t go away.
	Coca-Cola	29	KO	Coca-Cola stock trashed by JPMorgan analyst. Sales flat in developed markets including US, EU, and Japan. Coke will also waste money on Vancouver Olympics. Where?
	Pfizer	30	PFE	Pfizer generic rival Teva expects revenue to double by 2015 which will hurt PFE sales. European Commission approves intravenous version of its high blood pressure drug Revatio. Weak PR.
	AT&T	31	T	AT&T pounded more each day as trouble with its 3G network adds to customer satisfaction woes. Telco says it will add smartphones to network, potentially exacerbating problem. PR disaster.
	Boeing	32	BA	Boeing remains the most troubled and badly managed big company in the US. Stock downgraded by Macquarie. 2009 commercial aircraft orders dropped. CEO McNerney won’t last the year.

Douglas A. McIntyre