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24/7 Wall St.'s Corporate Power Rankings (Week 3)
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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. Goldman ended up at the very bottom of the 24/7 PR
Banks were hit hardest last week on earings and the Obama bank proposals.
Apple, marching toward beating earnings and the launch of its tablet, was in first place regaining the position after a week away.
Check out the complete rankings after the jump
| Company | Rank (last week) | Symbol | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 1 (3) | APPL | Company set to blow through numbers, according to a number of brainy analysts. Early polls show tablet computer demand likely to be higher than already high expectations. It’s Apple’s week. | |
| McDonald’s | 2 (6) | MCD | Profits up 23% as fat people flock to low-cost, high-cal foods. Same-store sales show that Burger Kind and Taco Bell are in for rough year. | |
| Ford | 3 (5) | F | US car sales set to start slow, but Toyota recall should help rivals. Good chance that Ford will pick up a lot of share in US this year. | |
| Wal-Mart | 4 (7) | WMT | Fires 11,000 Sam’s Club workers—10% of division head count. Bad news for people, good news for margins and investors. Excitement about new tech gadgets should help retail electronic sales. | |
| Berkshire Hathaway | 5 (9) | BRK | Deal with Swiss Re should be good for Buffett insurance earnings. Warren’s inability to stop Kraft from upping bid for Cadbury will cost him. | |
| Microsoft | 6 (11) | MSFT | Possible Google exit from China would be big plus. Firm seems to have patch hole in IE that hackers target. IBM upbeat forecast should be benefit. | |
| Abbott Labs | 7 (1) | ABT | Drug agencies put warning on obesity drug Meridia. Increased risk of heart attack. EU still has some concerns about Solvay deal. | |
| Dow Chemical | 8 (14) | DOW | Morgan Stanley starts shares at overweight. But, expected slowdown in first quarter manufacturing in China weighs. | |
| Cisco | 9 (12) | CSCO | Company is still selling Wall St. on its consumer business. As video home use grows, the story gets legs. CSCO may be a great turnaround where none was needed. | |
| FedEx | 10 (4) | FDX | Makes Fortune’s best companies to work for. Happy employees are bad for shareholders. Early reaction to rates hikes is positive, at least on Wall St. | |
| 11 (8) | GOOG | China problems still spell trouble. Sale of shares by co-founders causes a shudder. Earnings are unusually strong. | ||
| Intel | 12 (18) | INTC | Barron’s gives shares thumbs-up. AMD outlook should encourage holders of larger rival. IBM figures show server and server chip comeback. 23. | |
| Caterpillar | 13 (22) | CAT | Market believes that CAT’s hard year is behind it. Brutal cost cut should improve margins as sales improve. Some concern about China bank loan drop-off could hurt construction projects. | |
| Disney | 14 (17) | DIS | Barron’s loves shares. ABC helped by NBC woes with O’Brien. ESPN content could end up on Microsoft Xbox, great way for Mouse Co. to extend franchise. | |
| IBM | 15 (27) | IBM | Blow-out quarterly numbers and future bookings show strategy of balancing risk across several IT sectors works. Services segment revenue and earnings especially strong. Go Big Blue. | |
| American Express | 16 (10) | AXP | Shares shattered as FBR Capital Markets pushes concerns about credit card regulations. But, Amex does beat Wall St. forecasts for last quarter. | |
| Proctor & Gamble | 17 (13) | PG | Market reaction to direct online sales of products is good. Stock gets “safe haven” label as techs and financial shares are hammered. | |
| Oracle | 18 (16) | ORCL | Juniper launches new video product competition. Stock sells off much more sharply as DJIA during week. Any real correction in tech will hurt most visible stocks as much as small caps. | |
| Coca-Cola | 19 (28) | KO | May buy Russian juice maker get into hot Siberian market. Could be “safe haven” play for Wall St. if correction gets vicious. | |
| Philip Morris | 20 (25) | PM | Gets upgrade from Credit Suisse due to improved outlook in Russian and Eastern Europe. May help offset new butt ban in China. | |
| GE | 21 (15) | GE | Posts numbers a bit better than Wall St. expected but not good enough to signal turnaround. NBC screw ups still make company look like KeyStone Cops. | |
| Boeing | 22 (26) | BA | Switch in Defense Department budgets should favor company. Trouble at rival Airbus could accrue to American company’s favor. | |
| AT&T | 23 (31) | T | Microsoft backs Ma Bell’s suit with Tivo. Analysts believe new wireless prices could improve revenue. Word is T killed Tiger Woods endorsement contract without penalty. Rough. | |
| Verizon | 24 (23) | VZ | Picks up another Palm handset. New FCC ruling should get more sports onto handsets. Rumor that iPhone deal is just weeks away. | |
| Pfizer | 25 (30) | PFE | Kidney drug also found to treat pancreatic cancer. New push into emerging markets seems promising. Death of healthcare bill would be a tonic. | |
| Exxon-Mobil | 26 (20) | XOM | Worries about refining profits rise. Merger with XTO still under some pressure. Big oil likely Obama target after big banks. | |
| Hewlett-Packard | 27 (19) | HPQ | Approval of Oracle bid for Sun Micro will create me competition. Strong IBM numbers put pressure on HPQ to match when it reports. | |
| Johnson & Johnson | 28 (32) | JNJ | Closes valuable deal for sinus device company. JNJ hurt by as federal court voids four of it stent patents. Heartless. | |
| Home Depot | 29 (21) | HD | Consumer credit concerns in bank earnings weigh on home market recovery. Home building permits a spark. | |
| Bank of America | 30 (24) | BAC | Slammed by Obama bank plans. Earnings worse than expects, but Morgan Stanley keeps “overweight” rating on shares. | |
| JP Morgan | 31 (2) | JPM | Bad week for big banks. Consumer credit write-offs still plague. Obama proposals to limit major profit centers send investors out in droves. | |
| Goldman Sachs | 32 (29) | GS | No firm stands to lose more if Obama banking plan is adopted. Public relations backlash over bonuses grows. |
Douglas A. McIntyre
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