24/7 Wall St.'s Corporate Power Rankings (Week 5)

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

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

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) surged to the top on unexpectedly strong earnings. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) got knocked down the list as it was stripped of its “Aaa” rating.  Exxon (NYSE:XOM) took the bottom stock on poor refinery margins and a sharp drop in oil prices.

Douglas A. McIntyre

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Cisco	1 (8)	CSCO	Posts monster results for last quarter and impressive outlook ahead. Also say it will begin to add jobs. Multiple Wall St. analyst upgrades.
	Wal-Mart	2 (4)	WMT	January retail sales strong across most categories and large retailers. Employments numbers a plus. Fires 300 people at headquarters showing Walton’s can still save money.
	McDonald’s	3 (3)	MCD	Burger King results show consumer spending movement toward fast food. Goldman Sachs gives Big Mac prospects a thumbs up. Who says $1 coffee doesn’t have fans?
	Apple	4 (7)	APPL	Amazon dispute with publishers will help iPad launch. Rising customer service concerns about competing handsets with Google Android system should help iPhone.
	Proctor & Gamble	5 (9)	PG	Positive move in unemployment numbers will help huge consumer goods firms. Rival Unilever results show comeback in industry
	Berkshire Hathaway	6 (1)	BRK	Reverse split not only brings in retail shareholders but gets Buffett a spot at S&P 500 table. Company says it will issue no new shares, taking dilution out of the picture.
	Abbott Labs	7 (6)	ABT	Major competitor Boston Scientific hurt by huge sum paid to J&J in patent dispute. Retraction of study linking vaccines and autism also lifts.
	Ford	8 (2)	F	Fusion hybrid and Mercury Milan hybrid get non-recall for brake. Increase in January sales is entirely from low margin fleet sales.
	Dow Chemical	9 (13)	DOW	Surge in petrochemical prices should help margins. Firm posts much higher than expected results for last quarter.
	FedEx	10 (10)	FDX	Rival UPS results positive sign for industry. GDP and employments figures are plus. Big rise in China economic numbers a plus for American companies with big Asia businesses.
	Coca-Cola	11 (12)	KO	Growing evidence that soft drink companies can market effectively on social media. Superbowl ad expected to help US sales—at least temporarily.
	Intel	12 (11)	INTC	Most chip sales rise on expected improvement in PC and server businesses. Rival AMD goes on Goldman Sachs “sell” list on expectation Intel will keep upper hand.
	Disney	13 (19)	DIS	Consumer spending and employment numbers should help theme part traffic. Prepares to dump money losing Miramax. Mouse company benefits from perceived recovery in media from TWX earnings.
	Google	14 (15)	GOOG	Partnership with National Security Agency should actually help search company to get to the bottom of some cyberattack issues. But Justice Department files object to deal with book publishers.
	IBM	15 (14)	IBM	Cisco numbers good omen for big tech. Big Blue buys Initiate systems to increase footprint is important healthcare sector.
	Hewlett-Packard	16 (20)	HPQ	Lenovo results show strength in PC market recovery. Cisco earnings show enterprise computing improvement.
	American Express	17 (16)	AXP	Visa profits show strong rebound in credit card sector. Stock upgraded to “buy” at Bank of America on recovery in consumer spending.
	GE	18 (17)	GE	Testimony of GE and Comcast execs regarding merger of entertainment assets begins poorly. Renewed concerns about bank write-offs hits perception of GE Capital.
	Philip Morris	19 (21)	PM	Rival Imperial says year has begun well. US peer Altria posts strong results. Cigarette sales may be dropping, but increased prices per coffin nail ups earnings.
	Pfizer	20 (18)	PFE	Improved results at rival Glaxo shows strength of industry. But, Pfizer’s own results are train wreck. No positive comments about future.
	Boeing	21 (24)	BA	New 747-8 will finally make it aloft. Several airlines, led by British Air, show strong results, recovering industry.
	AT&T	22 (29)	T	Upgraded by Credit Suisse. Should have iPhone exclusive until 2011. PR about upgrades to burdened 3G network appear to get press of Ma Bell’s back.
	Johnson & Johnson	23 (31)	JNJ	Wins $1.7 billion patent lawsuit against Boston Scientific. Impact of Tylenol recall seems to be fading.
	Oracle	24 (23)	ORCL	Finally begins cutting projects and costs after finishing Sun deal. Word makes it to market that some of the company’s data base software is hacked.
	Microsoft	25 (5)	MSFT	Office faces renewed competition from Google and Oracle. New open source Symbian handset plans may finally kill Windows Mobile.
	Caterpillar	26 (25)	CAT	Manufacturing numbers up some in January. ISM numbers should draw investors. Congress may put more money into infrastructure to simulate jobs.
	Goldman Sachs	27 (32)	GS	CEO Blankfein takes small $9 million payday which takes firm out of comp spotlight. Big federal government restrictions on proprietary trading loses steam.
	JP Morgan	28 (28)	JPM	Jamie Dimon take modest $17 million comp for 2009 which should silence critics. E-mail accounts of Dimon meeting with Banco Santander could raise antitrust concerns.
	Home Depot	29 (30)	HD	Goldman Sachs prefers HD to rival Lowe’s, but that will not help housing recovery. Mortgage rates back above 5% and 2010 foreclosures expected to hit 3 million.
	Verizon	30 (22)	VZ	Credit Suisse cuts rating and says AT&T will keep Apple iPhone exclusive another year. Attack dog ads on Ma Bell seem to be backfiring.
	Bank of America	31 (27)	BAC	NY State Attorney General Cuomo sues former CEO and CFO for fraud. “Volker” bank plan would hurt B of A earnings.
	Exxon-Mobil	32 (26)	XOM	Crude falls over 5% for the week. Rival BP posts week numbers. Exxon’s large refinery business likely to be hurt by falling gasoline prices.

-Douglas A. McIntyre