24/7 Wall St.'s Corporate Power Rankings (Week 6)

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.

Ford (NYSE:F) climbed as Toyota (NYSE:TM) almost certainly gave up US market share due to recalls. Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) moved up the list as rival SAP (NYSE:SA) struggled with trouble among its top management ranks. HP’s prospects were hurt as it become clear that computing is moving to smaller devices like the iPad and new smartphones introduced this week.

The Power Rankings…

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Cisco	1 (1)	CSCO	Expects wireless data traffic to double by 2014. Huge boost to prospects. Deal to takeover Tandberg should get EU green light this week.
	Apple	2 (4)	APPL	Named most admired company by Barron’s, but then again Toyota is on the list. More important, iTunes downloads about to hit 10 billion. Carriers start competitor to App store. Who cares?
	Berkshire Hathaway	3 (6)	BRK	PR around addition to S&P 500 causes surge in share price and volume. Retailer investor interest should carry over to this week. Fitch downgrades BRK as if it matters to Buffett.
	Wal-Mart	4 (2)	WMT	Earnings for last Q should be relatively strong, but January retail sales do not favor good numbers for the current period. Look for largest retailer to close more outlets.
	McDonald’s	5 (3)	MCD	McDonald’s. Gets visibility from Olympics but nasty weather in US likely to have taken sales down. Starbucks higher coffee price probably a plus for breakfast sales.
	Ford	6 (8)	F	Toyota recalls a new model every day. Ford’s new low-mileage, fun-to-drive line-up should show impressive gains in February sales. Toyota may not recover for years.
	Coca-Cola	7 (11)	KO	Another big US company gets Olympic exposure. Pepsi (PEP) quarterly numbers good news for the industry.
	Google	8 (14)	GOOG	Looks like search company will not leave China. Problems around Buzz social network product settled down by week’s end. Even bad PR increases consumer awareness of new feature.
	IBM	9 (15)	IBM	Some analysts like stock if market pulls back due to steady earnings and balance sheet. Offers new servers to counter Oracle/Sun hook up.
	Oracle	10 (24)	ORCL	Style points to Ellison for winning America’s Cub with illegal sail. Major rival SAP (SAP) in disarray as top management drowns.
	Johnson & Johnson	11 (23)	JNJ	Rival Boston Scientific gets into big trouble with patents and earnings. BRK downgrade leaves JNJ as only one of four US “AAA” companies. Still matters to some investors.
	Disney	12 (13)	DIS	Interest in “Toy Story 3” gives investors a bounce. Viacom profits another indication that large multimedia companies are on big earnings move up.
	Pfizer	13 (20)	PFE	New e-payment product gives company access to customers in developing nations. New Alzheimer’s drug shows great promise.
	Caterpillar	14 (26)	CAT	New China manufacturing numbers and India GDP signal faster than expected recovery in Asia. New Obama infrastructure push should help construction in US.
	FedEx	15 (10)	FDX	Failing price of oil is big plus. Tremendous improvement in China import and export numbers are also plus. But, EU look at UPS price-fixing could spread to balance of freight firms.
	American Express	16 (17)	AXP	Credit card delinquencies stabilized in December. January retail sales show modest increase but at least not a contraction.
	Boeing	17 (21)	BA	China buys planes from rival Airbus. Long awaited maiden flight of 747-8 happens and BA has a whole new market in air freight as a result.
	GE	18 (18)	GE	Concerns linger about huge losses on NBC Olympic coverage. But, prospects at big infrastructure unit should be helped by signs of sharp economic improvement in India and China.
	Dow Chemical	19 (9)	DOW	Trade deficit numbers show company’s strengthening position. Firm expects sales to increase rapidly in emerging markets
	Philip Morris	20 (19)	PM	Goldman Sachs ups rating based on pricing leverage at consumer level. Profits improve and company sets $12 billion share buyback.
	Intel	21 (12)	INTC	JV in mobile software business with Nokia should help its weak wireless prospects. CEO Otellini pushes prospects of latest chips.
	Abbott Labs	22 (7)	ABT	Gets approval in Europe for new HIV drug. ABT is net winner in patent fight over stent intellectual property between its rivals JNJ and Boston Scientific.
	Proctor & Gamble	23 (5)	PG	Credit Suisse starts its cover at “outperform.” Joins Wal-Mart in risky gamble to create and air their own “family values” TV shows.
	Verizon	24 (30)	VZ	Google high-speed internet offers future threat. Price wars heat up as new handsets enter the market and Sprint pushes low-price prepaid plans.
	JP Morgan	25 (28)	JPM	New Volcker rule for banks would undermine much of JPM proprietary trading profits. EU finance ministers have begun to move in Volcker’s direction, further pressuring US banks.
	Hewlett-Packard	26 (16)	HPQ	Rise of Apple iPad and large numbers of new smart phone devices introduced in Barcelona show that PC and printer are losing part of their position at the center of computing.
	Home Depot	27 (29)	HD	Bad winter weather almost certainly undermined sales and construction activity. Most economists revising GDP down to 2% which means home building will be crippled longer.
	Bank of America	28 (31)	BAC	S&P issues negative outlook on shares. Concern that firm will need more government money. Trial of former CEO still clouds firm’s legal future.
	Exxon-Mobil	29 (32)	XOM	Rival BP argues that global refining capacity is too large which will pressure XOM margins. Oil prices still dropping due to double dip fears.
	Goldman Sachs	30 (27)	GS	Pressure from media reports about inappropriate deals with AIG and Greece. Investment bank likely to be under scrutiny by regulators in US and EU.
	AT&T	31 (22)	T	Apple expert identifies relationship with carrier as a major negative to growth. Adroid-based phones pick up more ground at annual telecom meet-up in Barcelona.
	Microsoft	32 (25)	MSFT	Launches mobile upgrade at Barcelona telecom meetings. General consensus is that Redmond will never recover in wireless space. Upgrades in Google search software bad for Bing.

Douglas A. McIntyre