24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 16

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 change, 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. Berkshire Hathaway’s earnings moved it into first place while Buffett’s support moved Goldman Sachs Group up one spot from the basement. And, Ford advanced on expectations that its April car sales were strong. Boeing moved into the bottom slot on more delays of the 787 Dreamliner

Douglas A. McIntyre

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Berkshire Hathaway	1	BRK	Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett announces first quarter profit of $3.6 billion compared to a $1.5 billion loss in the same period last year. Praises Goldman and insults Kraft for Cadbury buyout, two of his biggest investments.
	Apple	2	APPL	Jobs thrashes Adobe Flash as antiquated software for portability. Adobe mounts pathetic defense. Game, set to Jobs.
	Ford	3	F	Analysts expect that the car company had a big April and picked up market share from rivals GM and Toyota. May have been No.1 in domestic sales for the month.
	McDonald’s	4	MCD	Ronald McDonald hits 52-week high at $71.71. Rival Burger King posts weak numbers. Clown company is probably picking up market share.
	Coca-Cola	5	KO	Coca-Cola Enterprises, about to become part of the Coke mother ship posts big numbers for last quarter. Makes M&A team look like geniuses
	Disney	6	DIS	Rivals Paramount and Warner post big weekend movies with debut of “Iron Man 2” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. But, it was Disney with the 52-week high at $37.49. Mouse says movies don’t matter.
	Abbott Labs	7	ABT	FDA approves Kaletra for daily dose HIV treatment. Company also named to another of the “best places to work” lists. Probably means no layoffs in the offing.
	IBM	8	IBM	Market goes wild as International Business Machines ups it dividend and buys back stock. Makes some wonder why the firm has nothing better to do that give cash back to shareholders.
	Oracle	9	ORCL	Larry Ellison has cameo appearance in “Iron Man 2”. Company must be doing well to give him the time off. The CEO also has a new plan to sell more than $1 billion in firm shares. He must think the stock has support of its own.
	Cisco	10	CSCO	Picks up investors in tech sector as shareholders flee the upcoming “HP buys Palm” catastrophe. Also inks important deal with VMWare and gets deeper into virtualiztion.
	Johnson & Johnson	11	JNJ	Recalls Tylenol and Motrin for babies, which is rough on the image. On the other hand, Barron’s says stock is a “buy.”
	Philip Morris	12	PM	Philip Morris profits rise, but case volume weakens. Fewer people smoking , even in the developing world, but PM is getting more per coffin nail.
	Wal-Mart	13	WMT	Wal-Mart will open tiny stores in places where it can’t fit its big ones. May work in cities, where Sam already ain’t.
	Intel	14	INTC	Strong results from rival Texas Instruments is a sign that Intel’s move into mobile devices was right. Sterne Agee starts world’s largest chip company with a “buy” rating.
	GE	15	GE	Stock hits new 52-week high at $19.70 as Immelt hints at dividend increase. Firm’s wind energy initiatives start to take off in Cape Cod and overseas.
	Proctor & Gamble	16	PG	Profits off a bit, but company has good excuse. More brand marketing investment and ability to keep costs to consumers low, for now.
	Exxon-Mobil	17	XOM	Exxon Mobil gets knocked down a spot because BP disaster could undermine offshore ops for years. On the other hand, oil rises nearly every day.
	Pfizer	18	PFE	Pfizer about to buy big Brazil pharma ops Laboratorio Teuto Brasileiro. Market is growing faster than US. PFE continues to diversity out of US drug biz.
	American Express	19	AXP	American Express gets vote of confidence as rival Visa posts big numbers on improved consumer spending and improving credit default numbers.
	Dow Chemical	20	DOW	Dow Chemical earnings hit high-end of expectations. Trend likely to continue as prices of commodities rise and economic expansion picks up steam.
	FedEx	21	FDX	FedEx gets a bump up as volcano dies down. Rival UPS posts numbers that indicate the core shipping business is improving worldwide.
	Hewlett-Packard	22	HPQ	Hewlett-Packard knocked down two spots on purchase of worthless handset co Palm. For $1.2 billion even worse. At least for HP, it’s not a lot of money.
	Microsoft	23	MSFT	News that HP is killing its Windows 7 based tablet is blow to Mr. Softy’s mobile plans. On the other hand, deal with handset giant HTC should get more Microsoft on more cell hardware.
	JP Morgan	24	JPM	It was a good week not to be Goldman Sachs. Barron’s pushes JPM as strong buy. Rival Barclay’s figures show international banking world has recovered.
	Google	25	GOOG	Buyout of AdMob gains a little ground in Washington. And, back in the real world, Motorola posts good numbers based largely on success of Google’s Android which the search company still can’t make money on.
	Bank of America	26	BAC	CEO says company has room to improve. With lawsuits about Countrywide loans green lighted by federal court that is probably true.
	Caterpillar	27	CAT	Federal figures on manufacturing rebound bode well. Improvement backed by strong quarterly earnings and nice outlook from CAT.
	Home Depot	28	HD	Home Depot will almost certainly benefit from an improving housing market. Credit Suisse ups target price on stock.
	Verizon	29	VZ	Sprint sales are weak, as entire wireless market in US slows. Success of HTC and Motorola at least show that those phoning are using higher end smart phones.
	AT&T	30	T	Wireless network will be tested again as 3G Apple iPad launches. New iPhone is expected next month. Too bad it will probably be sold by several US carriers and not just Ma.
	Goldman Sachs	31	GS	Buffet endorsement trumps possible criminal charges, but not by much.
	Boeing	32	BA	787 Dreamliner production delayed. Oh, my gosh, not again.

Douglas A. McIntyre