24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 23

The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the 32 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.

Apple left its antitrust problems behind it and moved into the N0.1 slot based on the surging sales of iPhone 4 models and iPads. Amex made up ground on news that credit card delinquencies are falling. Ford lost ground on concerns that European sale will fall.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Apple	1 (9)	APPL	Stock hits 52-week high as market leaves legal worries behind as iPhone 4 sells out and analysts see 2 million iPad sales a month by year-end.
	McDonald’s	2 (1)	MCD	McDonald’s benefits from media and analyst comments that fast food sales in the US are on the rise.
	Berkshire Hathaway	3 (2)	BRK	Berkshire Hathaway was up 6% last week on recovery in rail freight and optimism about company’s insurance and reinsurance segments.
	Disney	4 (3)	DIS	Walt Disney gets a huge bump as “Toy Story 3” opens with $109 million which should boost studio results in current quarter.
	Intel	5 (4)	INTC	Intel may have to worry about new Chinese chip plan, but in the meantime sales of minis with its Atom chip still are dominating laptop sales.
	Proctor & Gamble	6 (11)	PG	Procter & Gamble benefits from large inflow of money into stock at the end of last week. EU approves purchase of Sara Lee unit.
	IBM	7 (7)	IBM	New auto computer technology looks promising. Trouble at Dell should help Big IBM. It picks up large India deal for communications tower services. Makes another M&A deal to expand key services by buying Coremetrics.
	Abbott Labs	8 (10)	ABT	Abbott cuts deal with Neurocrine Biosciences and will partner to develop and commercialize Neurocrine’s experimental drug to treat endometriosis, a gynecological medical condition.
	Coca-Cola	9 (5)	KO	Coca-Cola begins to feel heat as soda tax advances in several states as medical community attacks sugar and “empty calories.”
	Philip Morris	10 (8)	PM	Philip Morris pressing Colombian regulators to reconsider its application to buy cigarette maker Protabaco, the second-largest cigarette manufacturer in Colombia. Chances look bad.
	Ford	11 (6)	F	Ford moves up high on JD Power list but stock under heavy pressure over foreign sales and slowing US economy.
	Wal-Mart	12 (16)	WMT	Wal-Mart buys into debit-card company to expand financial services reach, the one retail business where it has no toehold.
	Cisco	13 (15)	CSCO	Cisco benefits from announcement that video conferencing could save businesses  $19 billion annually.
	Oracle	14 (15)	ORCL	Oracle has large increase in call options. Faces suit that it may have overcharged the government for some services.
	Microsoft	15 (13)	MSFT	Microsoft releases new video game Kinect to good reviews. Ballmer say mobile strategy is working but no one believes him
	Hewlett-Packard	16 (12)	HPQ	Hewlett-Packard’s Palm division is working on new product launches. Industry analysts see PC growth speeding to 20% for 2010.
	Pfizer	17 (17)	PFE	Pfizer shuts down development of rheumatoid arthritis drugs. High yield drugs get praise as market wobbles.
	Google	18 (19)	GOOG	Google about to launch new TV ad business, but investors remain concerned that search will be firm’s only money-making business.
	American Express	19 (21)	AXP	American Express’ lower delinquencies push shares up sharply. Market still concerned consumer spending about to draw to a halt.
	FedEx	20 (22)	FDX	FedEx says last quarter was strong and offers modest guidance, but modest guidance is better than immodest.
	Dow Chemical	21 (18)	DOW	Dow Chemical closes $1.2 billion sale of Styron division. Petrochemical purchases by China seem to pick up.
	Boeing	22 (20)	BA	Boeing benefits from news of increasing military budgets. Flies first 787 with GE engines, advancing market for plane.
	Caterpillar	23 (23)	CAT	Caterpillar says China’s agreement to revalue yuan will help its business. Company’s dealers say they see rebound in sales.
	Exxon-Mobil	24 (25)	XOM	Exxon Mobil takes only a modest beating at Congressional hearings. Modest exposure in Gulf should help it maintain earnings in next two quarters.
	AT&T	25 (27)	T	AT&T should get big benefit from iPhone 4.0 sales, but gets more bad PR as e-commerce site breaks down as demand for new Jobs’ smartphone surges.
	GE	26 (26)	GE	GE shows off new jet engine flying on 787. Makes new sales to supply water systems to semiconductor plant.
	Verizon	27 (24)	VZ	Verizon will be hurt by iPhone 4.0 launch with AT&T. Under pressure to pay dividend to Vodafone which would hurt Verizon Wireless cashflow.
	Johnson & Johnson	28 (29)	JNJ	Johnson & Johnson gets approval for new Acuvue lenses, but is still dogged by recalls of Tylenol and Motrin.
	Home Depot	29 (28)	HD	Home Depot target price cut by FBR Capital as home sales continue to crater.
	JP Morgan	30 (31)	JPM	JPMorgan Chase gets approval to buy RBS commodities business. Makes successful sale of more than $1 billion in notes.
	Bank of America	31 (30)	BAC	Bank of America says Merrill unit will add online brokerage, but loses important brokers to Morgan Stanley.
	Goldman Sachs	32 (32)	GS	Goldman Sachs asks for more time to respond to SEC complaints. For once, stock makes very modest gain for the week.

Douglas A. McIntyre