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.
The current rankings are a mid-year snapshot for the list and ranking has not changed from last week as the line-up is set for re-ordering each week for the balance of the year. Apple and consumer-focused services companies stay at the top of the list and telecom and financial firms stay at the bottom. Earnings for most companies, which begin in two weeks are the most likely reason that rankings may change for the next several weeks.
| Company | Rank (last week) | Symbol | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Apple | 1 (1) | APPL | One million iPhone 4 sales on the first day? Probably. And, in many places the iPad is still sold out. |
| McDonald’s | 2 (2) | MCD | If Starbucks is going to sell wine, Ronald McDonald will open complete bars. | |
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Berkshire Hathaway | 3 (3) | BRK | Buffett buys into huge UK retailer Tesco. Market applauds. |
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Disney | 4 (4) | DIS | “Toy Story 3” still in top box office spot. Studio profits will be huge. |
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Intel | 5 (5) | INTC | Should soon settle monopoly charges with the FTC. |
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Proctor & Gamble | 6 (6) | PG | Recalls a few bottle of Scope for cap problems. No one uses it anymore anyway. |
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IBM | 7 (7) | IBM | Rival Oracle posts figures that show enterprise computing has recovered. |
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Abbott Labs | 8 (8) | ABT | FDA approves new diabetes testing strips. |
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Coca-Cola | 9 (9) | KO | Company says its Twitter ads are phenomenally successful. No one else’s are. |
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Philip Morris | 10 (10) | PM | Cuts outlook on weaker euro, but money woes won’t undercut long-term addiction. |
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Ford | 11 (11) | F | Concern rising that the company has no significant presence in China. |
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Wal-Mart | 12 (12) | WMT | Wal-mart wins the right to move into Chicago. NYC could be next. |
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Cisco | 13 (13) | CSCO | Chambers meets with Soviet President Medvedev. Gets no vodka. |
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Oracle | 14 (14) | ORCL | Home run earnings. Big stock run. |
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Microsoft | 15 (15) | MSFT | Redmond’s management issues manifesto on company’s success. It may be right. |
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Hewlett-Packard | 16 (16) | HPQ | More news out of rival Dell that it is on the ropes. |
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Pfizer | 17 (17) | PFE | Barron’s says that stock should rally and that big pharma R&D works better than thought. |
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18 (18) | GOOG | Android picks up share on rivals, again. Google can’t make money on it, again. | |
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American Express | 19 (19) | AXP | Moody’s says worst of credit card write downs are over. Of course, it also said subprime paper was a good investment. |
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FedEx | 20 (20) | FDX | Expanding US facilities for ground transportation. Something must be going right. |
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Dow Chemical | 21 (21) | DOW | Begins to expand into promising LED industry, a chance to raise margins. |
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Boeing | 22 (22) | BA | CEO may finally be fired now that 787 Dreamliner is late again. |
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Caterpillar | 23 (23) | CAT | Euro price will hurt CAT’s profits, perhaps badly. |
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Exxon-Mobil | 24 (24) | XOM | BP’s troubles may help company gain new contracts, but industry-wide bans on drilling could offset that advantage |
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AT&T | 25 (25) | T | Gets thrashed again for bad 3G service as iPhone 4 launches. |
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GE | 26 (26) | GE | FCC goes even slower in process to approve Comcast deal to take over NBCU. Immelt and friends sweat. |
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Verizon | 27 (27) | VZ | Launches Droid X with Motorola which may actually hurt Apple. |
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Johnson & Johnson | 28 (28) | JNJ | May keep factory that made bad kiddie drugs closed until year-end. |
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Home Depot | 29 (29) | HD | Janney Capital Markets cuts stock to “neutral” |
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JP Morgan | 30 (30) | JPM | NY Times says that new banking law may hurt this bank most of all. |
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Bank of America | 31 (31) | BAC | New consumer watchdog agency will be watching the bank’s mortgage and credit card businesses—carefully. |
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Goldman Sachs | 32 (32) | GS | Bank reform hurts Goldman and each week that goes by without an SEC deal is worse. |
Douglas A. McIntyre
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