24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 25

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 Walt Disney Company rose into the N0.1 spot based on the strength of ticket sales for “Toy Story 3” and its purchase of iPhone game app firm Tapulous. Apple fell sharply on software issues with the new iPhone 4. AT&T was hurt was hurt by more bad news about its 3G service.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Disney	1 (4)	DIS	The Walt Disney Company. “Top Story 3” continues to rack up tens of millions of dollars at the box office, both in the US and overseas. Company gets into iPhone game business through purchase of Tapulous Inc.
	Intel	2 (5)	INTC	Barron’s says stock is too cheap. Company gets more accolades for mobile chip initiative.
	Berkshire Hathaway	3 (3)	BRK	Goldman Sachs reiterates “buy” rating. Shares outpace market in first half.
	McDonald’s	4 (2)	MCD	Rumors that Ronald will increases menu offerings with oatmeal, frappes, and new sandwiches to expand customer appeal.
	IBM	5 (7)	IBM	Company upgrades PC security portfolio with BigFix acquisition. Pushes deeper into China with larger investment in Bright Ocieans.
	Proctor & Gamble	6 (6)	PG	Closes buyout of Ambi Pur from Sara Lee. Downgrade by Standpoint Research does not hurt stock price.
	Apple	7 (1)	APPL	iPhone and iPad sales strong but concerns about 3G connectivity roil customers’ satisfaction.
	Coca-Cola	8 (9)	KO	Consumer goods companies with strong balance sheets and yields draw bigger investment dollars as market falls.
	Abbott Labs	9 (8)	ABT	Market happy that company may sell lagging vaccine business. FDA approves new tests that can diagnose gonorrhea and chlamydia.
	Ford	10 (11)	F	June sales up, but mediocre. Market loves news that company will pay down debt by $4 billion.
	Philip Morris	11 (10)	PM	Shares up for the week while DJIA is sharply down. PM cash position and 2.3% payout look more attractive by the day.
	Wal-Mart	12 (12)	WMT	Changes two senior executives amid flagging US sales.
	Cisco	13 (13)	CSCO	Launches new tablet PC for corporation. Bad news for Research In Motion, probably.
	Oracle	14 (14)	ORCL	Credit Suisse cuts rating. Ellison’s company releases new storage systems further pushing into a hot market.
	Google	15 (18)	GOOG	Significantly increase presence in key travel search category with buyout of ITA Software. Company says Nexus One smartphone is big success.
	Hewlett-Packard	16 (16)	HPQ	More problems at Dell should help HP in PC and server space. Completes Palm buyout and starts to cut costs.
	Pfizer	17 (17)	PFE	Supreme Court will not hear company’s patent lawsuit. Barron’s calls for rally in sector.
	American Express	18 (19)	AXP	Handily outperforms Visa and MasterCard in first half as investors are drawn to quality of Amex customer base.
	Microsoft	19 (15)	MSFT	Kills Kin handset after two months, as Wall St. questions company’s future in mobile. Video game sales are also anemic.
	Dow Chemical	20 (21)	DOW	Signs deal with Mitsui & Co to build membrane chlor-alkali plant. Deutsche Bank upgrades shares to “buy”.
	FedEx	21 (20)	FDX	UBS lists company as “buy”. China business likely to offset weakness in Europe.
	Exxon-Mobil	22 (24)	XOM	Begins to look like world’s largest oil company could buy BP on the cheap. Hurricane Alex misses company’s rigs in the Gulf.
	Caterpillar	23 (23)	CAT	Firm expands emission control business through purchase of CleanAir Systems Inc., as CAT goes green.
	Boeing	24 (22)	BA	More competition from rival EADS to get huge Air Force tanker contact. Airplane company says 787 is finished, but that’s an old and tired song.
	Verizon	25 (27)	VZ	Should get iPhone by year-end and take back lost business from AT&T Wireless. Standpoint downgrades stock, but with little effect.
	GE	26 (26)	GE	Deal to offload NBCU stake delayed. CEO Immelt savages Obama and China. Nice touch, but bad PR.
	Johnson & Johnson	27 (28)	JNJ	Concerns about children’s Tylenol linger. But, market sees dividend and balance sheet as big plus and share bludgeon DJIA for the week.
	AT&T	28 (25)	T	Verizon gain of iPhone will hurt AT&T early next year. Shares near 52-week low. Company will be taken to court over 3G network flaws.
	Home Depot	29 (29)	HD	Janney Capital Markets cuts stock to “neutral”
	Bank of America	30 (31)	BAC	Sells First Republic. Moves to top of The Banker survey of capital strength.
	JP Morgan	31 (30)	JPM	May be a small chance of changing bank reform bill to favor big financial firms.
	Goldman Sachs	32 (32)	GS	Probe into investment bank’s role in American International collapses gets heated, as criticism for past business practices grow.

Douglas A. Mcintyre