24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 26

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.

P&G rose to the No.1 spot based on the success of its e-commerce initiatives. Apple climbed higher as iPhone 4 and iPad sales surged. B of A took the bottom slot due to an investigation into how it hid liabilities.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Proctor & Gamble	1 (6)	PG	The success of company’s new e-store appears to be better than expected. Firm completes Ambi Pur buyout.
	McDonald’s	2 (4)	MCD	Falling consumer credit and slowdown in economy will bring eaters back from mid-priced restaurants to fast food.
	Apple	3 (7)	APPL	Jobs & Co. rebound from concerns about iPhone 4 service. Smartphones and iPads continue to be sold out in most locations, meaning strong demand may last into the fall. Then it’s Christmas.
	Coca-Cola	4 (8)	KO	Trouble with product liability action in India more than offset by perception that Coke is a top investment as economy slows.
	IBM	5 (5)	IBM	Wall St. signals strengthened expectations ahead of Big Blue earnings. Chip sales post big increase, which should bode well for server operations.
	Disney	6 (1)	DIS	ESPN got huge TV ratings with LeBron and World Cup. “Toy Story 3” begins to fade.
	Berkshire Hathaway	7 (3)	BRK	Buffet & Co. gets downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus due to slowing economy. Shareholders do not seem to care. Goldman Sachs,however, rates firm as “buy.”
	Intel	8 (5)	INTC	Market begins to get nervous that PC growth cannot keep pace with Q1. Oppenheimer downgrades stock.
	Abbott Labs	9 (9)	ABT	Firm’s leadership in HIV treatment should benefit from new NIH findings on progress in AIDS prevention.
	Ford	10 (1)	F	Company announces tiny recall. New Edmund research shows pony firm with extremely high customer loyalty.
	Cisco	11 (13)	CSCO	Avondale holds shares at “outperform”. Wall St. upbeat about upcoming quarterly numbers.
	Oracle	12 (14)	ORCL	EMC buyout of Greenplum appears to validate Ellison & Co.’s  investment in the storage software business.
	Philip Morris	13 (11)	PM	Slowing economy pushes investors toward dividend and share buyback stocks. Supreme Court opts not to case alleging the dangers of smoking were illegally concealed.
	Wal-Mart	14 (12)	WMT	New consumer caution could cause customers to go to discount retailers. Walton & Co. needs the help as US same-store sales falter.
	Google	15 (15)	GOOG	Search-engine company gets back into China, but Wall St. worries that core US text ad business is slowing.
	Pfizer	16 (17)	PFE	EU approves firm’s new child cholesterol drug, a market that could be tremendous worldwide.
	Hewlett-Packard	17 (16)	HPQ	Costs of manufacturing in China may rise with local labor costs. But, IT market seems to be holding its own.
	American Express	18 (28)	AXP	Company has been protected from recent downturn in consumer confidence because of high net worth customers. New credit data shows that could change.
	FedEx	19 (21)	FDX	Freight company should be helped by USPS plans to raise rates. UBS upgrades shares to “buy”
	Dow Chemical	20 (20)	DOW	Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Export Council
	Microsoft	21 (19)	MSFT	Growth of PC and Apple tablets leaves Mr. Softy Windows behind. Google’s ability to stay in China hurts search prospects of world’s largest software company.
	Exxon-Mobil	22 (22)	XOM	Court decision to block Gulf drilling ban should help world’s largest oil company. Investors depressed about risk and dilution if Exxon tries to by BP plc.
	Caterpillar	23 (23)	CAT	Goldman Sachs raises stock to “buy”. Huge cost cuts give earnings leverage as US economy slowly emerges from recession and China stays hot. What about Europe?
	GE	24 (26)	GE	Earnings will be at beginning of season. GE has a lot of business in Europe and infrastructure operations in Asia. Battle between US and China over yuan could hurt.
	Verizon	25 (25)	VZ	New Android-based phones could help company take back smartphone share from Apple. Lack of progress by Sprint 4G should help.
	Boeing	26 (24)	BA	Will have competition from EADS for Air Force tanker bid. It plans to buy cyber software company Narus, which makes little sense.
	Johnson & Johnson	27 (27)	JNJ	New recall includes 3 million bottles of Tylenol and related drugs. First of many lawsuits over recall filed.
	Home Depot	28 (29)	HD	Housing market still depressed, but Fitch sees slight pick-up in home improvement spending. BMO upgrades stock.
	AT&T	29 (28)	T	Strong sales of iPhone and iPad help, but slowdown in consumer spending could stunt sales of smartphones and most expensive wireless data plans.
	Goldman Sachs	30 (32)	GS	More evidence that investment bank’s customers do not care about legal troubles. Liberty Mutual sues over being mislead about value of Fannie Mae stock.
	JP Morgan	31 (31)	JPM	Barclays says there may be upside in stock, but most investors expect earnings to be hurt by weak investment banking business.
	Bank of America	32 (30)	BAC	Told federal regulators that it made six trades from 2007 to early 2009 that helped it hide $10.7 billion of debt. Immense stupidity.

Douglas A. McIntyre