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.
Microsoft moved up the list on its plans to increase its cloud computing business.
AT&T’s prospects were hurt as HTC, Motorola, and Research In Motion prepare products to compete with the iPhone
Home Depot slipped as housing data worsened.
Bank of America was pushed down on concerns that the new financial reform bill will hurt its earnings prospects for years.
| Company | Rank (last week) | Symbol | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald’s | 1 (1) | MCD | Company borrows $750 million at remarkably low rates, a sign of what the market thinks of the fast food firm’s balance sheet. Growth in large UK market accelerates. | |
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Apple | 2 (2) | APPL | The market seems not to care about potential competition in tablet market from RIM, Microsoft, or lower-priced Kindle. It’s a sign of the length of Jobs’ lead. |
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Proctor & Gamble | 3 (3) | PG | GDP does nothing to pressure shares and market believes lower priced consumer products unlikely to be badly damaged. Signs 10-year deal with IOC. |
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IBM | 4 (4) | IBM | Wall St. happy with aggressive move into cloud computing, a market without a clear leader. Buys Storwize to enter market of ultra-efficient storage. |
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Coca-Cola | 5 (6) | KO | Profits at affiliated Coke Enterprises up sharply. Consumer sentiment drop unlikely to hit soft drink business. |
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Berkshire Hathaway | 6 (5) | BRK | Rumors are that Chinese hedge fund manager will take Buffett’s place although it looks like he will live to be 100. |
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Intel | 7 (8) | INTC | The worst of the FTC investigation is probably behind the chip company as Dell settles with SEC on charges it took money from Intel in exchange for protecting semiconductor market share. |
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Disney | 8 (7) | DIS | Finally dumps Miramax for $660 million. Market likes move into social network games with buyout of Playdom. ESPN posts awesome World Cup numbers. |
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Ford | 9 (10) | F | Analysts expect another big growth month in July as product line-up gains traction. |
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Philip Morris | 10 (9) | PM | Peer Lorillard posts big numbers, and shows that coffin nail business us still strong. |
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Cisco | 11 (12) | CSCO | AT&T picks company as major supplier for to handle video, voice, and data routing. |
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Abbott Labs | 12 (11) | ABT | S&P puts firm on its equity income winner’s list. Stock lagged DJIA for most of 2010 and now is picking up some ground. |
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Oracle | 13 (13) | ORCL | Double-edged week for Ellison. WSJ names him top paid CEO of the decade. US says company committed fraud in bills sent by the firm to Uncle Sam. |
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Pfizer | 14 (15) | PFE | Conatus Pharmaceuticals buys PFE’s Idun Pharmaceuticals. With that dog out the door, big pharma firm can spend more time working on dwindling pipeline. |
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15 (14) | GOOG | False alarm on China censorship. Microsoft move into cloud computing and tablet PC business are competitive threats. | |
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Wal-Mart | 16 (16) | WMT | Move into Chicago could help the world’s largest retailer go urban in the US. GDP slowdown may erode sales because Sam’s has such a large part of lower class shoppers. |
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Microsoft | 17 (18) | MSFT | Ballmer gives a good show on analyst day. Attendees may not buy plans for smartphones, but tablet PC and cloud computing plans are plausible. |
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Hewlett-Packard | 18 (17) | HPQ | Tablet launches coming from RIM and Microsoft. Apple already there, so HP is very late. |
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FedEx | 19 (19) | FDX | Company raises earnings forecasts despite slowing economy. The Post Office must be is losing more market share. |
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American Express | 20 (20) | AXP | Senior executive sells large stock position, but of course he thinks the price is going up. |
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Exxon-Mobil | 21 (22) | XOM | No matter what else is going on in the oil industry, XOM is still a world-class earner. Net up 91% year-over-year. Who needs BP? |
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Dow Chemical | 22 (21) | DOW | Rival DuPont earnings show sector is healthy. May be what helped Dow outperform the DJIA last week. |
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Caterpillar | 23 (23) | CAT | Caterpillar gains more ground with Wall St. as press and analysts focus on its earnings power in South America and Asia—where they apparently believe the recession is over. |
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Boeing | 24 (24) | BA | Rival Airbus increases order forecast, a sign that the industry is recovering. If only they could get the Dreamliner out the door. |
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GE | 25 (26) | GE | Comcast says it is on track to buy majority of NBCU from GE. Dividend increase and stock buyback buoy investors. |
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Verizon | 26 (25) | VZ | New wireless products from Motorola and RIM should help Verizon Wireless offset AT&T’s benefits from iPhone 4 and iPad. |
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Goldman Sachs | 27 (27) | GS | Recent survey shows intense loyalty by employees and great love of CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Why not? Everyone at GS is a millionaire. |
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JP Morgan | 28 (29) | JPM | Good earnings and no scandal last quarter, which is more than most financial firms can say. Shares handily beat the DJIA last week. |
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AT&T | 29 (31) | T | Verizon and Sprint show strong line-ups of smartphones for the fall. Comcast earnings show that Ma Bell U-verse fiber-to-the-home still has strong competition. |
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Home Depot | 30 (28) | HD | Housing bad. Consumer confidence bad. GDP bad. |
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Bank of America | 31 (30) | BAC | Moody’s slaps stock with “negative” outlook due to financial reform bill. Could hinder earnings for years. |
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Johnson & Johnson | 32 (32) | JNJ | Company may get into bidding war for Genzyme and JNJ shareholders don’t want to see $18 billion go out the door. |
Douglas A. McIntyre
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