24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 37

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.

Apple moved back into the No.1 spot as its shares hit an all-time high. Oracle shares dropped as it appeared the company will over-reach its core businesses in an attempt to compete with IBM and HP.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Apple	1 (3)	APPL	None of the talk of wobbly consumer spending hurt the gadget giant, which hit an all-time high of $293.53 and could certainly move above $300 this week. Analysts predict strong  holiday sales.
	McDonald’s	2 (2)	MCD	The company increases its dividend–again. This time the hike is 11%. Combined with share buybacks, it’s a gold mine for investors.
	Berkshire Hathaway	3 (1)	BRK	Warren Buffett said the economy is still in a recession. That did not keep Berkshire from a 52-week high of $85.86.
	Proctor & Gamble	4 (4)	PG	Modest signs of recession’s end plus new commitment to overseas market likely to allow company to grow faster than GDP.
	Coca-Cola	5 (7)	KO	Company expands presence in huge India market. CEO also says new focus will be Africa. At least the company is moving in the right direction.
	IBM	6 (5)	IBM	Company releases hardware that may speed processing in PCs. Oracle says it will diversify in Big Blue’s direction, a sign that IBM’s path has been right for several years.
	Cisco	7 (8)	CSCO	Closes two more purchases as the best M&A show in tech continues to prosper.
	Abbott Labs	8 (6)	ABT	New Abbott stent beats Boston Scientific in key trial. Also signs deal to get rights to key kidney drug. But, company was bowled over by bad news about Similac infant formula recall.
	Philip Morris	9 (10)	PM	Stock hits 52-week high and offers 4.6% yield. Smoking may be bad, but that’s a daily double.
	Disney	10 (9)	DIS	Settles hiring conspiracy probe bought by Justice. Sees rival NBCU shutter as CEO is fired and Comcast transition begins to assume control over company.
	Google	11 (11)	GOOG	Loses case in France over sexually offensive search terms. May set bad precedent. Begins to build display ad business which could give it newfound revenue growth.
	Pfizer	12 (12)	PFE	More cost cuts in industry–Abbott and Bristol-Myers. Renews Icagen treatment partnership for serious pain disorder drugs.
	Ford	13 (13)	F	Finally takes a huge leap into China with a new plant. It may not be too late.
	Oracle	14 (14)	ORCL	Ellison says he will buy hardware companies which sends stocks such as AMD soaring.
	Wal-Mart	15 (17)	WMT	Target moves in for more market share with groceries and smaller stores. Won’t matter. Wal-Mart’s lead is too great.
	Exxon-Mobil	16 (15)	XOM	Value of Petrobras IPO confirms unique value of big integrated oil firms. And, price of crude is creeping higher.
	Intel	17 (16)	INTC	AMD earnings warning proves chip sales are off their earlier 2011 pace. End of Justice Department hiring probe is a plus.
	Microsoft	18 (19)	MSFT	A dividend hike. Is that an acknowledgment of slow growth or a reward to shareholders for a moribund share price?
	FedEx	19 (18)	FDX	Company expands overnight service-a sign that its more expensive segments are doing well.
	Dow Chemical	20 (21)	DOW	Chemical industry draws more institutional investors. Interest in Potash helps.
	Verizon	21 (22)	VZ	Wireless JV, Verizon Wireless, will begin tiered pricing for data which could cause higher profits–or customer backlash.
	GE	22 (20)	GE	Comcast boots out NBCU CEO Zucker, which begs the question of why GE did not do so earlier. On another front, conglomerate makes large locomotive supply deal.
	Caterpillar	23 (23)	CAT	A new 52-week high. Durable goods numbers up, a plus for CAT.
	JP Morgan	24 (25)	JPM	Move up near top of M&A tables. But, Jefferies numbers are a sign the industry is weak.
	American Express	25 (24)	AXP	Good earnings from Discovery bode well for industry, but several banks want its high end customers.
	Boeing	26 (26)	BA	Companies gets ten orders for planes, but 787 flight tests are still a fright.
	AT&T	27 (27)	T	It appears that Verizon will get none of the Apple products which gives AT&T an edge for the next year or more.
	Goldman Sachs	28 (28)	GS	The investment bank of investment banks top the M&A tables again for Q3.
	Home Depot	29 (29)	HD	Retail sales fell last week but sales from home improvement stores bumped up. Housing may have found a bottom, according to Washington.
	Hewlett-Packard	30 (30)	HPQ	Oracle makes it clear it plans to invade HP’s territory. PC sales sliding based on AMD warning.
	Johnson & Johnson	31 (31)	JNJ	Investors file fraud suits over possible Motrin cover-up.
	Bank of America	32 (32)	BAC	Starts derivatives group as the business continues out of favor. More Merrill layoffs.

Douglas A. McIntyre