24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 39

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 to the top spot as the press speculated that its market cap may pass Exxon Mobil’s, which is unlikely. Google moved higher as it extended its reach in the mobile market just as Microsoft begins what is likely to be a failed bid to get into the sector. AT&T and Verizon were hurt as Sprint-Nextel’s prospects began to revive.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	Apple	1	APPL	Press is now speculating that Jobs & Co. will pass Exxon in market cap. With risks to iPad sales and competition for iPhone, that won’t happen, but the No.2 spot is still impressive.
	McDonald’s	4	MCD	Market speculates about impact of Obama health care on the benefits of Ronald & Co. workers. Share price ignores news and focuses on signs that Q4 figures will be good.
	Berkshire Hathaway	3	BRK	While Buffett travels China with Bill Gates, his company has solid week on expectations that its financial services businesses have dodged most of new regs.
	Proctor & Gamble	7	PG	Company will make huge push to market products on Facebook. Expands critical Tide and Gillette brands.
	Coca-Cola	2	KO	Company divests some Europe operations and doubles down in big North American market. Stock moves to 52-week high.
	IBM	6	IBM	Another 52-week high for Big Blue as rival HP picks a weak CEO. The company expands into data switching with acquisition of Blade Network Technologies to increase footprint in corporate IT centers.
	Cisco	5	CSCO	Router company begins aggressive push into the home video market, some proof that all its M&A work has begun to bear fruit.
	Abbott Labs	11	ABT	Supreme Court agrees to hear case that may help drug companies block suits by hospitals. Similac recall is still bad for company’s image and bottom line.
	Philip Morris	10	PM	Czech unit ups production on strong demand. Canada walks away from anti-tobacco push. Unfortunately, Finland has new program to butt out sales of smokes.
	Disney	9	DIS	New online multimedia structure puts huge weight on internet expansion. It is too bad that the push is so late. ABC shows initial weakness in Fall TV season.
	Google	8	GOOG	Android OS mobile market shares surges and may pass Apple iPhone system. Microsoft sues Motorola over use of some Android elements but aim does not seem to be to harm the world’s largest search company. In the meantime, Microsoft handset launch appears like a waste of time.
	Pfizer	13	PFE	Chief Justice Roberts sells shares in company to participate in two drug firm cases that will go before the court. Hope he made a profit.
	Ford	12	F	Sales in September rise sharply, but Lincoln still struggles. The overall US car market remains weaker than expected.
	Oracle	15	ORCL	Oil back above $80 and China PMI and India economic activity plus weak dollar could move the price higher. Company plans to dump weak Japanese operations.
	Wal-Mart	16	WMT	Sets large program with Humana. Should help phama market share of world’s largest retailer. Sam’s Club also said it would add close to one million new workers in the next five years. What happens if business is not good in 2015?
	Exxon-Mobil	14	XOM	Oil back above $80 and China PMI and India economic activity plus weak dollar could move the price higher. Company plans to dump weak Japanese operations.
	Intel	18	INTC	New study shows that iPad sales are doing very little harm to PC shipments. Largest chip co. could end up with rising sales in PC-tablets and traditional products.
	Microsoft	19	MSFT	Big push into mobile seems far too late unless Ballmer plans to push billions into sector.
	FedEx	17	FDX	Deutsche Banks tells Wall St. to expect bigger margins. Shipper says China and India biz good. US not so much.
	Dow Chemical	21	DOW	Settles hazardous chemical claims with Alabama miners. Seed JV with Monsanto seems to have sales.
	Verizon	24	VZ	Wireless unit will need to refund customers for $90 million. Sprint portable Wi-Fi aims to steal from larger competitors. Sprint 4G also seems to be picking up business from larger rivals.
	GE	23	GE	About to buy WellStream and expand oil infrastructure business. Also appears that world’s largest conglomerate will push into Germany. Finally, GE appears to be using balance sheet to expand.
	Caterpillar	22	CAT	Feels strong enough to raise prices on much of its equipment base. Should help both revenue and margins.
	JP Morgan	20	JPM	Barron’s predicts that bank will raise dividend and that investors should expect better share price. Some states may target bank for foreclosure methods.
	American Express	26	AXP	Retailers plan to add 600,000 jobs this holiday, which means the expectations are for a sharp increase in sales. High end Amex customers will probably lead the charge.
	Boeing	25	BA	The big airplane maker announces another delay–the 747-8 freighter. May have a crack at $11 billion B-52 deal.
	AT&T	28	T	Company books one time $8.3 billion gain for Q3.Also signs deal to handle NYC subway calls, and settle with IRS. Busy week.
	Goldman Sachs	29	GS	Ups payments to London bankers, which should keep employee base in region stable. Credit Suisse cuts Goldman profit estimates.
	Home Depot	30	HD	New theory about home improvement sales is that as people are forced to keep their homes, they will eventually have to repair them. Nice thought.
	Hewlett-Packard	27	HPQ	The good news is that the company has a new CEO and a new chairman. The bad news is that they are losers.
	Johnson & Johnson	32	JNJ	Regulators and Congress say the firm was much too late catching quality problems with OTC drugs which were recalled. The government is always the last to know. For J&J, the beating will continue until morale improves.
	Bank of America	31	BAC	Ceases foreclosures in 23 states which means the federal government will set up an investigation and dig through financial firm’s housing policies. Another in a line of nightmares.

Douglas A. McIntyre