Investing
The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Most Bad Press (5/10/2011
Published:
Sony (NYSE: SNE) kept the top spot in the Flame Index as concerns about the shutdown of its PS3 network failed to subside. Sony could face $1 billion in liabilities. The Japanese company says the service will not be back online for three weeks. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) was a close second as new spread that it bought Skype for $8.5 billion.
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) was punished because of concerns about it former subprime portfolio. Systemax fired one of its division executives who was involved in a scandal. Quest Diagnostics paid $211 million to settle a suit which claimed it over-billed customers.
The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.
| Rank | Company | Ticker | Score | Change in Rank | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sony Corporation | SNE | 27.981 | +1 | Playstation network still a mess |
| 2 | Microsoft | MSFT | 25.05 | +23 | Buy Skype for $8.5 billlion |
| 3 | Fannie Mae | FNMAS | 23.993 | -2 | Fear about breakup |
| 4 | Bank of America Corp. | BOA | 22.543 | +6 | Large $850 billion portfolio drag |
| 5 | Warner Music Group | WMG | 22.023 | -2 | About to be sold |
| 6 | Community Health Systems | CYH | 20.631 | +122 | Walks away from Tenet deal |
| 7 | Forest Laboratories | FRX | 19.851 | +102 | May face legal action on blood pressure drugs |
| 8 | H&R Block | HRB | 19.612 | +707 | Problems with subprime portfolio |
| 9 | Massey Energy | MEE | 19.176 | +11 | More concerns about mine safety |
| 10 | Boeing | BA | 18.868 | +37 | Will 787 ever fly? |
| 8 | H&R Block | HRB | 19.612 | +707 | Portfolio concerns |
| 14 | Alcatel Lucent | ALU | 17.997 | +172 | Societe Generale downgrades shares |
| 15 | Systemax | SYX | 17.753 | +335 | |
| 17 | Quest Diagnostics | DGX | 17.684 | +674 | legal issues |
| 21 | News Corp | NWSA | 17.44 | +242 | YouTube starts video rental |
Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.
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