Investing

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: Companies With The Worst News (6/30)

Battles with the US government hurt several stocks. Raymond James will pay $300 million for disputes over auction rate securities. Monsanto is under investigation for potential illegal payments to customers. HealthSouth was charged for false Medicare claims. New York City wants $600 million back from SAIC for faulty payroll systems

 

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
11 Raymond James Financial RJF 28.867 +274  Settles with SEC for bad behavior with auction rate paper. $300 million hit.
13 Monsanto MON 27.749 +400  Big profit, but SEC look at sales incentives for customers
18 HealthSouth HLS 25.784 +177  Charged with false Medicare claims
19 BJ’s Wholesale Club BJ 25.514 +354  Sold to private parties
21 Freddie Mac FRE 25.128 +302  More concern about liquidation
33 Computer Sciences CSC 21.082 +115  Legal claims management misrepresented company’s financial situation
34 Apple AAPL 20.571 +103  Suit by Samsung over patents
37 Philip Morris International PM 20.147 +119  Australians want harsh warnings on cigarette labels
44 SAIC SAI 19.116 +257  New York City claims it should get back $600 million for flawed payroll system
47 Ameren AEE 18.731 +152  S&P questions value of shares

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

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