24/7 Wall St.’s Corporate Power Rankings: Week 19

The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the thirty-two 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.

The Corporate Power Rankings are released at midnight on each Sunday based on performance during the previous week. McDonald’s and Coke moved to the top of the ratings as investors turned to them during the euro crisis. HP made a large more up on its spectacular earnings. Wal-Mart dropped on bad numbers. Goldman moved back into the bottom spot when word of an SEC settlement turned out to be a rumor.

	Company	Rank (last week)	Symbol	Comment
	McDonald’s	1 (4)	MCD	McDonald’s say it will keep Ronald McDonald as its spokesman after rumors that he was out. Shares outperform rough loss for DJIA last week.
	Coca-Cola	2 (3)	KO	Coca-Cola is names one of the best companies to own by stock picking experts on CNBC. Rival Pepsi to invest more in China, affirming the Coke’s plans there are solid.
	Berkshire Hathaway	3 (6)	BRK	Buffett dumps some of his weakest holdings, hammering Kraft for its Cadbury deal on his way out.
	Disney	4 (1)	DIS	Disney rolls out ten new shows for new season, big bet for ABC. New interactive online versions of ESPN gets good reviews.
	Apple	5 (2)	APPL	Apple iPad success is undermined by risks of fight with Adobe over Flash and the new Google open source VP8 video compression. Jobs & Co. also have to face Google move into wireless advertising.
	Oracle	6 (7)	ORCL	Oracle hurting business at rival salesforce.com. Ellison buys Secerno Ltd , a provider of database firewall products, to beef up critical software security product line.
	Philip Morris	7 (5)	PM	US-centric cousin Altria affirms guidance. Saving money by moving purchasing outside American tobacco farms overseas.
	IBM	8 (8)	IBM	IBM insiders sell $40 million in stock. A peak? Or tax-selling? Good HP earnings show that the enterprise tech industry is healthy worldwide.
	Abbott Labs	9 (10)	ABT	Abbott moves into India with buyout of Piramal. S&P affirms Abbott ratings after announcement. Company also gets FDA approval for Prism Chagas blood test blood.
	Ford	10 (9)	F	Ford shares stay under pressure on concerns of sales in troubled European markets and a slowing US economy. But, Chrysler’s CEO makes upbeat comments about the market.
	Intel	11 (12)	INTC	Intel benefits from increased PC and server sales announced by HP and Dell. Also, expects strong sales of its new chips for handsets and portable devices.
	Proctor & Gamble	12 (13)	PG	Procter & Gamble handily outperforms DJIA last week. P&G opens its own online store to sell products. Only problem is that it competes with its retailers.
	Johnson & Johnson	13 (14)	JNJ	Johnson & Johnson dodges a bullet as FDA’s investigation into Tylenol recall products dies down. CEO will not even be called to talk with Congress.
	Wal-Mart	14 (11)	WMT	Wal-Mart posts modest numbers—too modest according to the market. Its only plus is overseas and it says it intends to expand there more aggressively.
	Cisco	15 (15)	CSCO	Cisco sells to small firms to round increase consulting and software business. Accelerating plans by US telecoms to roll out 4G should help numbers.
	Hewlett-Packard	16 (22)	HPQ	Hewlett-Packard’s stupendous earnings make it the week’s star. Also ups guidance. Dell’s bad earnings show were some of the HP business is coming from.
	GE	17 (16)	GE	GE says that earnings will pick up and it may add to dividend next year. Also expects recovery in financial services business. Stock sells off, so market isn’t buying the story.
	Microsoft	18 (18)	MSFT	Microsoft gets lift from large increases in PC and server sales. But, data shows that its mobile software plans are a bust.
	Pfizer	19 (19)	PFE	Pfizer will cut another 6,000 employees. Maybe serial firings can cause long-term profits.
	Exxon-Mobil	20 (17)	XOM	Exxon-Mobil hurt by falling oil, but the crippling of its major rival BP will help it in the long run. Public image never was important to oil firms.
	Dow Chemical	21 (20)	DOW	Dow Chemical pushes into China just as nation’s need for commodities and related products hits high.
	Home Depot	22 (24)	HD	Home Depot posts unexpectedly strong earnings. But, housing market is still shaky.
	American Express	23 (21)	AXP	American Express may suffer if Senate version of financial reform makes it into law. Credit card rules and regs are extra tough.
	FedEx	24 (23)	FDX	Fedex upped to “buy” at Stifel Nicolaus. But, large revenue from Europe exposes it to future earnings woes.
	Google	25 (27)	GOOG	Google continues to face concerns about growth of core business, but Fed approval of AdMob will help it in handset business. Google TV looks like a bust. Industry been there, done that.
	Boeing	26 (25)	BA	Boeing still faces skeptical investors who believe 787 Dreamliner release will be pushed back, but 737 production picking up nicely.
	Verizon	27 (26)	VZ	Verizon finally gets FCC approval to sell part of land line business which has been real dog. Investors need to be concerned about competition from Sprint super fast 4G.
	Caterpillar	28 (28)	CAT	Caterpillar may be aided by news that rival Deere is doing well. But, overseas exposure brought shares down by almost 10% last week.
	AT&T	29 (31)	T	AT&T plans to increase early termination fees for wireless customers. That should add to the awful image the firm has due to 3G dropped calls.
	Bank of America	30 (30)	BAC	Faces same trouble at JPM and GS. At least BAC has a large retail and commercial bank business to cushion the blow—a bit.
	JP Morgan	31 (29)	JPM	Bank of America will also be hurt by possible restrictions on credit card fees and proprietary trading.
	Goldman Sachs	32 (32)	GS	Goldman Sachs’ shares lifted late in the week on rumors of SEC settlement. Too bad they were not true.

Douglas A. McIntyre