McDonald’s moved into the top slot due to its sterling earnings and the rapid growth of its same-store sales around the world. Microsoft move higher because of its earnings and the remarkable growth of Windows 7.
Johnson & Johnson kept the bottom position as quality control and recall problems with some of its OTC products worsened.
| Company | Rank (last week) | Symbol | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald’s | 1 (3) | MCD | Earnings show why the company outdistances its smaller rivals with strong gains in US, Asia, and Europe. | |
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Apple | 2 (1) | APPL | After good earnings, Wall St. and analysts give more accounts of astonishing sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad. |
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Proctor & Gamble | 3 (2) | PG | International Olympic Committee will name P&G as sponsor. Cat food recall from animal food division means zip. |
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IBM | 4 (4) | IBM | General improvement in tech earnings from Mr. Softy and VMWare signal sector is strong. Shares rallied from last Tuesday through Friday. |
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Berkshire Hathaway | 5 (5) | BRK | GE’s best performing divisions last quarter match up with some Buffett divisions a sign that BRK should keep earnings momentum. |
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Coca-Cola | 6 (6) | KO | Lawsuit over claims about VitaminWater’s benefits will go forward. Credit Agricole Securities says company’s sales are “stunning” outside Europe. |
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Disney | 7 (8) | DIS | “Toy Story 3” still among top 5 US movies after all these weeks. Company will buy Playdom media-game-for-social-networks start-up |
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Intel | 8 (7) | INTC | Mr. Softy earnings show that PC, and chip sales, continue to improve. Case about financial dealings with Dell will continue to be a black eye. |
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Philip Morris | 9 (9) | PM | Stronger earnings on sales from Asia. Region seems to be adding tobacco sales that has been largely driven out of the US. |
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Ford | 10 (10) | F | Powerful earnings increase helps allay fears about debt load. But there are no signs that car company is making large gains in critical China market. |
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Abbott Labs | 11 (9) | ABT | Earnings above Wall St. estimates as stent and biopharma sales shine. |
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Cisco | 12 (12) | CSCO | Kaufman says router company will handily beat EPS forecasts. AT&T and Verizon earnings show that broadband infrastructure will continue to grow. |
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Oracle | 13 (13) | ORCL | Gets knocked of Morgan Stanley “best ideas” list, but management says it will quicken growth by doubling M&A budget. |
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14 (14) | GOOG | Telecom earnings results show rapid increase in Android-OS deployments. But, UBS upgrades China-based rival Baidu. | |
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Pfizer | 15 (16) | PFE | FDA approves increased dose of company’s Alzheimer’s disease drug Aricep. But PFE says that it has stopped patient tests of experimental drugs for two types of pain at fed’s request. |
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Wal-Mart | 16 (15) | WMT | Apparel chief quits and Sam’s Club potential members get free tests. Maybe they balance each other out. Company makes brilliant move by putting radio chips into underwear. |
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Hewlett-Packard | 17 (17) | HPQ | Will use Palm software to battle Google and Apple in smartphone wars? Could not be a worse decision. Still pushing for a solution to success of iPad. |
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Microsoft | 18 (20) | MSFT | Earnings show that growth of core Windows, Office, and Business franchises are still strong, but online and game units still are wasted investments. |
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FedEx | 19 (18) | FDX | Rival UPS signals rapid recovery in global air freight industry. |
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American Express | 20 (19) | AXP | Earnings beat estimates as credit environment improves, but problems of another economic slowdown may mean quarter was “one off” |
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Dow Chemical | 21 (21) | DOW | Some analysts are concerned whether the sector will get a boost from thestimulus plan that will cause let-down next year. Sales are expected to be good for lower-margin divisions. |
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Exxon-Mobil | 22 (22) | XOM | Storm in Gulf fails to interrupt operations much. World’s largest oil company gets good PR from plans to have new service to handle big spills. |
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Caterpillar | 23 (23) | CAT | Earnings outshine. UBP ups price target to $74. And stock moves up 8% for the last week. |
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Boeing | 24 (24) | BA | Stock improves on order flow from big air show and optimism that company may get Air Force tanker project. Now, it’s earnings time. |
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Verizon | 25 (25) | VZ | Earnings are OK but not great. Landline business is still losing ground and wireless is growing. But, everyone has a cellphone now, right? Where’s the growth in that? |
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GE | 26 (26) | GE | Conglomerate helps its prospects by 20% dividend increase after modest earnings. It only helps if earnings do better than “modest”. |
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Goldman Sachs | 27 (27) | GS | Things seemed so bright a week ago as GS settled with the SEC. But, questions have arisen about whether the bank is withholding documents of other investigations and whether the SEC cut a deal with Goldman because it would benefit from the timing. |
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Home Depot | 28 (28) | HD | Just when the housing market could not get worse, it does. |
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JP Morgan | 29 (29) | JPM | Pay czar thinks some bankers made too much during credit crisis, but he is leaving to run BP Gulf escrow, so who cares? |
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Bank of America | 30 (30) | BAC | Sells more private equity assets and seems to be preparing for the day that commercial and retail banking will rule. Margins will shrink to nothing. |
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AT&T | 31 (31) | T | Forecast company gives are solid, but wireless growth in slowing in US. And every carrier in the US will sell the iPhone next year—according to rumors. |
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Johnson & Johnson | 32 (32) | JNJ | Report on Pennsylvania plant worse than expected and Pepcid problems added to a long list. |
Douglas A. Mcintyre
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