Berkshire Hathaway moved into the top spot as Warren Buffett celebrated his 80th birthday and four decades of remarkable investment success. Intel was hurt by a cut in its outlook. And JNJ dropped to the bottom sport as it announced another recall–this time for hip replacement devices.
| Company | Rank (last week) | Symbol | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Berkshire Hathaway | 1 (6) | BRK | As Warren Buffett turns 80 years old, the company and its performance is testament to his extraordinary run as the world’s greatest investor. |
| McDonald’s | 2 (2) | MCD | The company’s strength last week is a sign that even with a slow economy, the firm’s prospects cannot be undermined. | |
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Coca-Cola | 3 (3) | KO | Coca-Cola gets closer to a financially advantageous buyout for its bottling company. |
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Apple | 4 (4) | APPL | More evidence that iPad will hold a long-lived lead over rivals in tablet business. Jobs walled garden grows. |
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Proctor & Gamble | 5 (1) | PG | Will co-promote the insomnia treatment Silenor with Somaxon Pharmaceuticals. |
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Disney | 6 (5) | DIS | Walt Disney is close to agreement to renew carriage for ESPN on Time Warner Cable. |
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Abbott Labs | 7 (8) | ABT | Stock holds up well due to 3.5% yield, balance sheet, and steady business. |
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Ford | 8 (7) | F | August auto sales may soften but the No.2 car company is expected to gain share. |
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IBM | 9 (9) | IBM | Watches as rivals Dell and HP beat themselves up on 3Par deal. In the meantime, Big Blue quietly buys Sterling Commerce Interactive, an e-commerce gem. |
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Philip Morris | 10 (11) | PM | Yield of 4.5% keeps shares in good light as market dissolves. |
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Intel | 11 (10) | INTC | Warns on third quarter numbers but shares gain because the market feared it would be worse. |
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Cisco | 12 (12) | CSCO | Buys Extend Media to increase dominance of end-to-end, enterprise-to-consumer strategy. |
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Pfizer | 13 (13) | PFE | Pfizer releases data on blood thinner apixaban which could add significantly to sales. |
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14 (15) | GOOG | New free phone call offering may make the search company make money. But, buyout of social network Angstro provider could help Google’s competitive position in social networks. | |
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Oracle | 15 (15) | ORCL | Stays in the background in week of tech M&A and jockeying for top spot is some niches. Glad to hold its current stable position. |
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FedEx | 16 (18) | FDX | Dahlman Rose initiates with “buy” rating on assumption that downturn in international shipping will be short-lived. |
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Exxon-Mobil | 17 (17) | XOM | PetroChina earnings strength bodes well Economic pullback has not bought crude down much. |
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Microsoft | 18 (16) | MSFT | Slowing PC sales cause concern as does ongoing failure of Window Mobile to dent Android growth. |
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Dow Chemical | 19 (19) | DOW | Handily beats DJIA last week. Yield and hope of industrial stimulus both help. |
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Caterpillar | 20 (21) | CAT | Caterpillar holds steady on the assumption that Asia construction will stay strong. |
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Wal-Mart | 21 (20) | WMT | Hurt by GDP concerns along with most retailers. Appeals class action status of female discrimination suit. |
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Verizon | 22 (22) | VZ | Early sales of Motorola Droid 2 bode well for Verizon Wireless growth. Yield is now extraordinary 6.5%. |
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GE | 23 (24) | GE | A great deal of the company’s broad product portfolio could be hurt by recession. Market skeptical that firm will see earnings rebound. |
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Boeing | 24 (23) | BA | Ugliness as 787 is delayed again. Company says earnings will not be affected–yet. |
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American Express | 25 (25) | AXP | Slowing economy could make default rates move up again. Forecasts for holiday earnings quarter will be essential to share price. |
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Hewlett-Packard | 26 (26) | HPQ | May win bloody bidding battle with Dell for 3Par, but the costs appears to be way too expensive given the value of the prize. |
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JP Morgan | 27 (28) | JPM | Fed easing should help banks fill balance sheet potholes. Market still assumes JP has less problems under the covers than most. |
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Goldman Sachs | 28 (27) | GS | Pick up in M&A should help its bottom line. Large financial firms also are finding ways around some of financial reform bill’s most difficult programs. |
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AT&T | 29 (29) | T | Faces pressure on price, according to new FCC study. Google telephone initiative is also bad news. |
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Home Depot | 30 (31) | HD | Stock moves up as yield play but movement will still be capped by troubled housing market. |
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Bank of America | 31 (32) | BAC | Touches 52-week low. Financial firm’s huge consumer bank business will almost certainly be damaged by second “dip.” |
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Johnson & Johnson | 32 (30) | JNJ | A recall almost every week. This time it’s hip-joint replacements. |
Douglas A. McIntyre
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