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 | Â Playstation network still a mess |
2 | Microsoft | MSFT | 25.05 | +23 | Â Buy Skype for $8.5 billlion |
3 | Fannie Mae | FNMAS | 23.993 | -2 | Â Fear about breakup |
4 | Bank of America Corp. | BOA | 22.543 | +6 | Â Large $850 billion portfolio drag |
5 | Warner Music Group | WMG | 22.023 | -2 | Â About to be sold |
6 | Community Health Systems | CYH | 20.631 | +122 | Â Walks away from Tenet deal |
7 | Forest Laboratories | FRX | 19.851 | +102 | Â May face legal action on blood pressure drugs |
8 | H&R Block | HRB | 19.612 | +707 | Â Problems with subprime portfolio |
9 | Massey Energy | MEE | 19.176 | +11 | Â More concerns about mine safety |
10 | Boeing | BA | 18.868 | +37 | Â Will 787 ever fly? |
8 | H&R Block | HRB | 19.612 | +707 | Â Portfolio concerns |
14 | Alcatel Lucent | ALU | 17.997 | +172 | Â Societe Generale downgrades shares |
15 | Systemax | SYX | 17.753 | +335 | |
17 | Quest Diagnostics | DGX | 17.684 | +674 | Â legal issues |
21 | News Corp | NWSA | 17.44 | +242 | Â YouTube starts video rental |
Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.
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