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