The Wall Street Journal list of the best-run U.S. companies of 2018 has several that are not well run at all, especially among the elite corporations at the top of the list. How this happened is a mystery, unless you consider that the companies were chosen based on a hodgepodge of data while human judgment was left off to the side.
The information that was used to build the list came from the Drucker Institute, which used no fewer than 15 other pieces of research. There is little disclosure about how these were weighted.
Among the top 20, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) ranked number one. Recent news from the company shows that late 2018 was one of its worst quarters in years. Management shipped too many new products at once and misjudged the strength of the Chinese market. Investors have paid an awful price.
Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) ranked number four. It was the worst-performing big company S&P 500 stock in the final quarter of last year. Its share managed to fall from $292 to $126 in 2018. Poor quarterly results sunk its business prospects. Much of its past success was due to the use of its processors in the cryptocurrency markets and shaky artificial intelligence bets. It also has an army of competitors. Management has not been able to expand enough into new markets.
International Business Machines Corp (NYSE: IBM), which ranks number 10, is considered the worst-run large tech company in the United States. It has missed almost every opportunity to successfully diversify into cloud computing and take some initiative from Microsoft, ranked number three, and Amazon.com, which was number 2 on the list. IBM’s shares were among the worst-performing components of the Dow Jones industrial average last year.
Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is number 14 on the list. Its growth prospects have faltered, perhaps because it has too many stores. Investors appropriately worry about whether its best years are behind it because it has saturated its market.
The most inexplicable decision was to rank General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) in 18th place. It has virtually fallen apart. Anyone who knows the landscape of major companies would consider its inclusion as an insult to any logic about how well-run companies are chosen.
There are other mediocre companies in the top 20, but these five don’t belong. As a matter of fact, they aren’t even close.
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