Wal-Mart Tops Shareholder Vote of Confidence

Overall, United States based companies had a good showing at the top of shareholder confidence with 70% of the top 10 list held by domestic companies, according to Brendan Wood International’s second quarter Shareholder Confidence World Watch data.   After Wal-Mart, which jumped to the top after ranking number eight last quarter, the next five on the list were all U.S. companies:

• Intuit Inc.
• Kohl’s Corp.
• Apache Corp.
• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Wellpoint Health Networks Inc.

The other American representative was Starbucks, which came in at number nine.

Additionally, Brendan’s data found good possibilities in short-term investments among the list, with Intuit taking the gold in this list and Apache coming in fifth.   In between the two United States companies is a trio of foreign counterparts:   Russian company Sibneft, Inditex SA from Spain and Yukos in Russia.

When it comes to corporate governance though, United States companies can apparently take a cue from their overseas neighbors, particularly Brazilian Banco Itau SA and Swedish Hennes & Mauritz, which held the top two spots.   Of the top 10, only two American companies were represented:   Wellpoint Health at number four and Kohl’s in the sixth position.  

Brendan’s data is based on shareholder confidence figures from approximately 550 of the world’s largest companies.   The results are obtained through portfolio debriefings with a Shareholder Confidence Panel of over 3,000 institutional investors in 26 countries and the advisors who influence their views.   Included in this process is a discussion of why investors have bought, sold or changed their recommendations in the world’s largest companies, with each company rated on 24 shareholder confidence criteria.