TSM - 50 Fortune World's Most Admired Companies (FWMAC): 24 Safer, 1 Ideal Buy
2025-05-12 18:25:11 ET
Summary
- Fortune and Korn Ferry's survey identified the top 50 Most Admired Companies, focusing on criteria like investment value, management quality, and social responsibility.
- Four dividend-paying companies, including Pfizer and Nordstrom, met the "safer" qualification with free cash flow yields exceeding dividend yields.
- Analysts estimate net gains of 19.58% to 41.46% for top Fortune 50 WMA companies by May 2026, with Novo Nordisk leading.
- The "Dividend Dogs" strategy highlights stocks with high yields due to price drops, offering potential investment opportunities in undervalued companies.
Foreword
- Fortune collaborated with partner Korn Ferry on this survey of corporate reputations. It began with a universe of about 1,500 candidates: the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue, along with non-U.S. companies in Fortune’s Global 500 database that have revenues of $10 billion or more.
- Korn Ferry winnowed the assortment to the highest-revenue companies in each industry, a total of 650 in 30 countries. The top-rated companies were picked from that pool of 650; the executives who voted work at the companies in that group.
- To determine the best-regarded companies in 51 industries, Korn Ferry asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate enterprises in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and ability to attract talent. A company’s score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be listed.
- To select our 50 All-Stars, Korn Ferry asked 3,380 executives, directors, and securities analysts who had responded to the industry surveys to select the 10 companies they admired most. They chose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year’s surveys, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry.