Barron's: The World's Most Respected Companies

[Guest]

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2007

BARRON'S COVER

They've Got Class
By MICHAEL SANTOLI

IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, the top finisher in Barron's annual survey of the world's most respected companies was a venerable 19th-century business that solemnly had passed on management responsibility over many generations, each one steeped in the belief that the company and its culture were larger than any single leader.

This year the survey's third, America's, money managers effectively honored not a century-old management tradition or an iconic brand, but one man's extraordinary life's work. Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRKA), a one-time New England cotton-mill operator that Warren Buffett transformed over 40 years into a multifaceted 4185 billion colossus, has succeeded last years winner; Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and 2005's first-place finisher, General Electric (GE), as the most respected company in the world.

It is appropriate that Buffett, known principally for his capital-allocation genius, should be held in highest esteem in the Barron's survey, the only ranking of corporate reputation based exclusively on the views of professional investors. These investors' comments about Berkshire were unanimously reverential, their tone suggesting such reverence should be obvious to all. "C'mon, it's Berkshire," wrote one money manager.

"Clearest-thinking investor of our time -- Warren Buffett," wrote another.

And, as if to emphasize Buffett's primary place in investors' minds, the four mega-cap stocks in which Berkshire holds a significant long-term position- Procter & Gamble (PG), Coca-Cola (KO), Wells Fargo (WFC) and American Express (AXP) -- all placed highly in this year's rankings, between Nos. 4 and 17.

BERKSHIRE CLIMBED TO THE top spot from fifth place in 2006, after another year in which Buffett's mixture of vision, patience, boldness and modesty were on clear display. Buffett's longtime unease about the vulnerability of the U.S. dollar and the risks of financial derivatives proved more than prescient in light of this year's turmoil in the subprime-mortgage market and the financial markets generally.
...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB118920627966821132.html?mod=b_hpp_9_0002_b_this_weeks_magazine_home_top

The World's Most Respected Companies:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BA_Respected_Co_091007.pdf