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Apple (AAPL+1.95%) is the best-managed company in the U.S., according to a new ranking by The Wall Street Journal.
Of 250 companies, Nvidia (NVDA+3.31%) came in second, followed by Microsoft (MSFT+2.73%), Intel (INTC+2.97%), and Mastercard (MA+2.68%) to round out this year’s top five. The ranking, developed by the Drucker Institute, measures the effectiveness of corporate management using five areas: customer satisfaction, employee engagement and development, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength.
This year, Apple and Nvidia knocked Microsoft out of the top spot — a position it has held for the last four years.
Apple ranked highly for innovation and financial strength. Nvidia also ranked first for financial strength and second in employee engagement. The two companies have competed neck and neck to be the world’s most valuable company.
Apple currently has a $3.67 trillion market capitalization. Nvidia is worth $3.49 trillion as of market close Friday. Shares of the chipmaker, which has seen a massive boost from artificial intelligence as demand for its AI chips booms, are up almost 200% this year. That’s compared with 30% for Apple.
Microsoft has also seen healthy growth this year, adding almost 20% to its share value for a $3.30 trillion market cap. The company also ranked near the top in innovation and financial strength.
Intel, on the other hand, has had a rocky year. Ranked as the fourth best-managed company in the country, Intel ousted its CEO Pat Gelsinger last week after he failed to turn around the company’s performance.
In August, Intel announced a plan to save $10 billion in 2025. That included reducing its headcount by roughly 15,000, or 15% of its workforce. Gelsinger said at the time that these were the “most consequential changes” in the company’s history.
Intel also reportedly hired Morgan Stanley and other advisors to help fend off potential activist investors, according to CNBC (CMCSA-0.18%).
Early last month, Intel was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which comprises 30 leading U.S. stocks, to make room for Nvidia as the index shifts toward AI pioneers.
Nonetheless, Intel ranked first across all 250 companies in social responsibility, and second in customer satisfaction.