The Wall Street Journal came out with its annual ranking [subscription required] of the reputations of major corporations. Harris Interactive asked over 22,000 people to evaluate companies based on financial performance, social responsibility, product quality and other factors that would determine public opinion.

The top three companies were Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), and 3M Corp. (NYSE:MMM). Over the last year, Microsoft and 3M have underperformed the Dow. JNJ has performed about as well as the index.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) finished fourth. The Dow has beat it for the last year. Coca Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) was next. It has done no better than match the Dow in the last twelve months.

At the bottom of the list of 60 companies were Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO), General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), and Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL). While the Dow has beaten Halliburton over the last year, Exxon and Altria have beaten the index. Comcast has not just beaten the index, it has murdered it. The same was true for GM.

It would appear that the financial performance and leadership segments of the survey don't count for much.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

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