Carlin Financial

February 15, 2010 – U.S. Brands Still Pack Global Punch

Global markets have been dissing the dollar.  But a wide-angle snapshot of any large currency trading floor is apt to show a can of Coca-Cola on at least a few desks.  In a recent Business Week article on the “100 Best Global Brands”, Coke topped the list with the world sipping more than a billion services daily.

U.S.-based companies claimed eight of the top ten brands and 53 of the top 100.  Other high-value brands included IBM, Microsoft, GE, McDonald’s, Google, Intel, and Disney.  Business Week’s ranking methodology stipulated that a brand “must derive at least a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognizable beyond its base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data.”

The Quarterly touched on this a decade ago in an article titled, “Are You a Global Investor? It’s Hard Not to Be,” nothing some of these same companies’ substantial participation in growth opportunities across a broadening swath of the globe.

One reads a lot about a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.  Part of that starts right here.  Wall Street caters to many of these same major companies and an increasingly global clientele.  It looks more and more like the recovery under way in many parts of the world will  not be led by Main Street U.S.A.  That may take some getting used to, but considering their high-profile global brands, leading U.S. companies may be rather underappreciated.  And the main disconnect may be between those who have capital to invest, whatever street they live on, and those who don’t.

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