Merck Retains Most-Admired Status in Survey : Irvine-Based FCA Rated Lowest in Fortune’s Latest Rankings of 306 U.S. Firms

NEW YORK â€”  Merck & Co., the giant pharmaceutical concern, topped Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of the most admired American companies for the second year in a row, the magazine said Wednesday.

Merck, based in Rahway, N.J., scored the highest overall rating in the six years the survey has been conducted. The results appear in the Jan. 18 issue of Fortune, which appears on newsstands Monday.

Second was the rubber products company Rubbermaid Inc., based in Wooster, Ohio, up from fifth place a year ago.

Third was Dow Jones & Co., the New York-based publisher of the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications, up from ninth a year ago.

Procter & Gamble Co., the consumer products giant based in Cincinnati, ranked fourth, up from 18th a year ago, and Liz Claiborne Inc., the clothing maker, finished fifth, down from second a year ago.

Next were Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, the scientific and photographic equipment company based in St. Paul, Minn.; Philip Morris Cos., the tobacco, food and beverage company based New York; and J. P. Morgan & Co., the New York-based commercial banker.

Tied for ninth place were newcomers to the Top 10--RJR Nabisco, the tobacco and foods company based in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a retailer based in Bentonville, Ark.

International Business Machines, the computer giant from Armonk, N.Y., which ranked as the most admired company in each of the first four Fortune surveys, slipped out of the Top 10 listing for the first time, falling to 32nd place from the seventh spot last year.

The least admired company of the 306 in the survey was Financial Corp. of America, based in Irvine, and operator of the nation’s largest savings and loan. FCA has taken heavy loan-loss provisions in recent years.

How They’re Rated

The rankings are based on 3,480 replies to a survey of more than 8,000 top executives, outside directors and financial analysts. Ninety percent of the returns were in hand before the Oct. 19 stock crash, but Fortune said the final 10% showed no effects from the market’s collapse.

Those surveyed were asked to rate the 10 largest companies in their own industries on eight key attributes, including quality of management, quality of products or services, innovativeness, long-term investment value, financial soundness, community and environmental responsibility, use of corporate assets and ability to attract and keep talented people.

Ratings were on a scale of zero to 10 with 10 being the best mark, and included 33 industries with assignments being made according to the business that contributed the most to a company’s 1986 sales.

Merck ranked first according to each of the eight attributes but one--community and environmental responsibility, in which Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical and medical products company based in New Brunswick, N.J., was ranked first.

Merck expects its 1987 profit to rise 30% on a 20% sales increase amid strong demand for its cardiovascular drugs and antibiotics. It also rolled out a cholesterol fighter called Mevacor in September.

Others in the bottom five were: American Motors Corp., a Southfield, Mich.-based auto maker recently acquired by rival Chrysler Corp; BankAmerica Corp., the commercial banking firm based in San Francisco; LTV Corp., the metals company based in Dallas; and Bethlehem Steel Corp., another metals maker based in Bethlehem, Pa.