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American Morning
Interview of Andy Serwer, "Fortune"
Aired February 20, 2002 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Andy Serwer of "Fortune" magazine here, and the first look at the latest issue of "Fortune," which features the top 10 U.S. companies. From what perspective -- how did you...
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Most admired companies. It's serious (ph). And, you know, this is something we've done before, Jack, to be quite honest with you, and this year it is kind of a little different because most admired and companies, it's kind of hard to put in the same sentence.
CAFFERTY: Especially these days.
SERWER: These days. Exactly. And GE is the number one most- admired company, but even they are under the gun. You guys were talking about that this morning with Amanda Lang. They are talking about having more disclosure. Jeffrey Immelt and investors can't get enough disclosure now. I don't know if they are going to be able to understand all the stuff that is in that disclosure, but apparently they want it (ph).
CAFFERTY: But you know, the market has been getting killed again the last couple of days, and somebody said Wall Street has this propensity for doing -- what is it, "ready, fire, aim."
SERWER: Yes, "ready, fire, aim."
CAFFERTY: In other words, they -- you know, they overreact to everything, and suddenly -- I mean, GE is being -- I mean, with this story, there's a question about whether the reporter who asked the question maybe -- went a little bit farther with the answer than he should have. I mean, there are a lot of very good companies that have very sound accounting practices, but they are all getting tarred with this Enron brush (ph).
SERWER: Well, that's right. Enronitis. We kind of drilled down and took a look at the ten most financially sound companies...
CAFFERTY: There you go (ph).
SERWER: ...and did a little list of them. And, you know, this is kind of a starting point for anyone who wants to look at stocks that may be a little safer these days. You can see Exxon-Mobil, Wal- mart, Intel. And then we also did the ten lousiest, and you can see there, Warnaco, Linda Wachner's company, Federal Mogul, Polaroid, some companies in trouble. Enron, by the way, was, not surprisingly, on that list, but it was done a little earlier in the year. It was the 10th least admired company, financially soundness-wise.
CAFFERTY: Didn't realize how bad it was, maybe, at the time.
SERWER: I think that's it. But you know, it is a tough environment.
CAFFERTY: There is a piece in the "Wall Street Journal" about Fastow, the financial guy over at Enron.
SERWER: Right. What this comes down to, Jack, it the whole Enron mess is based on office politics, right? Because Fastow is saying, in a recently released memo, that Sherron Watkins was all about trying to get Jeff McMahon, who is now the president of Enron, trying to move him into place to take Fastow's job. You know, this kind of stuff is preposterous. It is all about politics, it's not about telling the truth, and it just goes on and on. I guess it's good grist for us. One thing about Sherron Watkins, people calling her a whistle-blower, in a sense she is. On the other hand, she is not a classic whistle blower.
CAFFERTY: No. No, that is usually somebody who has left the company, and then turns...
SERWER: And you turn it in to the cops or the feds or whatever.
CAFFERTY: She tried from inside.
SERWER: She was maybe trying to help Lay out. So, there is more office politics and, you know, that's interesting stuff.
CAFFERTY: Look forward to the magazine, and the list of the companies that are healthy, and the ones that aren't.
SERWER: Right.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Andy. Talk to you tomorrow.
SERWER: Okay, thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Andy Serwer, "Fortune" magazine.
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