Although Apple posted better-than-expected second quarter earnings last week, a report card from financial weekly Barron’s (paid subscription required) gave the Mac-maker poor grades for overall stock performance and a ranking of 473 out of 500. In the latest issue released Saturday, Barron’s assigned grades in four categories, based on its rankings among the 500 companies with the largest revenues, and then calculated an overall grade-point average for each. Apple’s share stock market performance relative to the S&P 500 was graded as ‘C’. As for its median cash flow return on investment for the past three years, Apple received a ‘D’ and an ‘F’ grade in forecasted growth for the current year. Using last year’s revenue to measure how Apple was increasing returns and the top line, it received an ‘F’. Overall, by combining the grades into an average, Apple received a 0.75 GPA out of a possible 4.0. No major PC maker was ranked in the top 200; Microsoft ranked 212 with a 2.25 GPA, Dell placed 394 with a 1.50, Intel was 402 with a 1.50, and Motorola came in at 488 with a 0.50.
