Top 20 Most Admired Companies

Yes, Microsoft's stock price has been flat for the past few years, and sure, those haughty Apple TV ads portraying Microsoft's flagship Windows operating system as a hapless schlump sting. Nevertheless, the software giant has kept its perennial position among the ranks of America's Most Admired Companies.

One big reason is that Microsoft, through thick and thin, consistently outperforms the rest of the IT industry in growth and profitability. Still, it finds itself in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up to Google as the standard setter for the Internet, as evidenced by the recent $45 billion "semi-hostile" bid to acquire Yahoo.  -Brent Schlender