As environmental, social and governance factors become more of a priority to corporations than balance sheets, hedge fund icon Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning the companies that are doing well are those focusing on the “most important metrics, which are generally pocketbook issues and work-related.”
Jones, who founded Boston-based Tudor Investment Corp. in 1980, is also a co-founder of Just Capital, an ESG investing research nonprofit that annually ranks the top U.S. companies based on the issues that are important to the public.
The 2022 Just 100 ranking weighted worker issues the highest at 39%. These factors include offering a living wage, protecting the health, safety and well-being of workers beyond what is required by law, offering high-quality benefits and investing in its workforce through training and education.
Jones noted the top component, paying a fair and living wage, resulted in “workforces that are taken care of by far and away on a variety of fronts relative to the rest of corporate America.”
The other issues taken into consideration were communities at a 20% weight, shareholders and governance at 19%, customers at 11% and environment at 10%.
The billionaire investor emphasized the most important thing these companies are doing, however, is “being just and being in line with Americans’ views on what is just.”
Jones continued by pointing out the data is already proving this view is better for business and, by extension, long-term investors as companies on the Just 100 list not only give more to local communities, but have smaller carbon footprints, provide pay gap disclosures more often, distribute more in dividends and, on average, earn 4.5% more than the rest of corporate America, among other things.
“There’s economic and financial things that they do better on and they’re also social issues that set them apart in a way that makes them the most valued companies in America,” he said. “You can’t have a value proposition for investors and shareholders in the long run unless you’re taking care of and providing a value proposition for the other stakeholders, employees, customers, communities, the planet.”
The companies that earned the top five spots this year are Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, Financial), Intel Corp. (INTC, Financial), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial), Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM, Financial) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial).
PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL, Financial), Apple Inc. (AAPL,) Nvidia Corp. (NVDA, Financial), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, Financial) and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO, Financial) round out the rest of the top 10 ranked companies. View the full list here.
