Apple's University Village store. (Credit: Apple)
Apple’s University Village store. (Credit: Apple)

Barron’s released the results of its annual survey showing which companies investors respect the most, and it comes with good news for several tech companies.

Apple was named the most respected company in the world, jumping up from third place last year to pass Berkshire Hathaway, which previously held the top spot.

Boeing leapt up into third place from 26th last year, now that safety concerns with the company’s 787 “Dreamliner” have been resolved.

Meanwhile, Google and Amazon rounded out the list of tech titans in the top ten, at 4th and 7th place, respectively. 40 percent of respondents said that they “highly respect” Amazon, though 5 percent of those surveyed said that they don’t respect the company at all, the highest percentage of such votes among the top 10 on the list.

Microsoft dropped from 61st to 62nd place this year, though 16 percent of survey respondents said they highly respect the company. IBM, on the other hand, plummeted from 10th place last year to 52nd place. The company, which used to be the leading player in the PC market, is now facing increased competition from Amazon and other cloud providers.

The investors surveyed seemed much cooler about Samsung as well. The company was in 18th place last year when everyone was talking about its dominance in the Android smartphone market, but it dropped 21 places to 39th this year. Investor respect for Facebook has clearly grown from the company’s disastrous IPO in 2012. The social networking company appeared at 83rd on this year’s list.

Telecommunications companies had a strong showing on the list as well, with T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Verizon, and AT&T among those that made the list.

The results are good news for companies that posted significant improvements or placed highly, though it’s not clear how the results will translate for investors. Barron’s pointed out that the respect may not translate into immediate financial gains, but it could serve as a positive sign that investors are confident in a particular firm.

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