Mirage again at top of list in Fortune

Monday, Feb. 15, 1999 | 9:28 a.m.

Score one for Steve Wynn against his rival Donald Trump.

Fortune magazine says Wynn's Mirage Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas again is the nation's most-admired company in the hotels, casinos and resorts industry.

Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts ranks last not only in the hotel and casino industry, but is last at No. 469 on Fortune's entire 1999 list of America's Most Admired Companies.

Joining Trump in the Bottom 10 list is No. 462 Viad of Phoenix, owner of GES Exposition Services of Las Vegas.

Fortune's March 1 issue lists General Electric as the nation's most-admired company. Included in this Top 10 list are Coca-Cola (No. 2), Wal-Mart stores (No. 6) and Southwest Airlines (No. 7.)

Southwest Airlines, Citicorp, Norwest Bank and Sprint are ranked at the top of their respective industries. All four companies have big Las Vegas operations but are not based in Nevada.

Mirage was also the top-ranked company in its industry in the 1998 and 1997 Fortune surveys. In 1997, Mirage was the second-highest ranked company in all industries.

Trailing Mirage in the hotel and casino industry this year are Marriott International, Host Marriott, Harrah's Entertainment, Promus Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Circus Circus Enterprises and Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.

The Fortune rankings, based on surveys of more than 10,000 executives, took place before Hilton spun off its casino division into Park Place Entertainment.

In the telecommunications industry, Kansas City-based Sprint is No. 1. AT&T is No. 7.

In the category of superregional banks, Norwest is No. 1, NationsBank is No. 2, U.S. Bancorp is No. 4, BankAmerica No. 7 and Wells Fargo No. 10. The survey was conducted before Norwest acquired Wells Fargo and took the Wells Fargo name. NationsBank and BankAmerica also merged and retained the BankAmerica name.

Among money center banks, Citicorp is No. 1.

In the health care industry, companies with Las Vegas operations include Tenet (No. 3), PacifiCare (No. 4), Humana (No. 6) and Columbia-HCA (No. 7).

Among food and drug stores, Von's owner Safeway is No. 1, Walgreen's is No. 3, Albertson's is No. 4 and American Stores is No. 9. Albertson's is merging with American Stores, owner of Lucky and Sav-On stores.

In the airline industry, Southwest is trailed by American, Continental, United, Alaska Air, Delta, US Airways, Northwest, America West and TWA.

In the engineering and construction industry, Pulte Homes is No. 3 and Kaufman & Broad is No. 8.