Autodesk Shareholder Attitude Rated C

Morningstar's new rating system "encapsulates our opinion of a firm's attitude toward shareholders." The rating rank public companies from A to F based on:

Financial disclosure -- poor rating for firms with repeated one-time charges, aggressive accounting practices, nonroutine earnings restatements, and grant options without expensing them.

Shareholder friendliness -- poor rating for firms with insider-controlled share classes, takeover defenses, does business with board members' companies and relative, and CEO and chairman held by the same person.

Incentives, ownership and stewardship -- poor rating for firms issuing too many options, redefining management goals midstream, low equity ownership by the CEO and directors, and "compensation packages that reward managers (merely) for being employed."

The only CAD company listed by Kathleen Pender in Rating companies on attitude was Autodesk, who received a C.

Financial companies tended to rank the best, while media companies tended to rank the worst.