Proof That It Pays to Be America's Most-Hated Companies

The potential buyout offer for Time Warner Cable serves as a reminder that the stock is up 39 percent this year through Dec. 13 and has surged 450 percent over the past five years. This is why companies don’t really care if you hate them.

For all the usual complaints—such as “I hate dealing with this company” or “These guys are the worst at customer service”—about the usual suspects from the ranks of cable and Internet providers, airlines, and banks, it turns out they just don’t have much incentive to care. The companies you hate are making plenty of money. In fact, the scorned tend to perform better than the companies you like.