Top 20 Companies Recognized in Labrador Transparency's 2025 U.S. Transparency Awards
Lowe's Companies recognized as a leader in corporate disclosure transparency.
Lowe's Companies, Dow, American Express, ConocoPhillips, and AIG secured top honors in the 2025 U.S. Transparency Awards announced today by Labrador Transparency, a leading global communications firm specializing in transparent corporate disclosure documents. The rankings are determined through a rigorous evaluation of corporate disclosure documents and celebrate companies dedicated to building investor and stakeholder trust through clear, concise, and effective communication.
"Companies that commit to openness see rewards in the form of higher investor engagement, stronger alliances, and improved voting results," said Broc Romanek, chair of the Transparency Scientific Committee, which oversees the awards.
The Transparency Awards celebrate the 20 most transparent U.S. companies, the top three leaders in 11 industry sectors, and standout achievements in disclosure categories ranging from proxy statements and Form 10-K to sustainability reporting, investor relations websites, codes of conduct, and plain language.
"The movement toward greater transparency is pushing companies to share clearer and more accessible information, giving investors, employees, and other stakeholders a fuller picture of a company's true worth," said Broc Romanek, chair of the Transparency Scientific Committee, which oversees the awards. "Organizations that embrace this openness gain stronger investor interest, deeper partnerships, and improved voting outcomes. These awards honor the leaders setting the pace—showing how candid communication builds trust, drives engagement, and supports long-term success."
Marking seven years of excellence, the U.S. Transparency Awards have established themselves as a trusted measure of transparency among leading global public companies. Watch the video awards announcement here.
TOP 20 MOST TRANSPARENT U.S. COMPANIES
1. Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW)
2. Dow (NYSE:DOW)
3. American Express (NYSE:AXP)
4. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)
5. AIG (NYSE:AIG)
6. Home Depot (NYSE:HD)
7. Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)
8. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)
9. Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON)
10. Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC)
11. Ford (NYSE:F)
12. Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH)
13. CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)
14. 3M (NYSE:MMM)
15. MetLife (NYSE:MET)
16. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)
17. Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU)
18. ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)
19. Mondelēz (NASDAQ:MDLZ)
20. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
WINNERS IN INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES
Best Overall Transparency: Lowe's Companies
This year, Lowe's stands out as the champion of transparency. Lowe's prioritized readers by implementing best practices across all documents. This includes using graphics and visuals to effectively illustrate company goals and performance. Notably, Lowe's produced engaging executive summaries, especially in the proxy statement. The company is also proactively anticipating the requirements of CSRD by disclosing its value chain and aligning the sustainability report with the European Union's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
AIG, American Express, ConocoPhillips, and Dow also received high scores as runners-up for the overall transparency award.
Best Proxy Statement: Lockheed Martin
For the second consecutive year, Lockheed Martin's proxy statement received the highest ratings. The company offers precise and transparent disclosures, effectively linking the skills of its board members to the overall strategy. Additionally, the proxy features a clear and engaging governance section, complemented by graphics and visuals throughout the Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&A) section, which enhances readability.
The runners-up for most transparent proxy are 3M, Freeport-McMoRan, Gilead Sciences, and VICI Properties.
Best Sustainability/ESG Report: Dow
Dow receives top honors for its detailed and thorough "INtersections Progress Report." The company effectively connects sustainability with its strategic goals and illustrates how these align with its mission and purpose. A dashboard displaying progress against goals enables readers to quickly grasp performance metrics. Additionally, Dow puts its efforts into broader context by discussing its value chain, outlining goals and actions related to Scope 3 emissions, and conducting a double materiality assessment.
Following closely behind, American Express, Ecolab, Lowe's, and Philip Morris also achieved noteworthy scores.
Best Form 10-K: Allstate
Allstate showcased dedication to transparency by publishing an annual report that is easy to navigate, featuring clear sectioning and an interactive table of contents. The 10-K showed the company's concerted effort to present information simply and clearly by incorporating graphics throughout the report, effectively illustrating Allstate's strategy and performance.
Runners-up for the Form 10-K category are Bank of America, ConocoPhillips, Home Depot, and Moody's.
Best Investor Relations Website: Duke Energy/GE Aerospace/Johnson & Johnson
This year, the award is presented to - not just one, but to three - companies that demonstrated standard-bearing transparency and achieved perfect scores. Duke Energy, GE Aerospace, and Johnson & Johnson all provided accessible and easy-to-navigate websites with critical content, from stock information to SEC filings and annual shareholder meetings.
Additionally, the websites of American Express, ConocoPhillips, CVS Health, Meta Platforms, and Morgan Stanley are recognized as runners-up.
Best Code of Conduct: Procter & Gamble/Xcel Energy
Procter & Gamble and Xcel Energy have shown a strong commitment to ethics and compliance by implementing user-friendly and comprehensive Codes of Conduct. These codes embed the companies' core values and are linked to their policies. They incorporate graphics and case studies to illustrate the companies' expectations, and also feature decision-making models.
ConocoPhillips, John Deere, and Elevance Health received the next highest rankings.
Most Efficient Plain Language - Proxy Statement: Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson fostered trust and demonstrated transparency in its proxy statement by employing clear and concise language to effectively communicate with stakeholders.
Booking Holdings, ExxonMobil, General Dynamics, and Microsoft also demonstrated top plain language performance.
TOP INDUSTRY WINNERS
- Communication Services: Disney, AT&T, Meta Platforms
- Consumer Discretionary: Lowe's Companies, Ford, Home Depot
- Consumer Staples: Mondelēz, Philip Morris, and Kraft Heinz
- Energy: ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Hess
- Financials: American Express, AIG, and MetLife
- Healthcare: CVS Health, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson
- Industrials: Honeywell, 3M, and Lockheed Martin
- Information Technology: Cognizant Technology, Intuit, and ServiceNow
- Materials: Dow, Ecolab, and Freeport-McMoRan
- Real Estate: Prologis, VICI Properties, and American Tower
- Utilities: Exelon, Xcel Energy, and NextEra Energy
2025 Awards Methodology:
Each year, experts from Labrador Transparency evaluate the corporate disclosure documents of leading S&P 500 companies1. For the 2025 awards, companies in the S&P 100 (OEX) plus 2024 Transparency Award winners were considered (a temporary reduction in scope from prior years). The team collected more than 25,000 data points and evaluated each organization's disclosure documents using 238 objective criteria2 that reflect the award's five pillars of transparency – accessibility, precision, comparability, availability, and clarity.
The Transparency Scientific Committee, an independent group of current and former institutional investors, proxy advisors, in-house practitioners, and regulators, oversees this objective process by refining transparency criteria, updating award categories, and validating the winners.
To learn more, visit TransparencyAwards.com. To review analysis of good, transparent disclosure throughout the year, visit RealTransparentDisclosure.com. Companies wishing to inquire about their ranking should contact transparency@labrador-company.com.
ABOUT LABRADOR TRANSPARENCY
Labrador Transparency, the creator and organizer of the Transparency Awards, is an independent firm specializing in transparent investor and stakeholder communications. With more than 30 years serving clients in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Labrador's mission remains the same – to bridge the gap between compliance and communication by creating, designing, and publishing reader-centric documents that generate shareholder trust and reinforce their investment decisions. Focusing exclusively on corporate disclosure documents, and with more than 500 clients worldwide, Labrador provides unique insight into industry trends and best practices, and award-winning innovation and initiatives.
For further information, visit labrador-transparency.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.
1 Eligible companies are ranked with no need to apply and no fee. The list of companies was created in January 2025, and the data collected between April 1 and July 31, 2025.
2 These awards spotlight best practices and allow companies to track their annual performance against the open-source criteria published by Labrador Transparency in an effort to establish transparency standards that will contribute to a broad improvement in corporate disclosure readability and efficacy.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250916485599/en/
Cirstine Jeanne San Jose
sanjose.c@labrador-company.com