May Executive Turnover Continues Trending Positive - Investment Ops Grow

Liberum's executive turnover data for May 2013 was quite similar to April 2013's data.  The overall executive turnover level was reasonably positive and while it still continues to have areas for concern, it remains a positive indicator for the Amercian economy.  All four key executive turnover categories (CEOs, CFOs, C-level Execs and Board of Directors) saw percentage declines from the same month a year earlier but May saw a reasonable increase from April 2013 in overall executive turnover for three out of the four key categories (CEO change total remained nearly the same) which remains a positive sign for the economy and was similar to the trend Liberum observed for April 2013 as compared to March 2013.  Liberums exexecutive data successfully predicted both May's ADP Employment Report and the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics May Employment Report which were both predicted by most pundents to be somewhat negative..

Below is a breakdown of the key executive category percentage changes for May 2013 compared with May a year earlier and the previous month of April 2013.   

• For May 2013 CEO changes declined 8% from a year earlier, CFO changes declined 4%, overall C-level (as defined by Liberum Research as board of directors, CEOs, CFOs down to corporate VPs) changes declined 13% and board of director changes declined 5% as compared with May 2012 totals. 

• The month to month change in executive turnover (April 2013 to May 2013) showed a slightly different picture with a 0% change in CEOs, CFO changes increased 12%, overall C-level changes increased 10% and board of director changes increased 18%, respectively.       

Below are the overall turnover figures for May.  The information is just illustrative of how institutional investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company's performance.  Using Liberum's database could offer a totally new perspective on investment.  

Call now (212-988-5497) or email richard@twst.com and get a no obligation one week trial to Liberum's online management change database.

 

KEY CEO CHANGES - MAY 201331 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING 

According to Liberum's Management Change Database, a total of 223 CEO related changes occurred during May 2013. Here are 31 from the time period that caught my eye.  By significant, I'm looking for situations where I think a particularly strong or weak choice has been made - given the apparent current state of the company - or where there is an interesting special situation. 

DATE   COMPANY TICKER  EXCHANGE  MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS

05-01 Gryphon Gold Gorp   GYPH  OBB

05-01 Symmetricom, Inc.   SYMM  NASDAQ

05-02 Agere Systems, Inc.   AGR  

05-02 First Data Corporation   FDC  

05-02 Intel Corporation   INTC  NASDAQ   119300

05-02 Thq Inc.   THQIQ  OTN  206

05-03 Big Lots Inc.   BIG  NYSE  2134

05-07 Liberty Energy Co   LBYE  OTN  7

05-07 WebMD Health Corp.   WBMD  NASDAQ  1420

05-08 Bg Medicine, Inc.   BGMD  NASDAQ

05-08 Fusion-Io, Inc. C   FIO  NYSE  1478

05-09 Carbon Sciences,   CABN  OTN

05-10 A.P. Pharma, Inc.   APPA  OBB  134

05-15 Harvard Bioscience, Inc.   HBIO  NASDAQ  156

05-16 Eastman Chemical Company   EMN  NYSE  11448

05-17 Bar Harbor Bankshares   BHB  NYSE  140

05-17 Helmer Directiona   EXLA   180

05-18 Capital Southwest Corp.   CSWC  NASDAQ  521

05-20 Chesapeake Energy Corporation   CHK  NYSE  14021

05-20 SMTC Corporation (USA)   SMTX  NASDAQ  33

05-20 Vision-Sciences, Inc.   VSCI  NASDAQ  49

05-21 Alternative Energ   AEGY  OBB  623

05-21 Flagstar Bancorp, Inc.   FBC  NYSE  767

05-21 Protext Mobility   TXTM  OTN  764

05-22 iGATE Corporation   IGTE  NASDAQ  821

05-23 Forest Laboratories, Inc.   FRX  NYSE  10365

05-23 The Procter & Gamble Company   PG  NYSE  224400

05-24 Apollo Group, Inc.   APOL  NASDAQ  2364

05-24 Gleacher & Compan   GLCH  NASDAQ  84

05-29 Cannabis Science   CBIS  OTN  31

05-30 Tessera Technologies, Inc.   TSRA  NASDAQ  1105

 

MAY 2013 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS

C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1512

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Banking - 171> Drugs/Biotech - 120
> Energy - 108

MAY 2013 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 223

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Banking - 25> Drugs/Biotech - 20
> Energy - 20

MAY 2013 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 212

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Banking  - 17
> Drugs/Biotech - 17
> Metals/Mining - 14

MAY 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 542

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs/Biotech - 62
> Energy - 55
> Banking - 46

Investors need to diligently monitor key management changes. Certain management changes should be viewed as a "special situation" that can have a direct and major impact on a company's performance and share price.

• New CEOs know more than the market about the company.  Their decision to take the position contains information.  Likewise the departing CEO. 

• Likewise departing CFOs New CEOs will bring new skills and often-times a new direction.  This is normally significant, and worth analyzing.

Liberum Research, the independent research firm focused on corporate management change, has developed an online relational database designed to assist institutional investors develop special situation investment ideas related to executive management change. While special situation investing traditionally revolves around corporate restructuring, spin-offs and acquisitions, executive management changes, depending on the circumstances, can represent a short or long-term investment opportunity. 

ABOUT LIBERUM

The largest database of C-level executive change at public companies.  Frequently quoted in the financial press, Liberum helps investors monitor this important, continuous stream of investment events.  The data is also useful for investment bankers, private equity, executive search and consulting firms.  The data can be used in numerous ways. Daily customizable alerts, a searchable database, custom reports, xml feeds.   Liberum clients get the data the way they can best exploit it.  Get a short trial.  And be sure to check out our management change blog. 

 

Worrisome Trend for March 2013 and First Quarter Executive Turnover

The latest quarterly and monthly executive turnover results have raised some concerns for Liberum Research with regard to the American and Canadian economies.  Both first quarter and March executive turnover totals for CEOs, CFOs and overall C-level executives (board of directors down to VP level)  showed a significant drop from the previous monthly and year earlier totals raising a concern that the economies could be in-store for a negative change.  Executive turnover totals have always served as a leading economic indicator.  When turnover rises it usually portends future economic and job growth while declining turnover portends a possible decline in economic and job growth. Despite the most recent declining figures, Liberum believes the latest drop in executive turnover totals is only a momentary blip in the growing turnover trend that has been in place now for the last two years. 

 

Liberum has put together below a quarterly breakdown of executive turnover totals for CEOs, CFOs and C-level executives covering North America from 2008 through this last quarter. Most of the below quarterly numbers showed continuing declines until the second quarter of 2011.  At this point, the numbers began to reverse themselves.  Turnover at the executive levels of corporate America began to grow.  Companies began again to consider new blood and often looked to change their corporate strategies as kernels of opportunity began to sprout ever so slightly.  Anyone investing in the market must pay special attention to executive turnover both at the top and the middle executive ranks.  Failure to do so, will result in lost opportunities or worse. To take advantage of these changes, get a free trial to Liberum's Online Management Change Database (more than 200,000 data points).  Just call Richard at 212-988-5497 or send an email to richard@twst.com requesting your free trial.

 

Below is a simple table outlining the quarterly turnover totals as registered through Liberum's Management Change Database for 2008 through the first quarter of 2013 for CEO, CFO and overall C-level turnover.  To get more extensive turnover details contact Liberum.  

 Total CEO Turnover Comparisons   

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
1st Quarter	745	491	388	346	680	583
2nd Quarter	596	380	321	581	665
3rd Quarter	533	409	298	713	636
4th Quarter	461	430	328	697	673
Annual Total	2,335	1,710	1,335	2,337	2,654	583

 

 

 Total CFO Turnover Comparisons 

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
1st Quarter	593	332	296	280	640	495
2nd Quarter	551	326	273	404	612
3rd Quarter	438	279	256	629	598
4th Quarter	364	313	258	476	569
Annual Total	1,946	1,250	1,083	1,789	2,419	495

 

 

 Total C-level Turnover Comparisons

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
1st Quarter	6735	4061	3453	2863	5442	3971
2nd Quarter	7430	5051	3199	4041	5036
3rd Quarter	4865	3690	2522	5349	4235
4th Quarter	4277	3439	2381	4596	4197
Annual Total	23,307	16,241	11,555	16,849	18,910	3971

 

The quarterly trend for key executives (above) illustrates a potential worry for the North American economy.   From a monthly perspective, March 2013 executive turnover totals were also a bit worrisome in most of the key categories.  Investors can ill afford to ignore executive turnover at the top of a firm and in the middle level.  Ignoring executive changes could mean missing a major investment opportunity or may be essential in avoiding a serious investment pitfall. Consider subscribing to Liberum's online Management Change Database or get your free trial now.  Once a subscriber, you will never miss a key executive change again and will be able to use the extensive data to make your own predictions.  

The latest monthly comparison figures with regard to executive turnover for March 2013 with those of March 2012 and February 2013 and March 2013 are as follows:  

• CEO turnover for March 2013 declined 11% from that of March 2012, CFO turnover declined 41%, while overall C-level turnover declined 30%.  The month to month change from February 2013 to March 2013 showed a decline of 15% for CEOs, a decline of 16% for CFOs and a decline of 3% with regard to C-level changes.  This is the first registered decline in all three categories for some time.  It does not yet represent a trend but should be followed closely for the next few months.

In the below report, Liberum has focused on twenty two CEO changes of special significance for the month of March. We have also put together the overall turnover figures for the month of March 2013.  The below information is just illustrative of how investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company's performance. The same could be done for COOs, Presidents, Chairmans etc.just through the database.

DATE       COMPANY   TICKER    EXCHANGE   MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS

03-01 Commercial Veh Group  CVGI  NASDAQ  232

03-06 AmeriGas Partners  APU  NYSE  4049

03-06 Digital River, Inc. DRIV  NASDAQ  474

03-07 Endeavor Power Co  EDVP  OTN  33

03-07 Pandora Media, In  P  NYSE  2348

03-08 Aastrom Biosciences  ASTM  NASDAQ 56

03-08 Mobile Integrated   MIBI    OTN  28

03-10 Intersil Corp  ISIL  NASDAQ

03-12 VeriFone Holdings  PAY  NYSE   2309

03-13 Orthofix Int'l NV  OFIX  NASDAQ

03-13 Uranium Resources  URRE  NASDAQ  44

03-14 Hittite Microwave  HITT  NASDAQ  1875

03-18 3power Energy Gr  PSPW  OTN  7

03-18 American Science  ASEI  NASDAQ  495

03-18 Apricus Bioscienc  APRI  NASDAQ

03-18 Skullcandy, Inc   SKUL  NASDAQ

03-18 Spirit Aerosystem  SPR  NYSE  2713

03-19 As Seen On Tv Inc  ASTV  OBB  20

03-19 Cellynx Group Inc CYNX  OTN  146

03-19 Electronic Arts I  EA  NASDAQ   5161

03-19 Mobile Mini, Inc   MINI  NASDAQ  1316

03-27 Liqtech Intl Inc  LIQT  OBB  58

MARCH 2013 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS

C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1243
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Banking - 108
> Drugs/Biotech - 108
> Energy- 108

MARCH 2013 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 176
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Banking - 16
> Drugs/Biotech - 16
> Energy - 16

MARCH 2013 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 136
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy - 15
> Drugs/Biotech - 9> Banking - 7
> Semiconductors - 7
> Software - 7

MARCH 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 455
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy - 51
> Drugs/Biotech - 50
> Business Services - 34

Investors need to diligently monitor key management changes. Certain management changes should be viewed as a "special situation" that can have a direct and major impact on a company's performance and share price.

• New CEOs know more than the market about the company.  Their decision to take the position contains information. Likewise the departing CEO. Likewise departing CFOs.

• New CEOs will bring new skills and often-times a new direction.  This is normally significant, and worth analyzing.

Liberum Research, the independent research firm focused on corporate management change, has developed an online relational database designed to assist institutional investors develop special situation investment ideas related to executive management change. While special situation investing traditionally revolves around corporate restructuring, spin-offs and acquisitions, executive management changes, depending on the circumstances, can represent a short or long-term investment opportunity. Even when one excludes the major executive changes that continue to impact the troubled financial sector other industry sectors have management change related investment opportunities that merit examination.

Liberum's seven year old database offers institutional investors the ability to examine an individual company, sector/s, group of companies, and/or geographic region/s/ locations via a metric of one's own choosing.  You can use the information individually or in combination with a number of other financial tools to develop unique investment ideas.  Subscribers often take the service as an electronic feed rather than as an online service. Through the use of Liberum's electronic feed, investment firms have the ability to integrate Liberum's management change data with a variety of other feeds and data applications which when combined could be used as a sophisticated method for developing potential short and long-term investment ideas. 

Liberum's database whether used as an online tool, an electronic feed or as a means to receive customized weekly, monthly or annual reports is broken down into a number of highly specific fields that afford a user the ability to search and manipulate data.  

Investors interested in special situation opportunities or corporate management changes should consider taking a free trial to Liberum's Management Change Database to determine the usefulness of the service.  To get a no obligation trial, call Richard Jacovitz at 212-988-5497 or send an email request. The next step is to get a reliable source of these investment leads - and that's why funds use Liberum, a division of The Wall Street Transcript. 

ABOUT LIBERUM

The largest database of C-level executive change at public companies.  Frequently quoted in the financial press, Liberum helps investors monitor this important, continuous stream of investment events.  The data is also useful for investment bankers, private equity, executive search and consulting firms.  The data can be used in numerous ways. 

Daily customizable alerts, a searchable database, custom reports, xml feeds.   Liberum clients get the data the way they can best exploit it.  Get your short trial now.  And be sure to check out our management change blog. 

 

Best,

Richard

Richard Jacovitz
SVP Director of Research
Tel. 212-988-5497
email: richard@twst.com

January Executive Turnover In Flux

January 2013 saw a variety of mixed news with regard to overall employment and executive turnover.  Initially at the end of the month, ADP released its latest monthly Private Employment Report which was quite positive.  Late last week, however, the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly employment numbers for job growth and unemployment and these were not as positive as those of ADP. Liberum Research, which tracks executive turnover in public companies, saw a decline in overall executive turnover but the numbers were not worrisome and we expect to see the level of turnover to increase as we move into the late winter and early spring. 

According to ADP's January Employment Report:

Private sector employment increased by 192,000 jobs from December to January.  The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally adjusted basis.  The December 2012 report, which reported job gains of 215,000, was revised downward by 30,000 to 185,000 jobs.

The U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics January 2013 Employment Report was a bit more sanguine:

The U.S. Labor Department released the January 2013 jobs report Friday, showing the unemployment rate inched upward from 7.8% to 7.9%. Employers added 157,000 jobs in January, short estimates of 168,000, which would have kept the unemployment rate stable. The jobs report included some good news: Revisions to last year's data, customary in January, show the U.S. added 335,000 more jobs than initially reported in 2012, bringing the monthly average for jobs gained to 181,000 from the 153,000 initially reported.  Employment gains for November and December were revised higher by a total of 127,000.

Overall the news for job growth and even unemployment was reasonably positive.  While job growth has not been large it has continued to grow.  Liberum predicts the same will be the case for executive turnover.  For the next few months, Liberum continues to expect to see reasonably robust turnover in the nation's corporate executive ranks.

Below is a breakdown of the key executive category percentage changes for January 2013 compared with January a year earlier and the previous month of December 2012.   

• For January 2013 CEO changes showed a significant decline of 19% from a year earlier, CFO changes declined a mere 5%, overall C-level (as defined by Liberum Research as board of directors, CEOs, CFOs down to corporate VPs) changes declined a significant 22% while board of director changes increased 150% as compared with January 2012 totals. 

• The month to month change in executive turnover showed a slightly different picture with a similar 19% decline in CEO changes, CFO changes increased 5%, overall C-level changes saw virtually no change and board of director changes declined 19%, respectively.       

Below we put together the overall turnover figures for the month.  The information is just illustrative of how institutional investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company's performance.  Using Liberum's database could offer a totally new perspective on investment.  

Call now (212-988-5497) or email richard@twst.com and get a no obligation free one week trial to Liberum's online database.

KEY CEO CHANGES - JANUARY 201340 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING 

According to Liberum's Management Change Database, a total of 199 CEO related changes occurred during January 2013. Here are 40 from the time period that caught my eye.  By significant, I'm looking for situations where I think a particularly strong or weak choice has been made - given the apparent current state of the company - or where there is an interesting special situation. 

DATE   COMPANY TICKER  EXCHANGE  MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS

01-02 Innovus Pharma INNV  OTN

01-02 Thermoenergy Corp  TMEN OTN

01-03 Omni Ventures, In  OMVE OTN  $1

01-03 Plaza Bank (Wa) PZBW  OTN $4

01-03 Quiksilver, Inc.  ZQK  NYSE  $766

01-04 bebe stores, inc.  BEBE  NASDAQ  $307

01-04 Discovery Laboratories, Inc.  DSCO  NASDAQ

01-04 Inspiremd Inc  NSPRD  OBB 

01-04 Myos Corporation  MYOS  OTN  $18

01-04 Urban Ag Corp  AQUM  OTN

01-07 Anglogold Ashanti  AU  NYSE

01-07 Bill Barrett Corporation  BBG  NYSE

01-07 Compass Minerals International, Inc.  CMP NYSE  $2570

01-07 Sears Holdings Corporation  SHLD  NASDAQ

01-08 Murphy Oil Corporation  MUR  NYSE $11676

01-10 Alpha and Omega S  AOSL  NASDAQ  $224  

01-10 Anoteros Inc  ANOS  OBB  $2

01-10 Dc Brands Intl  HRDN  OTN  $33

01-10 SUPERVALU INC.  SVU  NYSE  $748

01-11 American Communit  ACYD  OTN  $320

01-11 Americas Diamond  ADMC  OBB

01-11 First Data Corporation  FDC  

01-14 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.  BRCD NASDAQ 

01-14 Glowpoint, Inc. GLOW  ASE  $48

01-15 Alfacell Corporation  ACEL  OTN  $2

01-15 Avalon Holdings Corporation  AWX  ASE  $15

01-15 Bbcn Bancorp, Inc  BBCN  NASDAQ  $920

01-17 A5 Laboratories I  AFLB  OTN  $349

01-17 Genesis Biopharma  GNBP  OTN  $7

01-17 LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation  LNET  $537

01-22 Daegis Inc  DAEG  NASDAQ  $21

01-22 PetSmart, Inc.  PETM  NASDAQ  $7461

01-23 Blackbaud, Inc. BLKB  NASDAQ  $1084

01-23 Rexahn Pharmaceut  RNN  ASE  $31

01-23 Summer Energy Hld  SUME  OTN  $23

01-23 Valor Gold Corp VGLD  OBB  $40

01-24 Diebold Incorporated  DBD  NYSE  $1893

01-28 Brainstorm Cell T  BCLI  OBB  $35

01-29 Chesapeake Energy Corporation  CHK  NYSE  $13030

01-29 International Saf  ISGI  OBB  $12

JANUARY 2013 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS

C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1452

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs/Biotech - 140> Energy - 123
> Business Services - 115

JANUARY 2013 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 199

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs/Biotech - 26> Energy - 20
> Business Services - 18

JANUARY 2013 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 197

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Metals/Mining - 23
> Drugs/Biotech  - 22
> Banking - 13
> Energy - 13

JANUARY 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 410

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs/Biotech - 59
> Energy - 31
> Metals/Mining - 29

Investors need to diligently monitor key management changes. Certain management changes should be viewed as a "special situation" that can have a direct and major impact on a company's performance and share price.

• New CEOs know more than the market about the company.  Their decision to take the position contains information.  Likewise the departing CEO. 

• Likewise departing CFOsNew CEOs will bring new skills and often-times a new direction.  This is normally significant, and worth analyzing.

Liberum Research, the independent research firm focused on corporate management change, has developed an online relational database designed to assist institutional investors develop special situation investment ideas related to executive management change. While special situation investing traditionally revolves around corporate restructuring, spin-offs and acquisitions, executive management changes, depending on the circumstances, can represent a short or long-term investment opportunity. 

Liberum's nearly eight year old database offers institutional investors the ability to examine: 

• an individual company, 
• sector/s, 
• corporate titles
• group of companies, 
• and/or geographic region/s/ locations via a metric of one's own choosing.  
• you can use the information individually or in combination with a number of other financial tools to develop unique investment ideas. 

Subscribers often take the service as an electronic feed rather than as an online service. Through the use of Liberum's electronic feed, investment firms have the ability to integrate Liberum's management change data with a variety of other feeds and data applications which when combined, could be used as a sophisticated method for developing potential short and long-term investment ideas. 

Liberum's database whether used as an online tool, an electronic feed or as a means to receive customized reports is broken down into a number of highly specific fields that afford a user the ability to search and manipulate data.  

Investors interested in special situation opportunities or corporate management changes should consider taking a free trial to Liberum's Management Change Database.  To get a no obligation trial, call Richard Jacovitz at 212-988-5497 or send an email request. The next step is to get a reliable source of these investment leads - and that's why funds use Liberum. 

ABOUT LIBERUM

The largest database of C-level executive change at public companies.  Frequently quoted in the financial press, Liberum helps investors monitor this important, continuous stream of investment events.  The data is also useful for investment bankers, private equity, executive search and consulting firms.  The data can be used in numerous ways. 

Daily customizable alerts, a searchable database, custom reports, xml feeds.   Liberum clients get the data the way they can best exploit it.  Get a short trial.   

Richard