September Executive Turnover Figures Diverge With Slowing Employment Growth

Liberum Research's latest September executive turnover numbers continued to point in a positive direction for the American ecoonomy despite the disappointing employment growth and unemployment figures for September released last week from the U.S. Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  According to Liberum's Management Change Database, September's overall executive turnover numbers continued to point to an ongoing American economic recovery.  September's executive turnover numbers showed increases over last year's September figures in all four key categories Liberum analyzes for its monthly report (see details below).  The executive turnover figures in September as compared to the previous month of August, on the other hand, were not nearly as positive, two out of the four categories saw declines, while the other two categories eked out slight increases.  

Typically, Liberum's monthly executive turnover figures tend to follow a similar pattern with the U.S. Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Monthly Employment Report.  The Government's Employment figures for September released last Friday, October 2, were somewhat disappointing.  Liberum's turnover figures were far more positive overall and despite growing economic difficulties in China and Europe, Liberum remains more positive about the American economy than the latest employment figures would suggest.

According to the BLS Employment Report for September:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in September, and the unemployment rate  

was unchanged at 5.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 

 

In September, the unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent, and the number of unemployed persons (7.9  

million) changed little. 

 

Liberum expects the early fall months will continue to see the economy moving forward but with blips along the way.  We predict excecutive turnover numbers in the early fall will remain fairly positive.  A number of economists have viewed the latest disappointing BLS employment figures in the same way Liberum has.  According to an article in the October 5 edition of Business Insider entitled, This doesn't look like an economy where the jobs landscape is all of a sudden crumbling beneath our feet,

Tom Porcelli, chief economist for RBC Capital Markets, argues the jobs report seems out of sync with most other economic indicators. 

"Given what the multitude of employment metrics had been flagging about the jobs landscape, the September employment report seems like something right out of Bizarro World," wrote Porcelli in a note to clients.

He pointed specifically to the purchasing activity in markets that require long-term financing requirements: cars and houses.

What we are highlighting is that despite [Friday's] modest outcome all of those other things we have just highlighted continue to perform well," said Porcelli. "And assuming job growth is not falling off a cliff – none of the hi-frequency data support that notion – then achieving sturdy consumption growth of around 3% is still easily achieved."

 

Liberum Comparison Breakdown of Key September Executive Turnover Figures

Below is a breakdown of Liberum's key executive category percentage changes for September 2015 compared with September a year earlier and the previous month of August 2015.    

 

September 2014 Compared to September 2015

• For September 2015 increases in turnover occured in all key categories.  CEO changes increased 15% from September a year earlier, CFO changes increased 11%, C-level changes increased a huge 53%, and board of director changes increased 65%.  

August 2015 Compared to September 2015

• The month to month changes in executive turnover for two out of the four key categories, on the other hand, were characterized by declines. CEO changes declined 6%, CFO changes declined 8%, while C-level changes increased 5% and board of director changes increased a mere 1%.      

Below are the overall turnover totals for September 2015.  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 and is a potential way to come up with unique special situation opportunities.  Executive search firms on the other hand, can use the information to generate new leads and new clients and consulting firms can use the data for a variety of purposes.   

 

KEY CEO CHANGES - SEPTEMBER 2015
65 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING

 

According to Liberum's Management Change Database, a total of 202 CEO related changes occurred during September 2015. Here are 65 changes 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. (Anyone using Liberum's database could do the same kind of analysis for other key titles, e.g., CFOs, COOs, CMOs, CIOs, Presidents, etc.)

DATE  COMPANY TICKER  EXCHANGE  MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS    

09-01 NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB  NEVPF  OTC  82

09-01 Sun BioPharma, Inc.  SNBP  OTC

09-01 The Fresh Market  TFM  NASDAQ  1030

09-01 Wildcat Exploration Ltd.  WEL  CVE

09-02 Silver Spring Net  SSNI  NYSE  568

09-03 Cortronix Biomedi  CBAT  OTC  27952

09-03 LSB Industries, Inc.  LXU  NYSE  562

09-04 Studio One Media  SOMD  OTC  47

09-04 XPO Logistics Inc  XPO  NYSE  3230

09-06 NuState Energy Holdings, Inc.  NSEH  OTC  203788

09-07 Granite Real Estate Investment Trust  GRP-U  NYSE

09-08 Angie's List, Inc  ANGI  NASDAQ  305

09-08 Tempur Sealy International, Inc.  TPX  NYSE  4860

09-08 United Continental Holdings Inc.  UAL  NYSE  21730

09-09 Conn's Inc.  CONN  NAS  1040

09-09 Express Scripts Holding Company  ESRX  NASDAQ  56500

09-09 Start Scientific  STSC  OTC  3

09-09 The Andersons, Inc.  ANDE  NASDAQ  983

09-10 Finisar Corporation  FNSR  NASDAQ  1270

09-11 America Greener Technologies Inc AGRN  OTC  7

09-11 Canaccord Financi  CF  TORONTO  511

09-11 DGSE Companies, Inc.  DGSE  NYSE  5

09-11 FBEC Worldwide Inc  FBEC  OTC  5

09-14 Fuelstream Inc FLST  OTC  23674

09-14 Harte-Hanks, Inc.  HHS  NYSE  236

09-14 Heatwurx  HUWX  OTC  11

09-14 SPX Corporation SPW  FRANCE  2240

09-15 Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc.  BLPH  NASDAQ

09-15 Winnebago Industries, Inc.  WGO  NYSE  557

09-16 Avis Budget Group Inc.  CAR  NASDAQ  4630

09-16 Envoy Capital Group Inc.  ECGI 17

09-16 Hampton Roads Bankshares, Inc.  HMPR  348

09-16 Hospitality Property Fund  HPA

09-16 LaBranche & Co., Inc.  LAB  CVE

09-16 Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR)  TKC  NYSE  7970

09-16 Xchanging  XCH  ETF CHINA

09-17 La Quinta Holding  LQ  NYSE  2480

09-17 Vision Eye Institute Limited  VEI  AUSTRALIA

09-18 Emergent Health C  EMGE  OTC  3

09-18 Huttig Building Products, Inc.  HBP  NASDAQ  78

09-18 Tele2 Ab Adr  TLTZY  OTC  4400

09-21 Mitcham Industries, Inc.  MIND  NASDAQ 46

09-21 Nation Energy Inc.  NEGY  OTC  68

09-21 Sequenom, Inc.  SQNM  NASDAQ  252

09-21 YuuZoo Corporation  AFC SINGAPORE

09-22 Churchill Downs, Inc.  CHDN  NASDAQ  2360

09-22 Grogenesis Inc  GROG  OTC  15

09-22 Iteris Inc.  ITI  NYSE  78

09-22 MedGen Inc  MDIN  OTC  317826

09-23 Gala Global Inc GLAG  OTC

09-23 Volkswagen a G Sp  VLKAY  OTC  63800

09-25 EMAS Offshore Limited EMAS  NORWAY

09-28 Atmos Energy Corporation  ATO  NYSE  5790

09-29 Cumulus Media Inc.  CMLS  NASDAQ  159

09-29 Epcylon Technolog  PRFC  OTC  14

09-29 Great Rock Development Corp  GROC  OTC  46752

09-29 Haemonetics Corporation HAE  NYSE  1700

09-29 Independence Banc  IEBS  OTC  9

09-29 Inside Secure SA  ISDCF  OTC  52

09-29 Kalex Corp  KLXC  OTC  48510

09-29 Lpath Inc  LPTN  NASDAQ  6

09-29 Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation  RL  NYSE  8910

09-29 Tuesday Morning Corporation  TUES  NASDAQ  233

09-30 Qliro Group AB QLRO  SCANDINAVIA  1570

09-30 Sli Systems Limit  SLI  NEW ZEALAND  48

 

SEPTEMBER 2015 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS

C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1876

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs- 175> Banking - 144
> Energy - 113

SEPTEMBER 2015 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 202

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Banking - 19

> Energy - 18> Business Services - 15

SEPTEMBER 2015 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 205

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Energy - 17
> Drugs/Biotech - 12
> Business Services - 10
> Food Drink - 10
> Health Services - 10
> Manufacturing - 10
> Transportation - 10

SEPTEMBER 2015 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 594

TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Drugs/Biotech - 69
> Banking - 44
> Manufacturing - 40
> Metals/Mining - 40

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. 

Liberum's over ten year old database offers institutional investors the ability to examine: 

• an individual company, 
• sector/s, 
• corporate titles
• groups of companies, 
• market caps
• 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 easily 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.  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.