February saw a number of surprising changes in executive turnover as tracked by Liberum Research. Unlike previous months, Liberum registered declines in all four key categories, CEOs, CFOs, All C-level, and Board of Directors. We have not seen this level of a drop since the financial crisis back in 2008. A precipitous drop of this kind could present a problem for the North American Economy if it continues for a number of months. Liberum believes the drop is an outlier and will not continue as we move into the early spring. It is likely some of the drop might even be attributed to the severe winter weather in the U.S. Northeast. Liberum Research remains positive overall about the North American economies, particularly the United States. Earlier today, ADP released its February Private Employment Report. The numbers, while not reaching most analysts expectations, were far better than the executive turnover numbers for February from Liberum Research.
According to ADP's February Employment Report:
Private sector employment increased by 212,000 jobs from Januaryto February according to the February ADP National Employment Report."While February’s job gains came in slightly lower than recent months, the trend of solid growth above 200,000 jobs per month continued,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “What is also encouraging is that job gains are broad-based across all key industries.”Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “Job growth is strong, but slowing from the torrid pace of recent months. Job gains remain broad-based, although the collapse in oil prices has begun to weigh on energy-related employment. At the current pace of growth, the economy will return to full employment by mid-2016.”
Liberum expects the U.S. Government's employment numbers expected for release this Friday, March 6 will be lower than expected by most analysts but will still show overall employment growth for another month.
Liberum Comparison Breakdown of Key January Executive Turnover Figures
Below is a breakdown of Liberum's key executive category percentage changes for February 2015 compared with February a year earlier and the previous month of January 2015. For the first time in a few years we saw declines in all four key categories measured.
February 2014 Compared to February 2015
- For February 2015 declines in turnover occured in all four key categories. CEO changes declined 11% from February a year earlier, CFO changes declined 27%, C-level changes declined 6%, and board of director changes declined 7%.
January 2015 Compared to February 2015
- The month to month changes in executive turnover also showed major declines in all four key categories. CEO changes declined 22%, CFO changes declined a huge 47%, C-level changes declined 19% and board of director changes declined 11%.
Below are the overall turnover totals for February 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.
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. Find out why Hedge Funds, Executive Search, Business Intelligence and Consulting firms all rely on Liberum's data.
KEY CEO CHANGES - FEBRUARY 2015
34 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING
34 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING
According to Liberum's Management Change Database, a total of 150 CEO related changes occurred during February 2015. Here are 34 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 Presidents, etc.)
DATE COMPANY TICKER EXCHANGE MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS
02-02 Ally Financial In ALLY NYSE 9155
02-02 Bio Blast Pharma ORPN NASDAQ 103
02-03 Greenhouse Soluti GRSU OTC 41
02-03 McDonald's Corporation MCD NYSE 91812
02-04 Caesars Entertain CZR NASDAQ 1630
02-04 Dupont Fabros Tec DFT NYSE 2413
02-04 Grieg Seafood GRGSF OTC 425
02-04 Lands' End, Inc. LE NASDAQ 1192
02-04 Petroleo Brasilei PBR NYSE 46373
02-05 Bioadaptives Inc BDPT OTC 14
02-05 Clearsign Combust CLIR NASDAQ 70
02-05 Gran Tierra Energy, Inc. GTE NYSE 767
02-05 Vgtel, Inc. VGTL OTC 537
02-06 Chc Group Ltd. Or HELI NYSE 174
02-06 Citizens & Northe CZNC NASDAQ 238
02-06 I E C Electronics IEC NYSE 43
02-06 Pitooey!, Inc. OTC PTOO
02-09 Eurosite Power OTC EUSP
02-09 Star Gold Corp 0TC SRGZ
02-10 Neurokine Pharm NEUKF OTC
02-11 Independent Film OTC IFLM
02-11 Tag Oil Ltd TAO TORONTO 101
02-12 Bombardier Inc Cl BDRBF OTC
02-12 Career Education Corp. CECO NASDAQ 370
02-13 ConAgra Foods, Inc. CAG NASDAQ 14771
02-16 sanofi-aventis (ADR) SNY NYSE
02-16 Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Inc HOT NYSE 13990
02-17 Transocean Inc. RIG NYSE 6162
02-17 Xg Technology, In XGTI NASDAQ 12
02-18 Us Precious Metal USPR OTC 22
02-23 Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI NYSE 7881
02-23 DISH Network Corporation DISH NASDAQ 36021
02-23 Honda Motor Compa HMC NYSE 60070
02-25 Iteris Inc. ITI NYSE 56
FEBRUARY 2015 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1194
GRAND TOTAL - 1194
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 109
> Energy- 82
> Banking - 80
> Energy- 82
> Banking - 80
FEBRUARY 2015 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 150
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 15
> Food - 10
> Metals/Mining - 10
> Real Estate - 9
> Telecommunications - 9
> Metals/Mining - 10
> Real Estate - 9
> Telecommunications - 9
FEBRUARY 2015 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 119
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Consumer Products - 11
> Business Services - 10
> Drugs/Biotech - 9
> Retail - 9
> Business Services - 10
> Drugs/Biotech - 9
> Retail - 9
FEBRUARY 2015 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 413
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 47
> Banking - 29
> Energy - 27
> Manufacturing - 27
> Banking - 29
> Energy - 27
> Manufacturing - 27
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 10 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.
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.
