Continue reading Analyst calls Ken Lewis 'phenomenally good'

Analyst calls Ken Lewis 'phenomenally good' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Executive compensation gone wild is nothing new, but it's worth looking at in the context of Freddie Mac, whose stock has tanked on a weak housing market and questions about the company's solvency. Rumors are swirling that the publicly traded quasi-semi-governmental agency will seek some kind of government bailout.

Fortune's Colin Barr examined the company's latest proxy statement and found some disturbing trends in management compensation: for 2007, CEO Richard Syron took home a $1.2 million salary, a $3.45 million cash bonus, and stock awards and misc. other of $10.6 million. That was up 24% from a year ago.

If Freddie decides to seek public funds, it will look laughably hypocritical. When it comes to CEO pay, this is a company that wants to operate like a private business but, when the going gets rough, it pulls the federal trump card. That's crap.

Think about it: any bailout will be indirectly supporting that eight-figure compensation. I think taxpayers deserve better than that and, before we contribute a penny or guarantee anything, Mr. Syron should take a large pay cut and invest his own money in any preferred/secondary offering the company pursues. Think that'll happen? One can dream ...

Freddie Mac brass cash in as company tumbles originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each Monday, I'll be bringing you my list of the top four stories from TheStreet.com for the past week. Did I miss a great story? Leave a comment and let everyone know!

So, here's my list for the past week:

1. Get Even More Bullish on the Dow. A four-part series on why Jim Cramer is bullish on the Dow. When Jim Cramer talks about markets, you have to listen, since so many other people do.
2. Funny Money: Golden Hits. Funnyman Jeff Kreisler highlights the business scandals of the second half of 2006.
3. Mutual Funds That Act Like Hedge Funds. This an interesting list of the mutual funds that have the lowest correlations to the S&P 500. For investors interested in diversification, these may be be worthy of a look.
4. The Five Smartest Things on Wall Street This Year. After a year of giving us a weekly list of the dumbest things on Wall Street (one of my favorite TheStreet.com features by the way), Colin Barr turns positive -- but only for one column, I hope!
   
   
   
   

The best of TheStreet.com: December 25-31 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.