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Gap's Pressler out: Can a button-down businessman do casual chic?

the gapIt surprised mostly no one that Paul Pressler, CEO of Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), resigned yesterday. Not only have sales been slipping, like, forever; not only has market share been dwindling; not only has the stock slipped about 25% since its high in July 2004; but the guy, well, he's just not a fashion guy. This criticism of him was voiced when he started at the company back in late 2002; this criticism of him was voiced a year ago; this criticism of him was voiced a few weeks ago when sorry holiday sales were reported.

With scandalous whispers of commoditization and deep discounting and doesn't understand merchandising floating around Pressler's head like so many evil cartoon thought bubbles, I'd like to float my own theory: the guy isn't the sort of person who ever wore The Gap, and he just doesn't get it.

Maybe for some companies it's reasonable to hire a CEO who's disconnected with the target market, who wouldn't buy the product you produce. Say, a toy company might hire an older adult to run the business. Fer sure.

Continue reading Gap's Pressler out: Can a button-down businessman do casual chic?

Cramer pans Gap and tanker stocks

On today's STOP TRADING! segment on CNBC, Cramer discussed The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS). He said things smack of a potential deal, although the fundamentals are so awful it might not be able to sell anything. Cramer would sell GPS shares after the 10% pop from Faber. This is just part of the reason that Paul Pressler, CEO of Gap inc., was listed as one of the Top 10 CEO's who need to go last month.

Cramer also doesn't like many oil tanker names because dividends are suspect. Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. (NYSE:NAT) has a 12% dividend, but Cramer thinks it is suspect at some point and these stocks could discount operations quickly if anything goes south. Some of the companies have already signaled that the dividends could be cut and to wonder why the forward shipping rates are already coming down.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD) was noted positively by Cramer as it is up $2.74 today. He thinks the company's caution last month was just setting the bar low for itself.

It sounded like Cramer was going to discuss Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) Mobile Search initiatives at CES tonight on MAD MONEY, so we'll see if he does.

Ten CEOs who need to leave

24/7 Wall St. has generated a list of public company CEOs where investors in the underlying companies would likely be better served by a new CEO. While this may seem aggressive, some of these aren't actually calling for the CEOs to be fired. The difficulty in calling for new new leadership is that in many cases there is an issue as to who would be the replacement candidate. How many Jack Welches and Lou Gerstners are there in the world? Taking the Six Sigma class and studying under them only goes so far.

This list is put in alphabetical order by company name. Calling a guy the No. 1 needing to go versus the No. 3 is too subjective, and as a reminder, some of these CEO change suggestions are nominal in actuality and execution. This list and brief note is a mere summary of the full article.

Amazon.com's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos. He doesn't need to go away entirely! He just needs to do a partial title change. But will anyone inside the company tell the emperor he is wearing no space suit?

Citigroup's (C) Chuck Prince. The prince calls for Draconian measures, and maybe the prince didn't mean just THIS Prince.

Dell's (DELL) Kevin Rollins. Rollins may survive since the stock has recovered. If the stock falls back again, Wall Street has already telegraphed a true Michael Dell Inc. would be better again.

Eastman Kodak's (EK) Antonio Perez. Maybe he's nice, but for heaven's sake get the restructuring over with and get some mojo. Bring in a digital media leader.

Gap Inc.'s (GPS) Paul Pressler. Every generation may have one, but his generation gap has helped the Gap to alienate customers and send them to competitors.

Home Depot's (HD) Bob Nardelli. Does anyone on Wall Street respect him? Just because he was one of the runners-up to run G.E. doesn't mean he shouldn't change his name to Richard.

Qualcomm's (QCOM) Paul Jacobs. He isn't being sent home yet, but his dad's shoes are proving very hard to fill.

Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) & XM Satellite Radio (XMSR). It is a dead heat in the race, and if two companies need to merge, it's these two. There can be only one.

Wal-Mart's (WMT) Lee Scott. The company is struggling under its own weight, and it needs some good PR. Getting rid of the Darth Vader of Corporate America and bringing in someone fun and likeable would be the best start.

Yahoo!'s (YHOO) Terry Semel. Yes, when you see him leave or forced out, Yahoo! holders should be happy.

A lot of these may be controversial, and there are plenty of other companies which might benefit from a new CEO. None of these attacks are personal and these are merely based on observation and analysis. The list could probably be 100 CEOss long.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St. LLC; He does not hold securities in the companies he covers. He also not been compensated to represent any of these companies in any light.

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Last updated: November 11, 2009: 07:26 AM

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