As investors, we know that management matters. Ask anyone who owns shares of Apple today, or General Electric
It's way too soon to know if Kevin Johnson can work similar magic as the new CEO of router maker Juniper
Think about it. Before the more recent shenanigans, Mr. Softy first sought to buy Yahoo! at a very reasonable price. When CEO Jerry Yang asked for the unreasonable, Microsoft did what any reasonable suitor would do: It walked away.
But now, with Johnson gone, Mr. Softy has become the creepy boyfriend who's so desperate that he'll do anything -- anything! -- to win his beloved's heart. Good for a Hollywood flick, bad for investors pining for outsized returns.
So, Microsoft lets Juniper -- in need of a successor to CEO Scott Kriens ever since chief operating officer Stephen Elop left in January for (where else?) Microsoft -- poach the cool-headed Johnson.
Juniper needs him, or so appears to be the judgment of those who follow the stock in Motley Fool CAPS:
Metric |
|
---|---|
CAPS stars (5 max) |
*** |
Total ratings |
479 |
Bullish ratings |
420 |
Percent Bulls |
87.6% |
Bearish ratings |
59 |
Percent Bears |
12.4% |
Bullish pitches |
48 |
Bearish pitches |
15 |
Data current as of July 28, 2008.
I understand why: It's tough to let go of talent that's putting up good numbers against combative peers such as Cisco
We can't know if Johnson has the talent to extract similar (or better) numbers from his team. But it's a fair bet that he's unwilling to overpay for marginal assets -- and that should be more than enough to keep Juniper on the growth track.
Get your clicks with related Foolishness:
- January's frozen tundra couldn't keep Juniper from smelling fresh.
- By March, it had finally put its billions to work.