Proving that there's never a dull moment in the Mamma.com (NASDAQ:MAMA) family, the CEO of the fledgling search engine provider announced that he is resigning to pursue other business opportunities.
Taking his place will be Mamma executive Martin Bouchard. It isn't a bad choice -- Bouchard came to the company thirteen months ago, after Mamma acquired Bouchard's Copernic. It was a good buy, as Copernic's desktop search feature was incorporated into Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX) new OpenRide software platform for AOL a few months ago.
However, the AOL validation is about the only thing that has gone right for the company. Despite the fat profit margins being put out by search giants like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Mamma has failed to turn a profit, save for a brief spell in early 2004.
That's not a death sentence. Small rivals like MIVA (NASDAQ:MIVA) and LookSmart (NASDAQ:LOOK) haven't produced a profitable quarter in over a year, yet they currently offer compelling values. Mamma is different in that it has courted controversy and endured wild trading gyrations over the past three years.
Between Mark Cuban's brief endorsement, auditors bailing, and the SEC sniffing around, Mamma's lifestyle has been as wild as its ticker tape. Mamma began 2004 with its shares priced at $3.20. By April it had popped to a high of $17.49. This past summer, the shares had fallen as low as $0.86. Frenetic trading last month -- always dangerous when you have stocks with small floats that can be easily swayed one way or the other -- sent the stock up to $8.60. The stock is now down to $4.85 a pop.
As I wrote last month, when I pegged the $8 Mamma as a short in Motley Fool CAPS, Mamma.com "isn't worthless, it's just worth less." Unless the fundamentals beg to differ when the company posts earnings next month, I won't change my vote in the stock-rating service.
The change at the top can be a good thing. Bouchard wasn't around during the go-go days of 2004, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm just wondering if we'll ever find out why the CEO resigned. That's the real mystery. Let's hope that Mamma isn't keeping secrets.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves his mamma. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
