The Best And Worst Channel Stocks of 2012 (So Far)
The Best (And Worst) Channel Stocks Of 2012 ... So Far
After a strong first quarter on Wall Street, channel stocks fell sharply in the second quarter, resulting in overall declines for the first six months of 2012 for more than half of the companies. By comparison, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices have increased 5.4 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively, during that period.
Sapient
CEO: Alan Herrick
June 29, 2012: $10.07
Dec. 31, 2011: $12.60
2012 Change: -20.1%
Sapient shares reached a peak of $12.71 on April 17. But after the company released its first-quarter earnings on May 3, the stock dropped more than $2 per share over a two-day period.
ScanSource
CEO: Mike Baur
June 29, 2012: $30.64
Dec. 31, 2011: $36.00
2012 Change: -14.9%
ScanSource's stock peak in the second quarter ($37.97) came on the first day of the quarter. It lost nearly a dollar the next day and continued to fall the rest of the quarter.
PC Mall
CEO: Frank F. Khulusi
June 29, 2012: $5.41
Dec. 31, 2011: $6.28
2012 Change: -13.9%
PC Mall share dropped 56 cents on May 10 after the company released its first-quarter financials, which included a net income loss and revenue growth of just 2 percent compared to the prior-year quarter. Late in the quarter, the El Segundo, Calif.-based VAR announced several management changes, including Kristin Rogers, who was named executive vice president of marketing, and Joseph Hayek, who was named president of the Sarcom subsidiary.
Arrow Electronics
CEO: Michael J. Long
June 29, 2012: $32.81
Dec. 31, 2011: $37.41
2012 Change: -12.3%
Arrow shares fell $3.68 on May 1 after the Englewood, Colo.-based distributor missed analysts' first-quarter earnings projections and provided second-quarter guidance that was below analysts' estimates too.
PC Connection
CEO: Timothy McGrath
June 29, 2012: $10.62
Dec. 31, 2011: $11.09
2012 Change: -4.2%
Unlike many of its peers on this list, PC Connection's shares didn't fall after the Merrimack, N.H.-based solution provider released its first-quarter earnings. They didn't go up either, remaining flat at $8.59 on May 7 before slowly climbing. Shares crossed the $10 plateau on June 28 for the first time since Feb. 3.
Ingram Micro
CEO: Alain Monie
June 29, 2012: $17.47
Dec. 31, 2011: $18.19
2012 Change: -4.0%
Shares of the Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor fell below the $18 mark for the first time this year on May 31 and slipped temporarily below the $17 mark in late June before making a slight rebound to close the quarter at $17.47. During the quarter, Ingram announced it was adding Hewlett-Packard Business Critical Systems (BCS) products, significantly expanding its line with the vendor.
Tech Data
CEO: Robert M. Dutkowsky
June 29, 2012: $48.17
Dec. 31, 2011: $49.41
2012 Change: -2.5%
On May 16, Tech Data shares fell below the $50 mark for the first time since early January, reaching a 2012-low close of $46.26 on June 25. A bright spot? CEO Bob Dutkowsky noted that tablets now represent a billion-dollar business for the Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor.
Avnet
CEO: Rick Hamada
June 29, 2012: $30.86
Dec. 31, 2011: $31.09
2012 Change: -0.7%
May was a cruel month for the Phoenix-based distributor. Avnet's shares fell more than $5.50 during that 31-day period and stayed around the $31 market for most of June. In late May, Avnet enhanced its cloud portfolio with a new Cloud Solutions team and a deal with Savvis.
Computer Sciences
CEO: Mike Lawrie
June 29, 2012: $24.82
Dec. 31, 2011: $23.36
2012 Change: 6.3%
CSC saw sales dip in its most recently closed quarter, but Wall Street didn't flinch. The company's stock fell as low as $23.29 in late June but rebounded to close the quarter at $24.82, up 6.3 percent so far for 2012.
Insight Enterprises
CEO: Kenneth T. Lamneck
June 29, 2012: $16.83
Dec. 31, 2011: $15.29
2012 Change: 10.1%
Shares of Insight held above the $20 mark as late as May 2, when the company reported earnings. The Phoenix-based company's stock fell by $2.49 per share the next day and closed as low as $14.46 in mid-June before rebounding late in the month to close up 10 percent through the first six months of the year. Insight continued to develop its cloud offering in the second quarter, unveiling an HP Cloud Center of Excellence in May.
Accenture
CEO: Pierre Nanterme
June 29, 2012: $60.09
Dec. 31, 2011: $53.23
2012 Change: 12.9%
Accenture shares lost nearly $2 per share on June 1 to close at its lowest mark since January. But, the company gained $3.46 per share on the last trading day of the quarter to close up almost 13 percent through the first half of 2012. Meanwhile, Accenture also released a new cloud-based version of its business and underwriting software.
Synnex
CEO: Kevin M. Murai
June 29, 2012: $34.49
Dec. 31, 2011: $30.46
2012 Change: 13.2%
If it wasn't for a company being acquired (see next slide), Synnex would have earned the honor of best channel stock through the first half of 2012 with an increase of more than 13 percent. The Fremont, Calif.-based distributor reported earnings in late June, but it didn't impact the stock much. Also late last month, CEO Kevin Murai talked to CRN about its 100th consecutive profitable quarter.
GTSI
CEO: Sterling Phillips
June 21, 2012: $7.75
Dec. 31, 2011: $4.16
2012 Change: 86.3%
GTSI was sold in the second quarter to Unicom Systems for $7.75 per share, which represented a 50-percent premium on the solution provider's stock price on May 7, when the deal was announced. GTSI shares stopped trading June 21 after the transaction closed.