For all the purported similarities between the financial
markets and the world of sports, there is one stark difference.
In the world of sports, when a team accomplishes a lofty
objective such as winning a Super Bowl or World Series, it is
often the players that get most of the credit. That is not to say
coaches, managers and crew chiefs get no credit, but the reality
is the players enjoy most of the ensuing rewards for a job well
done.
In finance, the reverse is true. Rare is the financial media
or analyst report that comes along lauding a company's employees
when the shares rocket higher. It is the management team, often
times just the CEO, that is on the receiving end of all the
praise.
Even though it is the CEO or CFO that gets to be on CNBC,
interviewed by Bloomberg and assorted other spoils of C-level
accomplishment, a company and its shares can only perform well if
most of the employees are on board with whatever the corporate
plan may be. Said another way, employee happiness is not the
first thing analysts and investors look at when evaluating a
stock's merits, but there might just be some correlation between
staff and investor satisfaction.
In an effort to see if there is any remote correlation between
employee happiness and solid returns to investors, research was
conducted on the
career web site Glassdoor.com
. Benzinga pulled four large-cap companies for this article - one
each from the S&P 500's two largest sectors - technology and
financials. The next two companies were pulled from other
significant S&P 500 sector weights, those being consumer
staples and energy. What popped up may surprise investors.
Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
)
The highest overall rating a company can receive on Glassdoor is
five stars, so Apple's overall score of 3.9 stars is impressive.
Keep in mind, reviews on Glassdoor are posted unanimously by
staffers of the reviewed firms, but it
appears Apple employees are pretty content
.
That is probably not surprising given that some Apple workers
have been made quite wealthy through stock options. Still, nearly
550 of those posting on Glassdoor said they are very satisfied
working at Apple and 82 percent have recommended the company to
job-seeking friends.
CEO Tim Cook scores highly with his minions, receiving an
approval rating of 95 percent. That alone is impressive
considering the remarkable legacy left behind by the late Steve
Jobs. The stock has tumbled recently, but is still up nearly 30
percent this year.
Apache (NYSE:
APA
)
The independent oil and gas producer
garners 3.9 stars on Glassdoor
and that is good for a better rating than rivals such as Exxon
Mobil (NYSE:
XOM
), Chevron (NYSE:
CVX
) and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:
APC
).
Granted, Apahce only has 16 reviews on Glassdoor, but if that
sample set is reflective of most employees, most folks like
working at Apache as the company earns four-star ratings for
culture and values, compensation and benefits, work/life balance
and senior leadership. Speaking of senior leadership, 100 percent
of those reviewing Apache on Glassdoor approve of CEO Steve
Farris.
The sticking point here is that, along with most of the energy
sector, Apahce has faltered this year with the stock off 12.5
percent.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS
)
Goldman Sachs, the largest U.S. investment bank, must truly
employ a lot of capitalists because the company's compensation
and benefits score is "just" four stars. The overall rating is
3.8 stars. Controversial CEO Lloyd Blankfein
has a 92 percent approval rating
.
Actually, that is not surprising. Goldman staffers that have
received shares as part of their compensation in recent years
should be happy because the stock is up 41 percent this year.
General Mills (NYSE:
GIS
)
General Mills being on this list is not a surprise because the
company frequently appears on a variety of
best places to work lists
. It would appear that those lists are accurate in their
assessment of Big G because the company earns a
Glassdoor score of 4.1 stars
.
Not only that, but 91 percent of the company's staff that
offered reviews on the career site say they would recommend the
firm to a friend. Additionally, CEO Ken Powell has a 97 percent
approval rating.
As this is a low-beta consumer staples stock that investors
typically buy and hold for long time frames, measuring the
stock's performance over a longer horizon than year-to-date makes
sense. Powell became CEO in September 2007. Since then, the stock
has jumped more than 40 percent and the dividend has been raised
seven times.
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.