Bill Gunderson's  Instablog

Wait Wait: Don’t Tell Me:

Who is the CEO of Xerox

by Bill Gunderson

Gunderson Capital Management

http://www.PWstreet.com

“Who is Ursula Burns?”

I was on the phone with an editor of Barron’s and she asked me what I thought about Ursula Burns.

I had to confess: “Who is Ursula Burns?”

The editor sounded disappointed I did not know the name of the CEO of Xerox (XRX).

She thought I might because I had suggested to Barron’s they write an article about all the CEO’s of publicly traded companies who sit on the President’s Job Commission.

Ursula Burns is one of them. 

In addition to Xerox, the commission featured CEO’s from GE, Intel (INTC), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Procter and Gamble (PG), American Express (AXP), Citigroup (C), DuPont (DD), Eastman Kodak (EK), Boeing (BA), and others.

And of course, the architects of the biggest debacle in American corporate history: Steve Case and Richard Parsons, the guys behind the merger of AOL and Time-Warner.

Most of these companies have done a lousy job over the last 5-10 years in creating jobs and returning money to shareholders. Including Xerox.

So what were they doing on the commission?

I don’t recommend a single one of these stocks in my book -- Best Stock Now! -- or app.

I see stocks like this polluting the thousands of portfolios I’ve seen over the years  as the owner of my own investment advisor company.

The big brokerage companies love selling the big blue chippers.  Many are good companies.

But they are lousy stocks.

When you look at the money Xerox has been returning to investors, that is shrinking -7.9 percent a year for the last three years. 

The other stocks are just as dismal.

I do not know where the CEO of Xerox went to school. Whether she likes puppy dogs and long walks on the beach. Or anything like that.

I don’t need to hear her carefully crafted promises of how well the company’s new products are going to do. Just show me: Can Xerox make money for its shareholders in tough times?

That is what I want know about the CEO of Xerox.

And that is way more important than her name.