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These Are ‘The Best CEOs’ of 2012 (And the Political Parties They Support!)

Dec. 18, 2012 8:00pm Becket Adams

The financial blog 24/7 Wall St. on Tuesday released its list of the “best CEOs of 2012″ — and further investigation reveals that a plurality of political donations made by the “best CEOs” were to Democrat causes, according to data available on opensecrets.org

“24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2012 track records of dozens of large company CEOs. We looked at share price, execution, revenue and EPS growth, as well as evidence of substantial long-term plans,” 24/7 Wall St.’s Douglas A. McIntyre writes, explaining how they came up with this year’s list.

“Some of the CEOs who made the list because they excelled or stood out in some or all of these measures had one particularly good year,” he adds. “Other CEOs have posted many years of strong earnings and sales growth. In most cases, to do so they have changed their products to draw in new customers or create better operating efficiencies.”

He continues:

To identify the best CEOs of 2012, 24/7 Wall St. screened for best performing stocks in the S&P 500 using Cap IQ. The market value of the company had to be greater than $3 billion.

We also examined EPS and earnings growth for the most recent quarter and recent year. To ensure that we only measured the impact of the current CEO and not a predecessor, we only considered executives who had been in the position for at least two years.

Finally, we only considered CEOs who had done something particularly meaningful that had, or likely would have, a long-term effect on the companies they run.

So, without any further introduction, here are 24/7 Wall St.’s “best CEOs of 2012” and TheBlaze’s breakdown of their political donations [all block quotes via 24/7 Wall St., all graphs via TheBlaze]:

1. Daniel Hesse

Company: Sprint-Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S)
Share price YTD:+137 percent

Hesse, who has run Sprint since late 2007, finally saved the company after a long trail of failed attempts. He did not accomplish the task by improving operations. Rather, Hesse found an investor willing to buy a majority interest in the company — not an easy task given how badly positioned the third-place cellular company in the United States has been.

Sprint’s third-quarter results are ample evidence of the difficulty the corporation would have as an independent operation and without outside financial support. While revenue rose 5 percent to $8.8 billion, Sprint lost $767 million. On October 15, it was announced that SoftBank would invest $20.1 billion in Sprint for an approximately 70 percent stake. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is expected to invest aggressively in Sprint’s expansion.

Note: Of the political donations made by Cellular Telecom & Internet Assn. during the 2012 election cycle, 36 percent went to Democrats and 64 percent went to Republicans. Meanwhile, 46 percent of Sprint Nextel donations went to Democrats while 54 percent went to Republicans.

2. John Donahoe

Company: eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY)
Share price YTD: +61 percent

Donahoe became CEO of eBay in early 2008. Wall St. questioned whether eBay’s core auction business could survive competition from online giant Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and an army of smaller online auction firms. Most investors admired eBay’s PayPal online payment system, while the legacy auction business hampered overall corporate earnings growth. That has changed. In the third quarter, the results of the renewed drive into the auction business showed. Marketplace revenue rose 9 percent to $1.8 billion of eBay’s total revenue of $3.4 billion.

The company also has had success in the critical mobile market, which has taken on additional importance as more and more e-commerce is done on smartphones. In the most recent quarter, 800,000 of the company’s new users came from mobile as, according to the company, downloads of eBay’s suite of mobile apps have surpassed 100 million globally.

Note: Of the political donations made by Intel Corp. during the 2012 election cycle, half went to Democrats and the other half went to Republicans. Meanwhile, 49 percent of eBay Inc. donations went to Democrats while 51 percent went to Republicans.

3. David Nelms

Company: Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS)
Share price YTD: +63 percent

Discover’s greatest challenge is that it is second in its industry to American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) and competes indirectly with bank cards connected to Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA). Nelms took over as CEO in 2004. One of the most critical strategic moves he made is the takeover of smaller rival Diners Club in early 2008. The consolidation helped keep Discover competitive because it expanded the company’s market share overseas.

More recently, but just as important, is the extent to which Discover has evolved into a lending company, with sizable student and home loan businesses. “Discover Home Loan” was launched in June. Nelms also has buttressed international operations with a deal to move the company more aggressively into China and Russia.

4. Christopher Connor

Company: Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW)
Share price YTD: +63 percent

Connor took over as head of 146-year-old Sherwin-Williams in 1999. Some of the improvement in the company’s performance in the past year could be attributed to luck. The housing market has improved substantially, and Sherwin-Williams has 30 percent of the domestic paint market. The company has used the leverage that its own store network gives it to great advantage. In the most recent quarter, same-store sales rose 8.9 percent.

More impressively, earnings per share (EPS) rose 31.0 percent to a record $2.24. Connor’s most important decision this year was to increase the share of the company’s international operations so that it is not as reliant on the U.S. market. In November, the company announced it would buy Consorcio Comex, based in Mexico, for $2.34 billion. Its business operations in Mexico mirror those of Sherwin-Williams in the U.S. Last year, Comex had revenue of $1.4 billion. Wall St. applauded the decision, driving its share price to a 52-week high within a week of the buyout announcement on November 12.

Note: Of the political donations made by the National Paint & Coatings Assn. during the 2012 election cylce, 100 percent went to Republicans.

And this is how the bottom four CEOs donated their money in 2012:

Meanwhile, 100 percent of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz‘ & LinkedIn Corp. CEO Jeff Weiner’s political contributions ($5,000 apiece) went to individual Democrat candidates.

Click here to see 24/7 Wall St.’s complete list of the best CEOs of 2012.

–

More from 24/7 Wall St:

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Featured image courtesy Getty Images. This post has been updated.

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Comments (21)

termyt
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 10:46am
Just what does it take to be the best CEO? Be the most successful fascist?

Don’t confuse a CEO with a Capitalist. Just because you get rich doesn’t mean you care about free markets or innovation. A CEO is no different than the little middle-class worker bees in his corporation.

Here is the difference:
A Capitalist risks resources he already possesses in an attempt to bring some new invention or innovation to the market. If it works out – great, he gets paid. If it doesn’t, he loses his investment – he loses wealth he had already earned, sometimes to his utter financial ruin.

A CEO, like any salaried worker, risks only future earnings (if the corp fails, paychecks will stop coming). He risks nothing of what he already has. He signed a contract and gets paid accordingly regardless of success or failure. Certainly, success may be written into the contract, but again – it only affects future earnings, not past. (Not to mention golden parachutes). In short, a CEO is nothing more than a paid employee like the rest of the corporation’s workforce. He has none of the risk that a business owner / investor takes on. If the corporation does fail, he simply looks for another job keeping what he has already earned.

Corporations are the other side of the socialist coin. Government control of markets = Communism. Corporate control of markets = fascism. Either way the markets aren’t free and we pay the price.

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perry1980
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 10:30am
Very informative.
Now the public can make the decision which company they want to support

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TheCurator
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 8:39am
Boycott the IRS, NOW! That is all it will take. Do it now!

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- BrownBear
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 9:43am
  You first.
  
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- Mr. H.
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:08pm
  I know some people that tried that. They are all in jail. The overwhelming undeniable fact is if you do not pay your assessed taxes you will loose property or go to jail. Your income is property. Your real estate is property. Your car is property. Everything you “own” is your property. The reality is you just think you own things. The government actually owns everything and just lets you use some of it as long as you pay them the money they assess you. If you do not believe me, just try not paying your assessed taxes.
  
  Report this comment
Arc
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 4:34am
Years ago it was said, ” George Steinbrenner had the best baseball team money could buy”

Today, its as easy said, ” A lobbyist can have the best politician money can buy”

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ClearCutMore
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 11:23pm
Sprint really doesnt surprise me. I had a photo of my fallen fellow marine, Micheal Presley, on my sprint phone when i came back from Iraq. Even thru higher management I couldn’t get Sprint to just do 1 simple transfer to the family. Still feel bad for not pushing the issue more.

Rest in peace.

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socialism.rocks
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 11:18pm
lets see what conservatives.. have done for big-business papa johns done in.. domino’s done in
gateway done-in hp done in
hostess done in….

lmao a conservative ceo equals going bankrupt shortly

more a libertarian conservative a ceo-is the sooner a corp is ruined…

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- ORACLE12389
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:03am
  Um, the current CEO of the country is bankrupting it, well bankruptcy would be an improvement to be honest. Not to mention this little thing we call the world as well. So, yeah, wrong again, how are the CEO’s of socialist country’s like Greece doing again? Can’t you guys pull your heads out of your asses for once; And at least try to make us work to insult you?
  
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- whater39
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 4:13am
  truths hurts
  
  Report this comment
- jfd6400
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 9:21am
  You are an idiot !! Moron !! Go back and join an occupy camp and don´t waste our time !!
  
  Report this comment
- @leftfighter
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:03pm
  Let’s take those one by one…
  
  Papa Johns isn’t done in. I have them delivering to me later today.
  
  Domino’s isn’t done in, either.
  
  I can’t speak on Gateway & HP as I don’t remember specifically what happened there, but I know for a fact that Hostess was done in because a union decided 100% of nothing was better than 80% of nothing.
  
  The more a Progressive Socialist a President is, the sooner a nation is ruined.
  
  Report this comment
Cattelle
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 10:52pm
I have done SO much business on Ebay – no more. They are free to support whomever they choose and I am free to support companies that support free market candidates.

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Nowarningshot
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 10:25pm
I dumped Comcast three years ago, now I’m REALLY glad I did.

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- Norsepagan
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 7:34am
  The actions of the CEO does not represent the company as a whole. These are the contributions made by an individual. Does the Marxist in chief represent the views of the entire population of the United States?
  
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Hickory
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 10:10pm
CEOs that inject politics into their business are sawing off a limb they are sitting on. If the party they support loses, the winning party goes after them.

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Truthmonster
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 9:37pm
Wait!! There are rich liberals?

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TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:17pm
I thought for sure Fred Smith of FedEx would be right up there revenue and track record wise…

AND…

Political Contributions:

Democrats $8,400

Republicans $144,300

Independent $16,700

Total $169,400

Recent Contributions: NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE $30,800

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The Third Archon
Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:11pm
“The financial blog 24/7 Wall St. on Tuesday released its comprehensive study of the “best CEOs of 2012″ — and further investigation reveals that three of the top four “best CEOs” favored Republican causes during the 2012 election cycle while the bottom four favored Democrat groups, according to data available on opensecrets.org”
OMG, what a SURPRISE–more rich people who are selfish ******** and favor tax policies that favor their private interests at the expense of the public good, GASP?!

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- Stelex
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:34pm
  I’ve met many CEO’s, their politics is all about money. If you believe any (Dem or Rep) care one ratz a$$ about you or your cause……you sir are delusional, but I suspected that anyway. You don’t seem to understand the severity of the situation. You are cattle and nothing more. I know you love to hear yourself talk, and praddle on with some semblance of intelligence. But you are cattle. You are held in a pen and produce what the rancher wants, and you don’t even know it. Go ahead ….. step off the ranch. See what happens. Personally I believe we should all stop paying taxes. How about you go first. If your breathing today you’ve never been free. Prove me other wise….. Third.
  
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- Stelex
  Posted on December 18, 2012 at 8:41pm
  Just for the record, if I don’t respond tonight, its because sleep sounds a lot more constructive than reading your multi paragraph reply that will explain nothing. Good night.
  
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