Skip navigation
MOST POPULAR RELATED TAGS
  • TOPICS
  • SECTORS
  • COMPANIES

MAD MONEY FEATURES

Podcasts PODCASTS
Watch the Lightning Round whenever and wherever you want.




Widget OFFICIAL MAD MONEY WIDGET
Grab this all-in-one application and get recaps of the show sent right to your desktop or blog.




Soundboard CRAMERS SOUNDBOARD
Admit it: You've always wanted to hit the "They
know nothing!" button. Here’s your chance.




Mad Money PhotosCHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS
Check out Cramer on set, back to school, behind the scenes and more.




ShopSHOP FOR MAD MERCHANDISE
Buy Cramer books, bobbleheads and other Mad Money merchandise.




Ringtones RING TONES
Pick up the phone! It's Cramer! New Mad Money sounds for your cell phone.




Mobile AlertTEXT MESSAGE ALERT
Mad Money's mobile. Get show highlights sent to your phone.







Text Size
Jun.10
9:03 PM ET
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009
Wall of Shame: Textron, Kraft Foods, Chesapeake Energy and More

The nomination process for Mad Money’s Wall of Shame came to a close on Wednesday, as Cramer decided on a final CEO to “honor” with this distinction. First, though, he defended a few executives against viewers’ complaints.

A number of people had suggested that Chesapeake Energy [CHK  Loading...      ()   ] CEO Aubrey McClendon deserved a spot on the Wall, largely because he bought his own stock on margin. McClendon then faced a margin call and was forced to sell almost all of his common-stock holdings to meet his debts.

But Cramer needs to see serial underperformance before he’ll single out a CEO, and McClendon has proved himself more than capable. Between Chesapeake’s public offering on Feb. 4, 1993, and now, the stock is up 1,698%. The S&P 500 over the same period has risen only 109%. This is not the kind of execution that warrants placement on the Wall.

Cramer also defended Kraft Foods[KFT  Loading...      ()   ] Irene Rosenfeld. She took over on June 26, 2006, and the stock is down only 17% since then, compared to the S&P’s 25% drop. Include dividends and KFT is actually up 8%. Again, that is at least decent stewardship given the US economy over the past two years.

Bob Nardelli, the former CEO of Chrysler and Home Depot [HD  Loading...      ()   ], received a ton of nominations as well. But he can’t hurt shareholders anymore, and didn’t at Chrysler, his most recent gig. Therefore, Cramer said, there’s no reason to add him to the Wall. If Nardelli hurt anyone, it was the taxpayers after Washington’s bailout of Detroit.

Textron’s [TXT  Loading...      ()   ] Lewis Campbell, however, deserves the Shame treatment. The CEO took over on July 1, 1998, with TXT trading at $36.63. The stock closed Wednesday at $11.43, a loss of 69%. How does this conglomerate – which includes financing, private jets, helicopters and aerospace components – compare with its peers? Over the same period, Boeing [BA  Loading...      ()   ] is up 10%, United Tech [UTX  Loading...      ()   ] is up 136%, General Dynamics [GD  Loading...      ()   ] jumped 152%, L-3 Communications [LLL  Loading...      ()   ] has added a whopping 349% and the S&P has lost just 19%. The S&P’s performance isn’t great, of course, but it is still better than Textron.

Mr. Campbell, welcome to the Wall of Shame.

Watch the video for more reasons why Campbell received Mad Money’s highest “honor.”

Cramer's charitable trust owns Home Depot.

Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC

Questions for Cramer?

Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website?

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Tools:
PrintEmailAdd This share icon
Next Post
  • digg share
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 01:04:25 24 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 01:02:05 24 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 01:09:37 24 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 01:02:06 24 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters