Tag: CFO

Research shows that mergers & acquisitions don’t produce the expected financial bonanza. But “organic growth” does.

The Batten Institute, part of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, has released the latest results of a decade-long study of corporate earnings, establishing a correlation between organic growth and outperforming stocks. Using an Organic Growth Index (OGI), Darden professor Ed Hess compiled a list of “Organic Growth All-Stars” for the period 2003-2006. The conclusions:

In addition to consistent growth in underlying earnings, as measured by the OGI, the all-star companies’ share prices have outperformed the S&P 500 by a factor of 10 over the past 10 years.

Actual 10-year returns (1996-2006) for the OGI All-Stars were over 1,368% vs. approximately 130% for the S&P 500 Index and 144% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

“These companies have shown that they can grow in good times and bad. It’s not about the economic cycle. It’s about the business model,” Hess says. “Organic growth is growth the old-fashioned way: more customers, more products, better operating efficiencies,” he says. Not financial engineering or manipulation.

Hess identifies four key attributes of strong organic-growth companies:

• Simple, focused business strategies, implemented by managers who are are “execution champions”;
• Top management is home-grown and made up of “humble, passionate operators”;
• A highly-engaged workforce characterized by a strong degree of loyalty and productivity; and
• A “seamless, self-reinforcing internal growth system”

The study — and the list of 27 All-Stars — is available at this link. For some reason, the all-star list includes a couple of “dollar stores,” a couple of casual restaurant chains, a couple of big-box retailers, and the maker of Spam.