The stock charts for Siemens (SI), Apple (AAPL), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) look outstanding over the last year. All have outperformed the S&P, by a lot.
The companies share one thing in common. Scandals. Apple has options problems that caused its former CFO who was also a board member to leave the company. It is still not clear if CEO Steve Jobs is off the hook.
At Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the former chairman was spying on board members. She left. So did several others. The US attorney go involved. There were news reports that the new CEO was aware of some of the spying. The stock shot up.
Over at Siemens (SI), the company has lost its chairman, and the CEO is leaving in three months. In Siemen’s case, it appears that executives and consultants for the company were handing out bribes. The situation is being investigated on both sides of the Atlantic.
The lesson appears to be simple. All Wall St. wants to do is make money. The ethics of the companies are not terribly important. If a few rules get broken along the way, so what. The stock is moving up.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks