Julian Day is a hero, he brought RadioShack (RSH) back from the dead and received a nice little compensation package valued at $19 million for 2006 after coming on board last summer.
RadioShack’s stock has gone up 84% since last June and with shares currently trading near the 52-week high at around $27, it would appear Julian and Co. could do no wrong. RadioShack reports earnings Monday, April 30th, so its game time.
Jim Cramer loves Julian, back in March he took the No. 2 spot as Cramer’s most favorite CEO when he picked his TOP 9 CEO’s. Cramer went on to say:
"RadioShack is run by a really fabulous guy [Julian Day] , and he’s running it for profit,". He said when shares were about $27 in late March that the stock could keep going up and he would buy it "hand over fist" if it came down a little. Cramer then said: "This is a company that was so poorly run it’s scary,…they’ve got management with a brain now." 
Cramer’s No. 1 CEO pick was Sears Holding Corp‘s (SHLD) CEO Eddie Lampert. It’s no secret Eddie and Julian go way back with the two of them returning an ailing Kmart to profitability and the rest is history. These are the two most coveted CEO’s on Wall Street right now, so to assume they could miss is like betting against Michael Jordan at the free-throw line. But hey, even the pro’s miss. Or better yet, try to start a new career like switching to baseball, wasn’t that painful to watch?
So with Julian at the helm, everyone is expecting another stellar quarter. However there are quite a few fans of Julian out there that think his luck is going to run out by January 2008.
Just take a look at the Calls and Options currently out there on RSH for the rest of 2007. For the most part, there isn’t a ton of activity, but come Puts for 2008 it’s overwhelmingly obvious that there are plenty of doubters of RadioShack’s staying power.
When’s the last time you visited a RadioShack? It feels like a time warp to 1987. The Onion did a pretty funny take on Julian and RadioShack suggesting Julian can’t figure out how they are still in business. Granted that is satire, but after reviewing the bets against him, maybe they’re onto something?
Frank Lara Jr.
April 27, 2007
Frank Lara Jr. can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
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