Boenning reduces stock coverage after 4 analysts leave
"We downsized to focus on other areas"
Boenning & Scattergood Inc., West Conshohocken, has dropped coverage of 42 stocks after four analysts left in recent weeks, reversing the firm's 2008 expansion. "We downsized to focus on other areas that we can generate the best returns, and to improve the overall return as institutional sales pick up from last year," Boenning research director William Sutherland told me. He heads the team of six remaining senior analysts covering banks, tech and other sectors.
Retail analyst Holly Guthrie, who covered Urban Outfitters, Jo-Ann Stores, Hot Topic, American Eagle and A.C. Moore, among others, left Boenning last week. So did tech analyst Steve Salberta, who wrote about 3com, Rackspace Hosting, and Extreme Networks among others.
They followed two other recent departures: pharma analyst Derek Jellinek, who covered Clarient, Incyte, Onyx Pharmecuticals, among others; and utilities analyst Ryan Connors, who covered Aqua America, American Water Works, and more than a dozen others. Connors rejoined Janney Montgomery Scott, where he worked in 2004-05. "I'm excited to be back," he told me. "This firm has arguably the best franchise in the water space." Boenning plans to replace him.
Reached at her Delaware County home, Guthrie, who used systematic visits to local malls as a focus of her reports, said she's taking the change in stride. "It was a startup operation," she told me. "You assume the risk when you venture in. This economy has been so challenging." She's going to try to find another brokerage to back her research, "or I could work for a money manager. I'm still out there, walking the malls."