CRM also landed on a list of the 25 worst stocks to own in December
Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) is kicking off December on the wrong foot, it would seem. The stock is threatening to completely erase yesterday's 5.7% pop and was last seen down 7.1% at $148.82, following news that co-CEO Bret Taylor has resigned, leaving partner Marc Benihoff to man the ship on his own. This marks the second time in less than three years that Salesforce has lost a CEO, with Keith Block holding the position for just 18 months.
The equity's bad luck doesn't stop with today's C-suite shakeup, which could very well cast a shadow over December's trading. The stock is on a list of 25 stocks with the worst returns this month, in the last 10 years, complied by Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. Per the data, CRM has only finished two of the past 10 Decembers with positive returns, averaging a monthly drop of 2.1%. From this morning perch, a similar move would put the security near the $145 mark.
A closer look at CRM's technical setup shows the stock struggling to reclaim the 80-day moving average. Though the stock did close above here yesterday for the first time since late-August, it's dipped back below the trendline this morning as it looks to add to its nearly 37% year-to-date deficit.
Today's massive C-suite shakeup comes amid Salesforce's third-quarter earnings report, which came out after last night's close, though it's safe to say that the news is overshadowing the firm's top- and bottom-line beat. The upbeat earnings are doing little to stop the deluge of bear notes coming in this morning. No less than 18 analysts have slashed their price targets, including UBS all the way to $162.