What is happening to i2? Stock price drops and CEO leaves

Filed in archive Market Overview on May 6, 2007

The stock price of i2 Supply Chain software took a pounding this week, dropping at one point almost 30% after the company reported quarterly results that were somewhat disappointing to analysts, combined with the news that CEO Michael McGrath would retire at the end of the year.

SC Digest reported that investors took the second part of the news as being related to the first, but an i2 Investor Relations manager told Supply Chain Digest the two announcements were totally unrelated. McGrath had been thinking about retiring, and would have held off the announcement except that it had become a "material issue" based on more frequent questions from Wall Street about his plans. Therefore, his personal decision had to be disclosed, making the two seem somehow linked.

McGrath is credited with righting i2's financial ship during his little over 2-year tenure as CEO, where he had previously been on the board of directors.

Meanwhile, the results really were pretty decent, just below the famous "consensus estimates," causing the share price to tumble. To ex-New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra, now columnist for TheStreet.com, the stock is a solid buy at these levels.

"The growth in the past year should continue this year," Dykstra wrote. "With the earnings release, management did not change guidance for the 2007 fiscal year, which is a promising sign for a company that just got slapped. I find it appealing that i2 didn't bail out and guide lower, as this would have been the easy thing to do with its stock hammered."

He noted positively a recent deal between Costco and i2 for a hosted transportation management solution.