On The Hunt For Star CEOs: Why Elon Musk And John Malone Make A Difference

Few investors would disagree with the idea that management matters. Whether it’s establishing and maintaining a corporate culture, executing on strategic initiatives or managing capital, CEOs can make a big difference in whether a company turns into a stud or a dud.

Searching for the best ones are not unlike Captain Ahab scouring the seas for Moby Dick, according to one firm’s view.

“History has proven time and time again that management matters,” says a new report from Fundstrat Global Advisors out Wednesday. The firm highlights the outperformance of Google GOOGL +0.43{b163ed859cc9a16ba73837184ee02d2cdeccd9aa6dd670f1698634a383290a0c} versus Yahoo YHOO -0.27{b163ed859cc9a16ba73837184ee02d2cdeccd9aa6dd670f1698634a383290a0c} since the former’s 2004 IPO, JPMorgan Chase’s JPM +1.21{b163ed859cc9a16ba73837184ee02d2cdeccd9aa6dd670f1698634a383290a0c} success against the near-failure of mortgage lender Countrywide and Apple’s AAPL -1.00{b163ed859cc9a16ba73837184ee02d2cdeccd9aa6dd670f1698634a383290a0c} continued supremacy in consumer products as examples that “people making the decisions can make all the difference between a stock that outperforms and one that doesn’t.” Forbes