NCR Corp. CFO to Resign

NCR Corporation (NCR - Analyst Report) has declared that its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Anthony Massetti will resign on October 23, the day after the company’s third-quarter earnings release. Massetti will take up a new assignment with telecommunications major Avaya Inc. Robert Fishman, corporate controller, will take the responsibility as interim CFO until NCR finds a replacement for the CFO position.

During May 2007 to January 2008, Fishman had been interim CFO at NCR and joined the company way back in 1993. He looked after the finance function of the company at various positions. This recent news had a negative impact on the share price of the company, which took a hit on Thursday, a day after NCR announced the news. NCR’s last closing price on Oct. 8th was $11.82, down around 12.5% from the previous day's close.

NCR is moving its corporate headquarters to Georgia from Ohio, cutting expenses and working on growing its retail business through DVD and video game kiosks. This apart, NCR was recently in the news, since it declared that the company has secured the largest order of automated teller machines (ATMs) from The State Bank of India (SBI). The top Indian bank has entered into an agreement to purchase around 3,800 ATM machines from NCR and also entered into a seven-year service contract with the company.
 
Although the resignation of an able leader such as Massetti may lead to some short-term jitters in the company’s share price, the underlying business fundamentals of the company cannot be ignored. This contract win with State Bank of India proves that NCR has retained its leadership position in the global ATM market. Although the banking and financial services sector across the world is going through the doldrums, which has been a restriction on spending, we believe that with gradual economic revival, this segment will generate substantial revenue and win new customers for the company.