8 Great Stocks to Buy Led By Female CEOs
Great companies led by women.
Fortune recently came out with its Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies by revenue. Over the years, the leadership at top U.S. companies has gotten more diverse, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. A record 33 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are now women, up from just 24 last year. Women are taking the American C-suite by storm, but only 6.6% of this year's Fortune 500 CEOs are women. For investors looking for a female touch on business leadership, here are eight Fortune 500 stocks with women at the helm.
Oracle Corp. (ticker: ORCL)
Oracle CEO Safra Catz took over at the cloud software giant in September 2014, but she has been with the company for more than 20 years. Catz joined Oracle's board of directors back in 2001 and was named president of the company in 2004. As president, Catz reportedly led the efforts in closing the company's $10.3 billion buyout of PeopleSoft. As of 2017, Catz was the highest paid female CEO of any American company, taking home $40.9 million in compensation that year. Since Catz became CEO, ORCL stock is up about 32%.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM)
Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber joined the company in 1995 as part of the Pottery Barn team. Alber served as director of the Pottery Barn catalogue before being named president of Pottery Barn in 2002. She continued to run Pottery Barn once she was named president of Williams-Sonoma in 2006. Alber said the birth of her first daughter was the inspiration for Pottery Barn Kids. Alber is also credited with driving Williams-Sonoma's transition to online sales and launching the company's first mobile app. Since Alber took over as CEO in May 2010, WSM stock is up 123%.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su is an engineer at heart, earning her doctorate degree in electrical engineering in 1994. After stints at Texas Instruments (TXN) and IBM Corp. (IBM), Su became senior vice president at AMD in 2012 and was promoted to CEO less than three years later. Under Su's leadership, AMD shares skyrocketed more than 500% in the past three years, and its revenue spiked enough to land the company in the Fortune 500 for the first time in 2019. Since Su took over as CEO in August 2014, AMD stock is up 629%.
General Motors Co. (GM)
Mary Barra made history in 2014 when she took over as head of General Motors and became the first woman to be CEO of a major global auto company. Barra has a long history with GM, first working for the company as a co-op student in 1980 at age 18. GM and its stock have a tumultuous past, and GM shares are down 4.4% since Barra took over as CEO in 2014. However they have significantly outperformed the 39% decline from Detroit rival Ford Motor Co. (F) in that same stretch.
Anthem (ANTM)
Anthem CEO Gail Boudreaux has a long track record of success in health care. After spending 20 years at Aetna, Boudreaux was named president of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois in 2002. In 2008, Boudreaux became executive vice president at UnitedHealth Group (UNH) subsidiary UnitedHealthcare and was promoted to the CEO position in 2011. During her tenure as CEO, UnitedHealthcare was the single largest U.S. health insurer, with more than 45 million customers. Since Boudreaux took over as CEO of Anthem in November 2017, ANTM stock is up 27%.
Hershey Co. (HSY)
Hershey CEO Michele Buck started her career in the food business by spending 17 years at Kraft and Frito-Lay. Buck joined Hershey as chief operating officer in 2005 and was instrumental in multiple key acquisitions for the company, including buyouts of Krave Beef Jerky and barkThins. Shortly after her 2017 promotion to CEO, Buck oversaw the company's $1.6 billion deal for Amplify Snack Brands. Since Buck took over as CEO in March 2017, HSY stock is up 22%.
Ulta Beauty (ULTA)
Prior to her tenure at beauty leader Ulta, CEO Mary Dillon served as global chief marketing officer at McDonald's Corp. (MCD) from 2005 to 2010. Dillon then took over as CEO of U.S. Cellular for roughly three years before transitioning to the same role at Ulta. Under Dillon's leadership, Ulta has dramatically expanded its number of stores and grown its market capitalization in an extremely difficult era for traditional retailers. Most recently, Dillon has pushed for Ulta's international expansion. Since Dillon took over as CEO in July 2013, ULTA stock is up 247%.
Best Buy Co. (BBY)
The freshest face among women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies is Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, who assumed the role as head of Best Buy in June 2019. Barry is just 44, but she has two decades of experience at the electronics retailer. Barry first joined the company as a financial analyst, but she quickly worked her way up to senior vice president of domestic finance, chief strategic growth officer and eventually CFO in 2016. Since Barry was named CEO roughly a month ago, BBY stock is already up 8.7%.
Great stocks led by female CEOs:
-- Oracle Corp. (ORCL)
-- Williams-Sonoma (WSM)
-- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
-- General Motors Co. (GM)
-- Anthem (ANTM)
-- Hershey Co. (HSY)
-- Ulta Beauty (ULTA)
-- Best Buy Co. (BBY)
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