The Long Road Back for Office Depot

Is "Reputation" intangible property?  Occasionally we run blog posts here that are stimulated from Mission Intangible, who empirically prove the role of reputation every week.  Office Depot is a recent example.

The reputation of Office Depot, according to Mission Intangible, has ceased its long decline (since April) now that 5-year CEO Steve Odland has left (under the ethics cloud that can be broadly labeled as insider trading). The stock price began rising again the end of August, following a precipitous 61% drop. Their latest earnings quarter showed a mixed bag, and investors will be watching Heidrick & Struggles who have snared the recruitment assignment to find a permanent (read "ethical") CEO.

Here's all Office Depot had to say about it. Long term investors have stock which still hasn't reached 50% of what it was less than a year ago.

The take-away is this: Reputation Metrics are the real deal, and, again, need to be part of the valuation mix.