Home > News > Manager Selection > Alex Doñé, Former NYCRS CIO, Joins Platinum Equity as Managing Director
Manager Selection

Alex Doñé, Former NYCRS CIO, Joins Platinum Equity as Managing Director

Doñé left NYCRS after two years as their CIO.
By Anna Gordon


Alex Doñé is joining Platinum Equity, a private equity firm headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, to serve as a managing director. He will be responsible for strategic planning, investor capital development, and firm leadership initiatives, according to the firm’s announcement.

Doñé previously served as chief investment officer of New York City Retirement Systems, from December 2018 to December 2021, but chose to leave to pursue other opportunities. Doñé also served in other roles at New York City Retirement Systems, including as head of private equity, head of private markets, and executive director of private equity.

Prior to his time at NYCRS, Doñé served during the Obama Administration as a presidential appointee for the Minority Business Agency at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mark Barnhill, a partner at Platinum Equity, says that Doñé’s background makes him a great fit for the role.

“Alex has a uniquely broad and well-informed view of the global investment landscape thanks to a career spanning nearly three decades in both the public and private sectors,” said Mr. Barnhill in the release. “He will bring valuable perspective as our fund platforms expand, our reach extends, and our ESG and responsible investing programs continue to evolve.”

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news.

Doñé says that he is looking forward to joining Platinum and sees opportunities for the company to continue growing.

“Tom and the team at Platinum have established a global brand with a highly differentiated investment strategy and a long track record of consistently delivering to investors strong returns across market cycles,” he said. “They have built a scalable platform with meaningful opportunity to grow over the next decade and beyond, and I’m looking forward to being part of the team and contributing to that growth.”

Related Stories:

NYC Appoints Former White House Private Equity Expert as CIO

NYC Pension Funds Seek New CIO

NY State Pension Commits Over $2 Billion for Private Equity, Real Estate

Tags: , , , ,

Home > News > Newsmakers > Q1 Earnings Are Up, But Nothing to Cheer About
Newsmakers

Q1 Earnings Are Up, But Nothing to Cheer About

While profits have kept climbing, the rate of ascent is slowing, per FactSet.
By Larry Light



On the surface, first-quarter earnings seem to be coming in fine. But there’s an undercurrent that profits are looking a bit shaky going forward. A market in correction, as is the case now, is more eager to penalize stocks whose earnings per share are lower than Wall Street expected.

The number of already-reported S&P 500 companies that beat analysts’ estimates is above the five-year average, according to FactSet. Trouble is, the magnitude of those surprises is below that average. In other words, more beats but weaker ones.

Plus, the rate of growth is slowing. John Butters, the firm’s senior earnings analyst, projects that EPS will come in at 9.1%, higher than the year-prior period. That number is made up of reports that are in and forecasts for those to come. The ones already in are ahead by about 6%. At this point, 79% of index members have reported.

Nonetheless, investors have gotten used to double-digit earnings increases. A 9.1% showing, Butters writes in a report, “will mark the lowest earnings growth rate reported by the index since Q4 2020 (3.8%).” To reach the 9.1% figure, Butters takes the results of the 79% of the index that has already reported and forecasts the rest.

Want the latest institutional investment industry
news and insights? Sign up for CIO newsletters.

What’s also disturbing is that, without energy, EPS thus far would be 0.5% negative, according to Bank of America Securities’ Savita Subramanian, an equity and quant strategist.

And then there’s the punishment. On average this earnings season, says Credit Suisse, companies that missed both sales and EPS estimates have suffered a 2.9% stock drop that day. This decline is larger than the gains that stocks that meet or exceed estimates have notched, Credit Suisse data indicate.

Thus far, nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors have reported year-over-year earnings growth, with energy, materials, and industrials the leaders. The two sectors to announce declines are consumer discretionary and financials.

Prominent misses this time are Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, Under Armour, Netflix, and Robinhood Markets.

One solace, sort of: This earnings season shows that the market has some more to fall but should bottom out with the S&P 500 at 3,850. That’s the extrapolation from Brad McMillan, CIO for Commonwealth Financial Network. The index closed Monday at 4,040. In other words, it has around 5% more to drop, by McMillan’s figuring.

McMillan takes the price/earnings ratio of the last two times that interest rates were at these levels—that was 18 times trailing EPS—and applies it to the $213 in overall S&P 500 EPS that he expects. That’s how he reaches 3,850.

Right now, the index’s trailing P/E is 20, down from 29 at the year’s start. Given the market’s bearish trend, it surely will keep sliding. The forward P/E is at 18.

Related Stories:

Analysts Shrink Projections for First Quarter Earnings Growth

Why Not to Worry About Slowing Earnings Growth

What If Earnings Season Turns Out to Be a Bust?

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

«