Outlook for Finance Job Market Brightens as Small Firms Grow
WALL STREET WEST
After three years of layoffs, the job picture for California’s financial sector may see a recovery next year, according to Los Angeles-based recruitment firm Russell Stephens.
Carl Miller, the firm’s executive director, projects there will be significant hiring of financial workers in the coming year.
“The truth is, young people have not gone into banking in the numbers they have in past years and we have an aging population of bankers retiring at a fast rate,” he said.
That’s not to say there’s a slew of vacancies. Today, there may be 30 qualified applicants for the average skilled banking job, compared with 130 a few years ago, he said.
Small- to medium-sized institutions with assets between $1 billion and $10 billion are expected to fuel next year’s hiring, Miller said. Much of it will come in the area of private banking, where banks have targeted wealthy patrons for specialized services that generate higher profit margins.
Conversely, mortgage brokers who have enjoyed a refinance boom over the past three years are facing a shrinking job market.
But mortgage-related jobs represent about 6 percent of the total labor market for all financial professionals in Southern California, so the collapse may not sting too much.
Kate Berry
Local Heroes
While the local residential property market has remained hot this year, the commercial market hasn’t been too shabby either, according to the stock market.
As of Nov. 30, Los Angeles County-based real estate investment trusts posted a collective 41 percent year-to-date equity return, measuring the change in stock price and dividends per share, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Among the well-performing local REITs were Arden Realty Group Inc., Kilroy Realty Corp., Macerich Co. and Public Storage Inc., whose returns ranged from 40 percent to 46 percent for the year.
“The L.A. market didn’t experience the spike in rents in 1999 and 2000 that other West Coast markets like Seattle and San Francisco did,” said David Copp, vice president at San Francisco-based RBC Capital Markets, who covers both Arden and Kilroy. “As a result, (as leases expire) rental rates are not dramatically above prevailing rates, so they’re not having to bring rents down.”
What the stocks will do from here on out remains a question. With Arden hitting the $28 mark in late October, Copp downgraded the stock to a “sector perform” rating, noting that “it was fairly valued at its current price.
But Lou Taylor, senior real estate analyst at New York-based Deutsche Bank Securities, upgraded Kilroy to a “buy” on Oct. 29, despite the stock surging to $29 a share from about $19.50 a year earlier.
“We thought that the valuation of the stock implied a Boeing departure,” said Taylor, referring to the 293,000-square-foot lease the aircraft manufacturer has at a Kilroy building in El Segundo that expires next July. “If Boeing hasn’t committed to moving out by now, you have to factor the chance that they might stay.”
Danny King
Rising Value
ValueClick Inc.’s stock surged nearly 20 percent early last week to a high of $9.06 a share on Dec. 9 after the company raised its revenue estimates for 2003, announced 2004 estimates for the first time and finalized a previously announced acquisition.
The Westlake Village-based company said it expects 2003 revenue of $89.5 million to $90 million, up from previous estimates of $87 million to $87.5 million. It also said full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will range from $13 million to $14 million, higher than the $12 million to $13 million range previously given. The company also forecast 2004 earnings of 19 to 24 cents a share on sales of $134 million to $138 million.
As of Dec. 10, the stock had settled back to $8.30 a share.
ValueClick, an Internet advertising, firm credited the recent acquisition of Santa Barbara-based search engine marketing firm Commission Junction Inc. as a major reason for its rising estimates.
Michael Thuresson
