“If your company doesn’t cannibalize itself, another company will.” Capital markets analyst and corporate growth strategist, Keith Ferguson, has spent his career investigating that Clayton Christensen statement—unraveling and reconstructing the business differentiators that make companies ...more

“If your company doesn’t cannibalize itself, another company will.” Capital markets analyst and corporate growth strategist, Keith Ferguson, has spent his career investigating that Clayton Christensen statement—unraveling and reconstructing the business differentiators that make companies winners and losers. During his 28-year Wall Street career, Keith analyzed and advised on the performance characteristics that define the world’s most successful companies, even when challenged by crashes and crises. His industry breadth, insight, and experience evaluating 800+ pre-IPO to Fortune 500 companies helped drive not only Alpha performance for institutional clients, but also delivered new ways for company leaders to analyze their own business practices. Keith today advises business leaders on refining long-term growth strategies by leveraging the complex interplay between Wall Street, Capitol Hill, competitors, and their own companies. Many of those leaders—including board members, CEOs, and CFOs—also seek Keith’s independent advice on investor credibility influences such as competitive differentiation, P&L guidance, and ROIC, as well as investors’ potential reception to provocative business maneuvers. Examples: - advising companies as they go public - raising capital and optimizing capital structures / financing - counseling leaders on M&A strategies and deals - helping executive teams understand the value of financial credibility - creating shareholder-aligned management incentives - modeling company data to predict and act on emerging trends - helping management make critical decisions and anticipate investor reactions - crafting Wall Street / investor strategies and narratives - identifying potential regulatory impacts He has also brought a unique perspective to situations requiring complex narratives, such as significant strategy and business model changes; activist and short-seller attack; adverse news; and companies in the midst of two- and three-way bidding wars. Keith has appeared as industry speaker or panelist at events such as Morgan Stanley’s SMidCap Conference, Barclays’ IPO Bootcamp, and the annual conference for The North East Association of Rail Shippers. He recently lectured at Mercy College on the multidimensionality of stock analysis, including how to best filter data noise and bring clarity to scenario testing. He has served as board director, executive committee member, or chair for a range of nonprofit organizations, with leadership spanning finance, investment policy, budgeting, mergers, integrations, and member engagement.less