Baldor exec pay down, employee profit plan up

What a difference a year makes for the employees of Baldor Electric Co.’s profit sharing and savings plan — a plan that holds 3.578 million shares of company stock, or 7.7% of the class.

In late March 2009, the share price was hovering around $15 after recovering from near historic lows that flirted with going south of $10 a share. The value of the profit sharing plan in late March 2009 was a little more than $53.684 million.

Thanks to the a renewed confidence in the company by Wall Street traders the Baldor stock closed March 30, 2010, at $37.66 — which means the Baldor employees have seen their profit sharing pool expand to $134.784 million.

Baldor shares (NYSE: BEZ) closed Tuesday at $37.66, up 44 cents. For the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $38.05 high to a $14.40 low.

Also benefiting from the past 12 months of stock gains are New York-based BlackRock Inc., which owns 3.316 million shares (7.1% of class), and Jersey City, N.J.-based Lord, Abbett & Co., which owns 3.169 million shares (7.2%). The Baldor holdings of BlackRock and Lord, Abbett & Co. equal $124.898 million and $119.367 million, respectively.

The Baldor executive officer with the most company shares is Chairman and CEO John McFarland, with 479,911 shares (Clarification: McFarland owns 229,300 shares and has an option to purchase the remainder.). The market value of his holdings as of March 30 was $18.07 million. All Baldor executive officers and directors (25 persons in total) own 2.039 million shares, or 4.3% of the stock. The market value of the pool as of March 30 was $76.794 million

The stock ownership info was part of a Proxy filing issued Tuesday (March 30) by Fort Smith-based Baldor Electric. The Proxy, a filing required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, details stock ownership, executive compensation, info on the corporate board of directors, shareholder proposals and other information related to a company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.

Baldor’s annual meeting is set for 10:30 a.m., May 1, at the Fort Smith Convention Center. The only items on the business agenda are to elect directors and approve the appointment of Ernst & Young as the independent public accounting firm for Baldor.

The company is recommending shareholders approve re-electing to the board the following slate of directors:
• Jean A. Mauldin — vice president and chief financial officer of TAMKO Building Products, Inc.; former chief financial officer of Merial, Limited, a world-leading animal health company, 2002 through 2008; former president of Phelps Dodge Wire and Cable, a division of Phelps Dodge Corporation, 2000 through 2002.

• R.L. Qualls — Independent Business and Financial Consultant, providing assistance to corporations; former vice chairman of the Board, CEO, and president of Baldor (retired 2001); director of Bank of the Ozarks Inc. since 1997.

• Barry K. Rogstad — Former president of the American Business Conference, a coalition of mid-size fast-growing firms, which promotes public policies to encourage growth, job creation, and a higher standard of living for all Americans, for more than five years (retired 2002); former partner and chief economist with Coopers and Lybrand.

• Ronald Tucker — Baldor’s president since 2005; chief operating officer since February 2007; chief financial officer from 2000 to April 2007; secretary from 2002 to April 2008; treasurer from 2000 through 2002.

In 2009, each of Baldor’s non-employee directors earned $120,705, with $46,000 in cash and the remainder and stock awards and options.

The federal Proxy filing also includes the compensation of a company’s top five executive officers. Following is the three-year compensation history of Baldor’s executive team.

• John McFarland, chairman and CEO
2009: $1,139,539
2008: $1,397,828
2007: $1,605,578

• Ronald Tucker, president and chief operating officer
2009: $740,672
2008: $824,599
2007: $998,767

• George Moschner, chief financial officer and secretary
2009: $429,052
2008: $504,567
2007: $446,855 (Moschner joined the company in April 2007)

• Edward Ralston, executive vice president
2009: $396,455
2008: $468,459
2007: $523,094

• Randy Colip, executive vice president-sales
2009: $381,158
2008: $476,844
2007: $498,968