"It's a concern," said Cliff Gallant, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York. "The stock is moving in tandem with the [NASDAQ] market, and I think it's all because of Putnam."
Gallant is convinced that Putnam is addressing its problems.
People inside and outside Putnam, including former employees, say it's a place where mistakes and underperformance aren't tolerated for long. Managers who are underperforming their benchmarks are put through a so-called "4-P" system (examining people, process, philosophy, performance) during which they sit down with investment chief Tim Ferguson.
Said one former Putnam fund manager, "I think these guys will tackle these problems very quickly, very actively -- and quicker than others would."
Spiegel said Putnam is spending a good deal of time with brokers, assuring them that the ups and downs of the tech era are in the past.
That role falls chiefly to Rich Monaghan, a former Merrill Lynch executive whom Lucey hired to oversee sales and relationships with brokers.
Spiegel, meanwhile, is overseeing a so-called "global integration" as Putnam reviews the way it sells funds around the world. The goal is to see where there are overlaps, Spiegel said. It's possible, he said, that the review could lead to further job cuts by September.
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