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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Will BlackLine Stay in the Black?

BlackLine has been a nice story for the San Fernando Valley. It went public more than a year and a half ago, and the stock has been a solid performer. The company generally has gathered nice reviews from the investment community as well as for its products, financial software. But the road got a bit bumpier lately. The Woodland Hills company early this month issued what seemed to be a fine financial report showing revenue and earnings that beat analysts’ expectations, yet the stock immediately skidded 5 percent. That was probably because investors were really expecting more. And the number of new customers was less than in previous quarters. And growth was slowing. Some in the investment community appear to be getting squirmy. One analyst penned a report headlined: “BlackLine: Certain to Stumble.” Indeed, the company’s stock, which traded last week in the low $40s, is down from the high of $45 it hit in early March. But some are still fans. One analyst opined last week that earnings growth this year is expected to be more than 140 percent greater than last year, which should translate to a higher price. And the stock has a No. 2 rank from Zack’s, which is a “buy” rating. Let’s hope BlackLine continues to be a nice story for the Valley. • • • Aren’t we Angelenos supposed to be laid back? After all, we’re famous for being the most nonchalant people in the room. The ones with that whatever-dude attitude. But a new survey implies the opposite. At least, it claims that we L.A. workers will be the most likely to plug into work a few times when we’re on vacation this summer. The survey is from Accountemps, a unit of Robert Half International, the accounting and finance staffing firm, and its release coincides with this Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. The survey asked workers in 28 cities how often they plan to check into work, if at all, while on vacation this summer. Somehow Los Angeles ranked as the No. 1 city where workers said they’ll stay connected to the office while on vacation. According to the survey, 77 percent of Angelenos claimed they will check into the office several times. Other cities that are nearly as high on the check-in rates are Miami, at 72 percent, and New York, at 69 percent. All are well above the national average of 56 percent. (In case you’re curious: Cities with a high number of workers who don’t plan to check in at all are Cleveland, Minneapolis, Denver, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. If I lived in Cleveland, I guess I wouldn’t want to be reminded of the place when I was on vacation, either.) The results are a surprise. I mean, really? Laid-back Angelenos interrupt their vacations to check into the office more compulsively than Type-A New Yorkers? How could that be? A couple of thoughts. Maybe the survey results are plain wrong. Or maybe through some fluke Accountemps just happened to query a disproportionate number of cannabis workers who call the office out of paranoia. My theory: It’s the gig economy. Los Angeles has a very high number of gig workers. We always have, thanks to the entertainment industry. That number is increasing. The Brookings Institution once reported that the L.A. area had a 136 percent jump in the number of independent contractors from 2012 through 2014 – among the biggest jumps in the country. The national average was a 48 percent increase. Gig workers have to stay plugged in more than salaried workers. Old clients have to be happy, new clients needs to be lined up, etc. You must be an inveterate multi-tasker to survive. The big – and getting bigger – gig economy in Los Angeles is the only theory I have. Let me know if you have a better one. Here’s another interesting thing in the survey, and this one is not a surprise: There’s an overall decline, and I’m talking nationwide, in the number who unplug during vacation. In 2016, a majority of workers (59 percent) said they never check in while on vacation; that number tumbled last year and fell again this year to 44 percent. In other words, now only a minority of workers click off work completely during vacation; a majority stay engaged. You know the dilemma we face on vacation. You can choose to keep up with your emails and calls on vacation, which means you’ll never really “get away.” Or you can snip the tether to your office and float freely for a few glorious days – after which you’ll return to a stack of inbox messages higher than the U.S. Bank building downtown. Along about Wednesday evening, when you’re nearing the halfway point of that tower, you’ll vow never to do that again. I’ve reached a comprise of sorts. I do not obsessively keep up with emails and phone messages when I’m on vacation, but I do scan for urgent messages and calls. I try to spend as little time as possible on them, but still deal appropriately with them. That way, I can exhale and put away the phone for another half a day, knowing there’s no big problem that’s unmet. But it’s true: I never really “get away” anymore. If you’re a reader of the Business Journal, I’ll wager that you don’t either. However you handle your off-time, I hope you have a splendid vacation – or two! – this summer. Most of all, I hope, at some magical point or two, you truly are able to “get away.” Charles Crumpley is editor and publisher of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

Charles Crumpley
Charles Crumpley
Charles Crumpley has been the editor and publisher of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal since March 2016. In June 2021, it was named the best business journal of its size in the country – the fourth time in the last 5 years it won that honor. Crumpley was named best columnist – also for the fourth time in the last 5 years. He serves on two business-supporting boards and has won awards for his civic involvement. Crumpley, a former newspaper reporter, won several national awards and fellowships for his work, and he was a Fulbright scholar to Japan.

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