Wonderware’s Stock Falls on Word of Chief Financial Officer’s Resignation

Wonderware Corp. stock tumbled yet again Wednesday after the software company said its chief financial officer will leave by the end of the year.

Norman R. Farquhar, who was passed over in Wonderware’s recent search for a new chief executive, has resigned to seek such a role with another high-tech company, Wonderware officials said.

After the news of Farquhar’s departure, Wonderware’s stock price dropped $2.56 per share to $13.56, a 52-week low, in Nasdaq trading. The company’s stock, which had been trading as high as $42.75 per share earlier this year, has been tumbling since co-founder and longtime Chief Executive Dennis R. Morin resigned last month.

Farquhar, who has been with Irvine-based Wonderware since 1993, will be temporarily replaced by Lee Kim, director of finance, until a new chief financial officer can be found, company officials said.

Farquhar was not available for comment on his resignation, but officials said he had been disappointed when he was not named to succeed Morin in the company’s top post.

Instead, the job went to Roy H. Slavin, a former executive with Siemens Industrial Automation in Georgia who had been handpicked by Morin. Wonderware makes software used to automate factories and other production facilities.

“I didn’t think [Farquhar] was the appropriate person to run this company,” Morin said in an interview Wednesday. “The company is too focused on technology, and his background is primarily financial.”

Morin also said he was “fairly stunned” at the magnitude of Wonderware’s stock price tumble in recent weeks.

“Losing executives is definitely not a plus,” he said. “But the reality is the value of the company is in its reputation, its install base, goodwill with customers, and several hundred very talented employees. It doesn’t make sense for the stock to drop as much as it has.”