Just Before the Drop: Barak Eilam Sold NICE Shares Worth Millions
Shares worth $2.38 million were sold just two days before the release of disappointing earnings that revealed a sharp slowdown in growth and a bleak 2025 outlook.
Barak Eilam, former CEO of NICE NICE Ltd 1.17% , filed a report detailing the sale of 13,479 shares of the company, totaling approximately $2.38 million. The timing was sensitive—right before the publication of NICE’s disappointing earnings and a concerning forecast for 2025. Over a decade as CEO, Eilam amassed more than half a billion shekels from the company.
According to the filing, the shares Eilam sold came from two sources: 8,079 restricted stock units (RSUs) and 5,400 performance stock units (PSUs). The sale took place on February 18, 2025—just two days before the financial report was released.
The last earnings report revealed a significant slowdown in NICE’s growth rate: the company now expects only 8%-9% growth in 2025, compared to 15% in 2024. Profit growth is also set to decelerate from 27% to just 9%. These projections fall well short of analyst expectations, explaining the intense pressure on NICE’s stock, which has already lost about 20% of its value in recent weeks.
Eilam’s departure in early 2025 after a decade as CEO has raised concerns among investors about the company’s future, especially given the rising competitive threat from Microsoft in AI-driven cloud services and contact centers. Investors sensed that Eilam was “getting out just in time,” and reassurances did little to ease the anxiety. Since news of his planned exit, NICE’s stock has dropped from $240 to around $160.
During Eilam’s tenure, NICE saw different phases of growth: in his first five years, the stock surged fivefold, but in the past five years—factoring in the recent declines—it has lost about 25% of its value.
Many analysts fear that NICE has stalled and is struggling to navigate new market challenges, with Eilam’s exit only adding to the uncertainty. However, while the 2025 forecast is weak, it’s far from disastrous—the company is still projecting solid growth and profitability. At current levels, NICE trades at about 13 times 2025 earnings, making its valuation relatively attractive.
Oppenheimer analysts see NICE’s current stock price as an opportunity. Analyst Sergey Vastchenok argues that concerns over Microsoft and AI competition are overblown and that NICE is significantly undervalued compared to the broader software sector. While NICE trades at an EV/EBITDA multiple of 10-12, other companies in the industry are trading at 30-40 times EBITDA.
