ADP: New Listing

A few days ago we looked ahead to ADP's results for the September quarter, which is their first of fiscal 2009.

One piece of news we didn't anticipate was that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP) would change its share listing, effective 21 October 2008, from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: NYX) to the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: NDAQ).

For those of us that remember when a Big Board listing was considered prestigious and a badge of honor for a successful company, it still seems odd that a healthy blue-chip firm would give up its NYSE listing voluntarily.

E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) made the NYSE-to-NASDAQ switch in December 2006.

Delisting is more common when a company fails to satisfy the Exchange's criteria, which include requirements to maintain a minimum market value and to file quarterly and annual reports. A foreign company might delist to avoid stringent U.S. regulatory requirements.

With the advent last year of portable stock symbols, ADP can retain its eponymous three-character symbol. In prior years, a company making a change to the NASDAQ would have had to switch to a four-character symbol.

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. is a top provider of payroll and other personnel-related information technology services. ADP is one of a mere handful of U.S. companies with a AAA bond rating.