CHAINSAW AL'S ENCORE

By Daniel Kadlec

It's time to step to the plate, Al. As in Casey at the Bat, the runners are on base, the stage is set--and yuda man. So far, as CEO of Sunbeam Corp., you've certainly not let shareholders down. But this ain't Mudville; it's Wall Street, and investors want to be sure you've still got some pop in your bat. Why not show them? Open your wallet and buy another $3 million of Sunbeam stock. Heck, make it $5 million. That's pocket change for a guy who just made $100 million in 20 months and insists he can do it all over again.

That may sound like an extraordinary challenge. But Al Dunlap, who landed in the corner office at Sunbeam in July, is nothing if not extraordinary. Just ask him. Why should he step up now? Next week the man known as Chainsaw Al, who became the poster boy of ruthless restructuring, will unveil eagerly awaited details of his turnaround strategy at troubled Sunbeam, which makes toasters, barbecues and other gadgets. The rap on Chainsaw is that he's all cut and no growth, and you can be sure his plans for Sunbeam will include a drastic reduction in facilities, product lines and head count. But if he's so sure he can increase sales as well as profits, this is a perfect chance to express ultimate confidence.

Dunlap, 59, is a talkative, roll-up-the-sleeves corporate turnaround specialist who burst onto the scene with a remarkably short, lucrative and controversial tour as CEO of venerable Scott Paper in 1994 and '95. The maker of Viva and ScotTowels asked him to shake things up. So Dunlap sold billions of dollars in assets, chopped 35% of the work force, paid down debt and refocused the firm. By the time Scott was sold to Kimberly-Clark late last year, its stock had tripled, and Dunlap, via generous stock options and grants, had tucked away $100 million for himself.

In his book Mean Business, Dunlap called his pay a bargain for Scott, whose total market value rocketed from $2.9 billion to $9.4 billion on his watch. Others say he did little more than gut the company and dress it up for sale. But for the most part his critics aren't shareholders, the constituency he most wants to serve. Now he's on for an encore at Sunbeam, where earnings are in a two-year slide. Sunbeam's stock was tracing the earnings decline until Dunlap signed on. That day alone, Sunbeam shares jumped 50%. "It'll be a vintage Dunlap turnaround," he told me. "Just like at Scott."

If that's true, there's still ample time for investors to hop aboard. And wouldn't it be nice if Al led the way. At Scott, he bought $2 million of stock at $19 on his first day. A few months later, with the price nearing $30 and most of Wall Street fretting that Dunlap had topped out, he showed them. He bought another $2 million worth. The stock doubled to $61. Similarly, when Dunlap joined Sunbeam in July, he bought $3 million of stock at $12 a share. The stock has since doubled, and Wall Street again questions how much power Dunlap has left in his swing. He won't divulge plans. But with the coming announcement, like mighty Casey, he's got the spotlight. Will he whiff? Or go deep?

Daniel Kadlec is TIME's Wall Street columnist. Reach him at kadlec@time.com