The Investis Online IR Rankings are derived from Investis’ IQ Benchmarking evaluations of corporate websites. The rankings are based on an investor relations-focused subset of the broader criteria Investis uses in its corporate website rankings.
The online IR rankings are based on companies’ conformance with 140 criteria and use a weighted formula developed by IR Web Report to rank the effectiveness of companies’ online investor relations programs.
The formula recognizes that online IR programs must serve the information needs of two distinct audiences of investors, while both audiences benefit from usable, well-designed websites that use web technologies effectively.
Understanding the ranking formula
Each company is given a Total Score out of 100. The Total Score is the weighted sum of:
- 50% — Content and services important to current investors and analysts who are already familiar with the company and its business and who already have an economic interest in the company.
- 30% — Content and services for prospective investors who need to learn about what the company does and evaluate its investment potential.
- 20% — Expertise in using web technologies to facilitate access, ease-of-use and engagement.
Content and services for current investors are given a heavier weighting because these users have a greater stake in using companies’ online IR content.
In addition to weighting criteria based on their importance to the two types of investor users, the formula recognizes that some criteria are more important than others or represent a significant investment by companies. These criteria are given more weighting in the calculations of the three sub-scores. For example, a company that provides access to earnings calls via a webcast replay will earn 1 point, while a company that provides access to a webcast replay and a transcript of the call will earn 4 points (1 point for the replay and 3 points for the transcript).
Overall we think the weighted formula gives a more accurate picture of the effectiveness of companies’ online IR programs than would a straight sum of conformance with the criteria.
Limitations of the rankings
The rankings provide a fair and comparable measure of how well companies are using the web in their investor relations communications. However, all rankings systems have limitations.
The evaluations do not assess when information is published on a company’s website relative to when it is made available elsewhere. A highly ranked company may be slow in updating its website with new information, while a lower ranked website might be dutifully updated in real time. Since the evaluations are conducted at a particular point after information is posted, it is difficult to accurately measure when information was published.
The rankings mostly do not evaluate the quality of companies’ disclosure information. A highly ranked company may provide a wide range of information, but that information may not be as detailed as information provided by a lower ranked company. For instance, Berkshire Hathaway’s online IR program scores very poorly in the evaluation because it provides only a narrow range of information and services. However, the quality and depth of the information Berkshire provides may be superior to that of many other companies.
To ensure comparability, the rankings criteria are focused on content and technical qualities that should be common to all online investor relations programs. Companies may provide valuable content and features that are not reflected in the rankings criteria. While the criteria are revised periodically to include new practices, some companies may offer valuable content and features that are not reflected in their scores.
Finally, evaluating a large number of companies in various jurisdictions on many different investor relations and technical criteria requires a high level of knowledge. This increases the potential for errors in the evaluations. While Investis has implemented quality control systems and IR Web Report reviews a random sample of the results for accuracy, errors in the evaluations cannot be ruled out.
Learn more
All evaluations are done by Investis. Please contact them at IRrankings@investis.com for more information.
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