SEC to rule soon on websites for Reg. FD
THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to address within the next three months whether companies can meet their obligations under Regulation FD by posting information on their corporate websites and in RSS feeds, according SEC Chairman Chris Cox. The issue is among three areas that the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to [...]
Lack of earnings call archives attracts attention
A lack of earnings conference call archives on companies’ investor relations websites has attracted attention from an SEC committee, but it is not suggesting regulatory action. Indeed, a lack of archives might be a useful indicator for investors.
IR research the Web 2.0 way — free!
AS THE US first quarter earnings season officially got underway with yesterday’s results from Dow component Alcoa Inc., IR departments were preparing to monitor their peers’ results and release their own numbers. Knowing what competitors are saying and getting a feel for the types of questions analysts are asking can help companies prepare for their [...]
Talking about transparency
I WAS interviewed for 45 minutes last Friday by well-known communications consultant Shel Holz for a book he is co-authoring on the topic of “practical transparency.” Shel is one of the thought leaders on the topic of communications and technology. He has written and spoken about it extensively over the years, in various books, reports, [...]
Democratizing the earnings call
INVESTORS in US-listed stocks will notice something different this quarter when they visit Yahoo! Finance to catch up on the latest corporate earnings results. For the first time, they will have free access to full-text transcripts of earnings conference calls on approximately 2,500 companies thanks to Seeking Alpha, a firm started by former Wall Street [...]
IR Magazine’s odd November cover story
IR MAGAZINE, which is a great publication most of the time, has me utterly baffled by their choice of cover story for the November 2007 issue. Of everything that is happening in the world of IR, why they would choose to make a hopelessly peripheral topic such as virtual worlds — Second Life specifically — [...]
Fixing finance calendars with microformats
FINANCIAL event calendars provided by the likes of Thomson Reuters, Zacks, Wall Street Horizon and a bunch of others are broken. They are often incomplete and sometimes just plain wrong. Fixing this mess could save companies a lot of money, improve the flow of information to investors, and help firms meet their fair disclosure obligations. [...]
As sell-side declines, go direct on the Web
LAST week’s surprising announcement from Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) that is was closing its equity research business and axing more than 400 employees has many wondering what the future has in store for the sell-side. BusinessWeek ran a good article on the subject which noted that while the sell-side’s business model is threatened, demand for [...]
Barron’s journalist slams hidden guidance
BARRON’S technology journalist Eric Savitz has lashed out at companies that provide guidance in conference calls but not in their news releases, a practice he says discriminates against individual investors and leads to technical violations of Reg. FD. Writing on the Tech Trader Daily blog, Savitz says companies that provide guidance only during their conference [...]
10 steps to a better IR website
WE ARE forced to take a break from posting here for the next little while. But rather than leave you cold turkey, we thought we’d offer up these 10 points to contemplate and debate while we’re gone from the blog. We’ll see you soon, though, so keep watching this space. 1. Walk in investors’ shoes [...]
Why blog network’s “open CEO interviews” are a hit
SOME readers might be wondering if I’ve gone completely mad by saying this week’s three-day CEO open interview hosted by blog network Seeking Alpha represents the future of IR. You might be wondering why I am advocating that you put your CEO in front of a group of hardened investors, analysts and finance bloggers — [...]
With a sell side like this, who needs enemies?
ANALYSTS at big brokerage firms are increasingly becoming short-term trading strategists for hedge fund clients rather than providers of research to longer-term investors, according to Bloomberg. Sell-side analysts are so busy chasing lucrative trading dollars from hedge funds that they don’t have time to even take calls from big mutual fund managers. “You have to [...]
Noteworthy list #10
Notable excerpts and links to articles and reports we’ve found worthwhile reading. Some links may be intercepted by ads or may require free log-ins. Please don’t blame us for this. Publications have to make a living some way. Stock Exchange Consolidation Stock Exchanges in a Rush to Forge Links With One Another What is unclear [...]
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