Must-Haves on Your Investor Day Guest List
An investor day is a perfect opportunity to get the public up to speed on your corporate story, but compiling the appropriate guest list can be tricky. Having coordinated nearly 100 investor days as a firm, we know exactly who you should be targeting to attract the perfect audience for your event.
Current shareholders and covering analysts
First, and perhaps most obvious, you should invite your current shareholders and your covering analysts. These two groups have a vested interest in understanding every aspect of your business and will be most engaged and active in the discussions during the event. Additionally, given their relationships with your company, this group will show the highest attendance rate.
Potential investors
Next, we suggest inviting every potential investor you have met with in the past year on non-deal road shows and at conferences. Ideally, you’ve kept meticulous records and have contact information for everyone you’ve met with. This group has expressed interest in your company by participating in an initial meeting, and they are likely to want to develop a better understanding of your story. Chances are, there will be several people in this group who are on the verge of taking a meaningful position in your company, and the depth and breadth of information and access to management showcased at your investor day could be enough to get them to pull the trigger.
Marquee accounts
Review the list of existing shareholders and accounts you’ve recently met with to see if there are any marquee accounts that were not included. Accounts like T. Rowe Price and Fidelity fall into this group, as well as accounts that are dedicated to your specific sector (such as Deerfield, Baker Brothers, and Orbimed if you are a healthcare company). Additionally, you should look over your closest peers’ shareholder lists and include anyone who owns them, but does not own you. In all likelihood, if an account holds several comparable companies, they are interested in the space and may find attending your investor day very worthwhile.
Sell-side analysts
An investor day can be an excellent opportunity to attract sell-side analysts who are considering coverage of your company or who currently cover your public company peers. The venue will allow them to get a comprehensive overview of your company in just a few hours. Sell-side analysts are considered subject matter experts in their space, and even if they don’t “officially” cover you, they are asked where you fit in and how you compete with other companies in their universe, so attending investor days are very beneficial for them.
Investment bankers
An often overlooked group, investment bankers will not turn out in droves, but you should expect that one or two might attend your event. They will be looking to better understand your growth strategy, particularly your mergers and acquisitions (M&A) appetite, and to strengthen your personal relationship and show that they truly care about your company.
Your board
Finally, we recommend personally inviting your board of directors. Though most of them won’t attend, it is good corporate practice to keep the board informed of such events.
To summarize, in addition to existing shareholders and covering analysts, your investor day guest list should include all the potential investors you’ve met with over the last year, marquee accounts that would make excellent long-term shareholders, sell-side analysts who cover your peers, investment bankers with whom you have a good relationship, and your board of directors.
Creating an investor day is a lot of work, and a live webcast and a web replay of the event will ensure that your hard work has a substantial shelf life. For a multitude of reasons, a lot of your target guests will not be able to attend in person but will log in for the webcast. In fact, that audience typically represents twice as many who show up live, and any potential shareholders you meet in the next few months will benefit from the opportunity to go back and listen to a replay of the webcast.
If you need more guidance on making the most of your investor day, Westwicke can help. Reach out to us to start the conversation.
Asher Dewhurst is a Managing Director on ICR Westwicke's healthcare services and healthcare technology teams. He has extensive experience in equity research with a focus on all aspects of healthcare services. He has a BS in finance from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida.
Tags: investor day
Leave a Reply