Posted on December 7th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
Good CEOs and CFOs know that they only get a limited number of interactions with their buy-side and sell-side analysts each year. Analysts are busy people, with perhaps dozens of listed companies under coverage or on their watch lists. An earnings call is thus one of the few times that companies can have the undivided attention of their covering analysts and interested buy-siders. Use that time wisely. Here are some pointers to consider before you host your next biotech earnings call.
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Posted on November 2nd, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
As part of our Investor Relations Luncheon Series, we recently hosted a select group of biotechnology executives for a discussion with David Nierengarten and Heather Behanna, biotech analysts with Wedbush. The theme of the lunch was “How Best to Engage with Research Analysts.”
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Posted on October 19th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
As an executive, you understand the importance of formulating a long term capital sourcing strategy that will provide you the cash necessary to support your company’s growth. You are constantly asked in investor meetings: “How much cash do you have on the balance sheet?” “How long will that last you?” So how do you prepare to ensure that your business remains well capitalized?
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Posted on September 14th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
With the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference quickly approaching (again), it is now time to start your planning for one of the most important healthcare events of the year. It is not too early to secure your meeting and sleeping space, refresh your messaging for your meetings with investors, analysts, bankers and strategists, and start the outreach to lock in your schedule with the folks you want to spend time with. As you well know, most people involved with healthcare will attend this event and being more organized than the next guy may be the reason you achieve your strategic goals for attending this important event. The J.P. Morgan event is so important, in fact, that I asked our team for their best advice in preparing for the show.
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Posted on August 17th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
Your investor presentation is one of the first things that investors and analysts look for (along with SEC filings) when trying to get up to speed on your company. It’s often the first chance to tell your story in a crafted manner.
In other words, it’s crucial.
An effective deck contains a clear communication of management’s vision, the company’s market opportunity, its competitive advantages, and its growth strategy.
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Posted on July 6th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
If you are a healthcare company executive who is contemplating, in the process of, or has completed an IPO, chances are you have met with a number of investment banks. In these meetings, each bank shows a varying number of league tables that position the bank in a positive light relative to its peers. The data presented is useful for finding banks active in your space, but the parameters defining the table can be adjusted to portray any institution in a position of relative strength. The bottom line is that investment banks are good at what they do, and all of their bankers are bright, diligent, capable, client-focused, and extremely hard-working professionals. Without these attributes, they would not be in such a role.
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Posted on June 15th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
The goal of exemplary investor relations at any publicly listed company should be the achievement of a fair market valuation. However, for those working in an IR function for a biotech firm, it’s important to understand that how the market values your company will be quite different from how it values any other.
While companies in every other industry are valued based on their expected profitability compared with cash flows and other potential investments, biotechs are typically expected to lose money in the short- and medium-term, attaining profitability only a long time into the future. And that future is subject to a substantial amount of risk.
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Posted on May 18th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
Thousands of public companies have just released their quarterly earnings and held those dreaded earnings calls — far more dreaded for those whose numbers missed estimates. While they’re not much fun for anyone, it can’t be overstated how important earnings calls are for your reputation as a leader and for the prospects for your stock.
The call is your chance to communicate your story to the world, to put your perspective formally into the public record. And it’s your investors’ and analysts’ chance to seek clues about your future prospects. In short, the call is something you just can’t afford to mess up.
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Posted on April 6th, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
It would be great if you could attend every investor conference you’re invited to. After all, they’re an excellent way to tell your story, deepen your relationships with analysts who cover you, begin new relationships with analysts who don’t yet cover you, and ultimately target and attract new investors.
But it’s impossible for any public company to go to all of them. There are more than 100 Wall Street conferences in healthcare alone, and many more focused on growth-oriented companies of any industry.
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Posted on March 2nd, 2016. Posted by ICR Westwicke
As an institutional sales person covering the Boston region for over 15 years, I have sat through countless non-deal road show meetings with investors. The best-managed and most insightful meetings I witnessed were with a small-cap growth portfolio manager who ran over $4 billion in mutual fund assets.
While past posts on non-deal road shows have addressed their benefits, and on how to make them effective for the company seeking investment, this time I would like to consider the long-term investor’s perspective. What are their expectations and what do they hope to accomplish through these meetings? I have summoned the views of the previously mentioned PM and would like to share them with you:
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