Posted on March 6th, 2013. Posted by ICR Westwicke
All management teams and boards of directors want to know how they’re doing. For public healthcare companies, the wide variety of stock indices makes it easy to draw a comparison with peer companies. But finding the right index is key to making a meaningful comparison. Just because an index includes “technology,” “healthcare” or “mid-cap” in its name doesn’t mean it’s right for you. And the most popular indices are not always the right choices.
Fund managers, especially those who may not understand nuances in various healthcare sectors, will use an index to evaluate your firm’s performance. But, comparing against the wrong index can have serious implications: for instance, if an index that includes many larger cap companies (over $1 billion in market capitalization) is rising, but smaller companies aren’t sharing this momentum, then your smaller firm will compare poorly against the index – and undeservedly so. Further, smaller companies are more vulnerable to certain financial issues than multi-billion dollar firms; access to capital, product pipelines and market volatility can have an outsized effect on a small-cap firm’s stock performance.
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Posted on February 28th, 2013. Posted by ICR Westwicke
As CEOs and CFOs, you no doubt think long and hard about the investment bank with which you want to work. Most management teams consider which investment bankers can best help meet their company’s capital raising and strategic needs, as well as which bank’s sell-side analysts will provide quality research coverage of the company. However, it is also important to consider how impactful the bank’s institutional equity sales force is.
Whether you are already public or thinking of going public, you want to work with a sales force that has real influence in the investment community. Importantly, you want to engage a team that has solid, long-term relationships with those investors who will be buying your stock.
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Posted on January 23rd, 2013. Posted by ICR Westwicke
When done well, an Analyst Day (or Investor Day) is an extremely valuable investor relations tool. Typically a half- or full-day event your company hosts for buy- and sell-side analysts, an analyst day meeting can significantly enhance an analyst’s understanding of your company’s fundamentals, as well as aid them in better valuing your stock. At Westwicke, we have participated in hundreds of analyst days over our careers, and this experience lends valuable third-party perspective that has helped many companies hold successful analyst day events. To that end, I offer some do’s and don’ts for analyst days compiled over Westwicke’s years on Wall Street:
Do hold an analyst day every 18-24 months. The event provides investors with a deeper-than-normal dive into your company, and helps demonstrate your management team’s breadth and strategic vision.
Do provide unique content. Think about including members of the management team that investors don’t normally interact with. Consider bringing in physician experts or customers to provide an outsider’s perspective on your products or market. In the planning stages, ask both buy- and sell-side analysts for input.
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